American Bandstand: Born in Philadelphia

Before teenagers across America knew the words Rate-a-Record, there was a local Philadelphia show called Bandstand, broadcast from this building on Market Street. The show launched in nineteen fifty-two, and when a young disc jockey named Dick Clark took over as host in nineteen fifty-six, something transformed.

On August fifth, nineteen fifty-seven, American Bandstand went national on the ABC television network. Every weekday afternoon, the show brought the latest rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop hits into living rooms across the country. Teenagers danced, rated records, and watched their peers on screen, often discovering music they would never have heard otherwise. Until nineteen sixty-four, the show broadcast from this building, which had been built in nineteen forty-seven as one of the first structures in the United States designed specifically for television production. American Bandstand ran until nineteen eighty-nine.