Here's the newest excerpt from Bandstandlandt:
Background: In its first six months after debuting as a local show on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Bandstand had become the city's top-rated late afternoon television show and had spawned its first dance craze with the Bunny Hop. Other media took notice of the show's success:
"Philadelphia Bulletin writer Rex Polier described the show as “the city’s beehive of juvenile jive.” Some kids were reported to have even dropped out of school in order to attend the show.
[Bandstand host Bob] Horn stayed on top of the popular music scene to ensure he got the most popular recording artists on his show. When a group from nearby Chester, Bill Haley and His Comets, broke out nationally with their uptempo “Rock This Joint,” Horn booked them on Bandstand.
WFIL tacked another 15 minutes to the show in the spring of 1953, moving the starting time to 2:45 p.m., giving it a full two hours on the air each day.
The sales department no longer had to pack Bandstand commercials into packages of ads built around other shows. Indeed, a “10 spot package” that guaranteed five Bandstand commercials and five others on other programs of the station’s choosing, was a hot seller since Bandstand was typically oversold and now enjoyed a waiting list of potential sponsors.
Horn proved to be a tireless promoter of the show.
From his small office, Horn’s booming voice could frequently be heard in the announcers’ lounge, which was just a thin partition away.
“It got very colorful at times,” said staff announcer John Carlton. “You weren’t sure who he was talking to but when he’d yell and scream at somebody and say ‘All right, Doris,’ you had an inkling that it might be Doris Day. It wasn’t unusual to see a famous recording star walking down the hall.”
Horn entertained a steadily growing parade of song pluggers, bearing gifts to persuade Horn to play their label’s songs on Bandstand. Besides his office, Horn also conducted business at a tiny pub just down the street, the Brown Jug.
“A tremendous amount of business was done there,” said WFIL staff announcer Bill Webber.
Did you know? Bandstand host Bob Horn had built a solid rapport with the young dancers who filled the WFIL studio every weekday afternoon in his first 3 years. Could it last? Read more in this excerpt from Bandstandland. Go here to learn the story behind the writing of Bandstandland or here to listen to the Pennsylvania Cable Network's interview with author Larry Lehmer.
Excerpted from Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll, now available from Sunbury Press. Larry Lehmer's book about the last tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- The Day the Music Died -- is available at Amazon.
© 2019 Larry Lehmer
