RIP
For those interested in the local reactions and Philly coverage of Dick Clark's death, here is a link to Philly station WPVI's page:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/entertainment&id=8626436If you follow the links to the videos, there are reports that show the original studios located in West Philly where American Bandstand was shot when it was still based in Philly, before making the move to Hollywood. It was very much a local show with local Philly kids coming there after school to dance, and it just caught on and became a pop culture phenom. When it went to Hollywood it lost the local flavor and the personalities of the kids dancing, but when I was growing up I watched it often to see the bands playing the new singles. Dick also was a DJ on Philly radio's WFIL, before my time. Philly was like a homebase for him up through the 60's and he's very fondly remembered around this area to the point where the local news spent at least 20 minutes of a half-hour broadcast on his death last night.
WPVI (Channel 6) still has the original studio door used for Bandstand and they showed it last night signed by Dick Clark.
I can say with a smile that I took several dates to Dick Clark's "American Bandstand Grill" in King Of Prussia, PA when he still had it running - modeled on the Hard Rock franchise with memorabilia and music blasting - unfortunately none of the dates worked out too well in the long run...
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