American Bandstand

From 1957 through 1963 Philadelphia was the “Home of the Hits,” a reflection of the power of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand television show, carried nationally on the American Broadcasting Company network. The program’s format was simple: singers mimed to their records, and the show’s teenage audience danced. Before the advent of Bandstand, no Philadelphia-based label had ever been consistently successful. In the wake of the show, several labels based in the city—including Cameo, Chancellor, Jamie,...