‘Bandstand’ kicks off an American obsession from a West Philadelphia television studio
The show debuted on Philadelphia’s WFIL-TV on Oct. 13, 1952, pioneering a new form of television programming.
Philadelphia had company.
A new kind of television program emerged from a beige-brick warehouse at 46th and Market Streets in West Philadelphia in World War II’s wake: one created for, and guided by, young people.
This new show aimed to play the latest hit music and feature in-studio dancing, “… integrated into a television program intended to provide a light touch for afternoon viewing,” The Inquirer reported.
Simply titled Bandstand, the program debuted on Oct. 13, 1952.
By the 1950s, television had leapfrogged radio. By the middle of the decade, more than half of all American homes owned a TV set. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy soared, and broadcasting television became cheaper and easier.
As advertisers moved to TV, station managers who didn’t have the luxury of network filler looked to the medium it was replacing for inspiration, and translating jukebox-inspired programming from radio to TV was enticing.
A popular Philadelphia radio program at the time was Bob Horn’s Bandstand on WFIL, then owned by media mogul Walter Annenberg, who also owned The Inquirer at the time. The station, an affiliate of the American Broadcasting Company, known as ABC, opted to migrate the program to the black-and-white screen with a weekday afternoon slot on its local broadcast, WFIL-TV, on Channel 6.
Built around a cramped dance floor on the 3,100-square-foot Studio B, Bandstand featured 200 Philly-area teenagers dancing to recordings of rock and roll, pop, and some light rhythm and blues from the likes of Tony Bennett.
The 36-year-old Horn, who cohosted in those early years with Lee Stewart, won viewers with segments like rate-a-record, and with his signature phrase, “We have company,” indicating a special guest performer would appear to lip-synch the artist’s new hit song.
The show would grow to include a card-carrying membership program, and a roster of rotating local dancers who became trendsetters in their own right.
The show changed its name to American Bandstand in 1957, en route to becoming a nationwide sensation behind Dick Clark, who became the host after Horn encountered legal trouble. In 1958, the show reached 40 million viewers daily, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population. Buddy Holly, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and Bobby Rydell all made notable appearances.
Bandstand wasn’t the first televised dance show, or the first show to play records. But its genius over its 37-year run was in making the teens the stars of the show.