"We're Goin' Hoppin"

October 7 has double significance for American Bandstand. The show, with local dancers, first aired in Philadelphia today in 1952. (It began in September with film clips, interviews and no dancers.) Five years later, October 7, 1957, Bandstand aired prime time on Monday nights. This lasted only two months.

Originally a local show, Bob Horn's Bandstand, in August 1957 it went national. The name changed to American Bandstand. By then, the host was Dick Clark. In 1964, American Bandstand moved to Los Angeles losing its Philly panache.

Bandstand was just one of the Philly dance shows during that era. "Sunshine on the Pier" from Steel Pier in Atlantic City with Ed Hurst, the Geator with the Heator, Jerry Blavat's "Discophonic Scene" and Ron Joseph's "TV Dance Party" all competed for the Delaware Valley's youth.

Each of these began on radio. Along with Hurst and The Geator, Philly's airways grooved to Joe Niagara, aka The Rockin' Bird, and Hy Lit. Through my pocket-sized AM radio, they introduced me to rockers like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, the Detroit soul of Motown and the Memphis beat of Stax.

By the time I reached my teens, FM radio was changing the market. Psychedelia was blossoming. The original Electric Factory had opened in an old tire warehouse at 22nd & Arch and the underground newspaper, The Distant Drummer was published. In 1968, Sun-Ra moved his Arkestra to the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Things were never the same, but I thank those DJs for applying my rich, musical base coat. As ever - BB

"We're going hoppin'/We're goin' hoppin' today/Where things are poppin'/The Philadelphia way..." - lyrics to Bandstand Boogie - written in the 50s as a big-band instrumental; Barry Manilow penned the lyrics in 1975.