• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Dick Clark, RIP

B

Bob1370

Guest
One of the icons of modern American TV and popular music, host and producer Dick Clark, passed away this morning in Hollywood at the age of 82.

His passing is especially noteworthy here because his roots, and the start of his career after World War II, were in Central New York, first in Utica and then in Syracuse, before he moved on to WFIL-AM/TV in Philadelphia and began his rise to national stardom as host of American Bandstand.
 
Dick Clark was a legend, a media icon and a national treasure. Years ago, when I briefly worked in Utica, people would tell me about Clark as if he still lived there. It seemed everybody had a story about him and a few people said he stayed in touch with them. I hope at least ONE radio station in the Mohawk Valley will do a full tribute to their native son. RIP, Dick Clark.
 
It's too bad that the magazine shows have ignored his beginnings in radio. Everything I saw began with American Band Stand in Philly.
 
The obits say he graduated from SU in 1951. My conversations with people there led me to believe he didn't actually graduate with his class. He may have received his diploma later. But everyone who knew him said he was talented, enthusiastic, and driven. The fact that he attended SU made it the place to go for anyone who admired what he did and how he did it. I had a chance to meet him, interview him, visit his office in Burbank, and learn from him during my time in LA. He definitely did a lot to help shape my career.
 
Actually, Dick did run errands at WRUN. At the time the studios were in downtown Utica so there probably was a lot to do to keep him busy. Really, what kind of mail room could a radio station have, even back then when Utica-Rome was a MUCH larger market. He told me he was on the air at WRUN-FM which signed on about two years before (1946) the AM. The AM had technical problems to work out with the antenna system. Three top loaded towers days and five at night. It was a nightmare. There were no FM receivers at the time so his father allowed him on WRUN-FM -because as his father said "no one is listening." His father, Dick Clark Sr. was brought to town to be the G. M of the stations by his Uncle who ran the Rome Sentinel, the daily afternoon paper. Dick Sr. was long gone by the time I arrived at WRUN but there were still people there that knew him and he was was very highly regarded. Apparently Dick Jr. inherited his class. BTW, WRUN-FM is now WFRG and the WRUN -AM is WUTI. The WRUN calls have been assigned to a repeater station in Remsen of WAMC.
 
therealjm12 said:
His father, Dick Clark Sr. was brought to town to be the G. M of the stations by his Uncle who ran the Rome Sentinel, the daily afternoon paper.
Click to expand...

Thanx for closing the loop on Dick Clark's uncle, the Rome Sentinel and the former WRUN-AM/FM. So many reports have said that his uncle "owned" the stations, and my recollection is the Rome Sentinel Co was the owner. Believe the call letters stand for W-Rome-Utica-Newspaper.
 
Thanx for closing the loop on Dick Clark's uncle, the Rome Sentinel and the former WRUN-AM/FM. So many reports have said that his uncle "owned" the stations, and my recollection is the Rome Sentinel Co was the owner. Believe the call letters stand for W-Rome-Utica-Newspaper.
I knew it to be W- Rome-Utica-News. Or Your fiends on the RUN.

I'm not actually sure of the relationship of Dick's father & uncle with the stations and newspaper. His uncle may have been on his mother's side. I don't know if his uncle actually owned the Sentinel Company, at the time, or just an executive, but he probably owned a part of it. I was always told the Richard Sr. had some ownership, too. That's what brought them to Utica. But I don't know if he was part of the Sentinel company or just WRUN. I'm pretty sure they were set up as different commodities. Like business today, probably The Rome Daily Sentinel & WRUN were owned somehow separately. I think the license read the Rome Sentinel Company.
 
Just for kicks, I checked the 1950 issue of Broadcasting Yearbook (available at www.americanradiohistory.com) and WRUN lists R.A. Clark as Commercial and Program Mgr, Bradley Bernard as President, and Fritz Updike as General Mgr. Licensed to the Rome Sentinel Co. I'm sure that is vital info to all who read this board! LOL!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom