Dick Clark- The Man Who Was Everywhere !

Dick Clark's passing, like the passing of many pop culture icons, really does mark the end of an era. The man's list of credits reads more like the collected works of several people crammed into one.  He brought Rock and Roll into our homes and went on to be one of the most successful TV producers in the history of broadcasting. Here, then, are some of the highlights in his contribution to radio and TV:

1929: Born Richard Wagstaff Clark on November 30th to radio station manager Richard Augustus Clark and Julia Fuller in Mount Vernon, New York.

1947: Still in high school, Clark begins his climb up the showbiz ladder by working in the mailroom of his father’s radio station, WRUN, in Utica, New York.

May 1947: Clark graduates from A.B. Davis High School and gets his first on-air opportunity filling in for a sick weatherman on WRUN. He is soon promoted to newsman.

1951: Clark graduates from his father’s alma mater, Syracuse University, with a degree in business administration. He parlays his experience as a college deejay into a weekend gig at local country station, WOLF. Clark adopts the name “Dick Clay” and is promoted to full time within his first month.

1952-61: Upon graduation, Clark marries his high school sweetheart, Barbara Mallery. Their only child, Richard Jr., is born January 9, 1957, four years before the Clarks’ divorce in 1961.

1952: Clark relocates to Philadelphia to work for WFIL. Clark fills in for host Bob Horn on “Bandstand,” a teenage dance television show.

1956: Upon Horn’s July departure from WFIL Clark takes over the reins of “Bandstand” and quickly begins earning the nickname “American’s Oldest Living Teenager.” He convinces ABC to give the show a national tryout and changes the name to “American Bandstand.” Within his first year as host, Clark breaks ground by featuring black artists including Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker. “Bandstand” also helps launch the careers of black-inspired white performers including Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly.

1957: He forms Dick Clark Productions, executive producing a string of shows that spans 50 years and ranges from “Bandstand” to “Shaq Vs.”

1958-60: Clark moonlights as host of “The Dick Clark Show,” a live variety show broadcast from New York.

1959: Clark’s “World of Talent” makes him one of the few TV personalities to be on air seven days a week.

1962: Clark marries his second wife, Loretta Martin. The couple has two children before divorcing in 1971.

1963: Clark tries his hand at game shows, hosting “The Object Is” for one season. He simultaneously hosts a top 40 radio show.

1966: Clark plays against type, portraying a murderer on the series finale of the CBS legal drama “Perry Mason.” The episode is titled “The Case of the Final Fadeout.”

1972: Produces and hosts “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

1973: Hosts “The $10,000 Pyramid,” which brought him multiple Emmy Awards for best game show host. (The picture is, of course, from $20,000 Pyramid..inflation)

1973: Clark creates the annual American Music Awards.

1976: Clark publishes his autobiography, “Rock, Roll & Remember,” a title that is later recycled on his radio show.

1976: Clark receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

July 7, 1977: Clark marries for the final time, this time to Kari Wigton.

1979: Clark wins his first Daytime Emmy award for his game show-hosting duties on “The New $25,000 Pyramid.” He goes on to win three more.

1981-86: Clark takes on Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” with “The Dick Clark National Music Survey.”

1982: Clark embarks on his most popular and lengthy radio show, “Rock, Roll & Remember,” a four-hour oldies show co-hosted by Mark Elliot. Three years later, Clark begins hosting solo.

1984: Clark begins co-hosting TV’s “Bloopers & Practical Jokes” with friend and former neighbor Ed McMahon.

1986: Clark parts ways with the Mutual Broadcasting System and forms United Stations Radio Network (later known as Unistar), which he sells to Westwood One in 1994. A year later, he begins a new version of USRN, sticking with it until his stroke in 2004.

1989-93: Clark hosts the Miss USA telecast from 1989-93 and Miss Universe from 1990-93.

1990: Clark is inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame for his role in “American Bandstand.”

1992: Clark is inducted into the Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame.

1993: Clark is inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

1993: Clark is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in recognition of his decades of service and influence on the music industry.

1994: Clark receives the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2000: Due to the millennium, ABC benches “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” for one year in favor of “ABC 2000 Today.” Despite his limited role, Clark still receives a Peabody Award for hosting the special.

2002-05: Clark produces the NBC period drama “American Dreams.” The series runs for three years and launches the career of Brittany Snow, who plays a regular on “American Bandstand.”

2003: “The American Music Awards” mark their 30th anniversary. Clark also produces a bloopers package to celebrate ABC’s 50th anniversary.

2004: After Clark suffers a stroke in early December, he is forced to call in a substitute for the first time in the 32-year history of “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” Regis Philbin steps in, allowing Clark to focus on recuperating.

2005: Clark returns to “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” producing and co-hosting that year’s edition with Ryan Seacrest.

2005: Clark begins producing the Golden Globe Awards.

2007: Clark sells Dick Clark Productions to Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder for $175 million.

2008: Still recuperating from his stroke in 2004, Clark produces the red carpet show for the 2008 AMAs.

2010: Clark is moved to tears at the 37th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, where he is honored by Ryan Seacrest’s recap of his decades of work.

2011: Clark performs his final New Year’s Eve countdown.

April 18, 2012: Dick Clark dies of a heart attack at the age of 82.