Newsweek Archives' Best Articles & Images of TV Icon Dick Clark
See Newsweek’s coverage of the legendary TV impresario during his long career.
Greg C. Lavy / Corbis
Newsweek reported on the early success of American Bandstand. The article said that the 27-year-old Dick Clark “apparently has an unerring eye for what makes teenagers spin and jitter.”
This Newsweek articles details the “payola” investigation by a House subcommittee. Payola was “a show-business term for direct and indirect ways of paying off disk jockeys for plugging new records.” Clark, one of the country’s most popular “spinners,” found himself at the center of that controversy, even though he eventually was cleared of any payola offenses.
In May 1960, Newsweek delved further into Clark’s role in the “payola” scandal. The magazine gave examples of times Clark may have engaged in the practice, and explained why he was targeted by the House Legislative Oversight Committee. The article also described Clark as having “no ascertainable talent,” but noted that he was worshipped by the 18 million teenagers who tuned into his show.
In August 1986, Newsweek published a profile of Dick Clark that covered his highly successful run as a television producer. The article noted that his low-brow shows were sometimes referred to as the “McDonald’s of television.”
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