Richard Clark
November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012
Dick Clark was a world-famous radio and television pioneer who, because of his longtime championing of pop music, along with his youthful good looks, was dubbed “America’s Oldest Teenager.” Clark was just 17 when he took his first job in the music business – as a sales rep for a New York radio station. By the early ’50s, he was hosting his own radio program, Caravan of Music at WFIL in Philadelphia. In 1956, he took over the station’s TV affiliate’s teen music program, Bob Horn’s Bandstand. Within a year, ABC brought the show, now American Bandstand, into living rooms across the United States. Over the next four decades, American Bandstand, with Clark as host, presented new records and “live” performances by hundreds if not thousands of famous and not-so-famous pop acts the world has ever known. The program, which aired until 1989, became the blueprint for teen music television programming, but none of its followers (except perhaps Soul Train) were ever able to come close to matching its cultural impact. Despite Clark’s clean-cut persona, he was a tireless supporter of the music he presented – whether he was speaking out against censorship, or choosing to play the original R&B records by their Black performers over the “sanitized” versions by White artists which were popular in his early days of radio. In 1972, Clark launched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve which rang in the new year from Times Square in New York City with a program filled with performances from popular music acts of that particular year. Even after suffering a significant stroke in 2004, Clark returned in 2006, albeit with less screen time, as co-host of the program with Ryan Seacrest. Over the years, Clark ran several other ventures as well – game shows, award shows, restaurants, and live theaters. On April 18, 2012, Dick Clark died after suffering a heart attack. He was 82.
Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number 1 Albums for the assist.
King Stitt was, until the time of his passing, recognized as Jamaica’s oldest living deejay. Stitt’s career dated back to the mid ’50s when he began deejaying for the legendary 
Errol Scorcher was a popular Jamaican deejay who built his following while working several soundsystems during the ’70s. In 1978, he joined Prince Jammy’s Tapetown soundsystem which went on to become of Jamaica’s most popular. Scorcher released albums like Rasta Fire, Unity Showcase, and Roach In De Corner. The list of his hit singles includes “Roach In De Corner,” Frog In A Water,” and “Mosquitoes.” On January 19, 2012, Earl Scorcher died after a blood vessel ruptured in his head. He was 55.
Joe Gracey was an Austin, Texas radio disc jockey who, since the early ’70s, championed what was then called progressive country on KOKE-FM. Also referred to as alt country, Americana, outlaw country, redneck rock, or simply Texas music, this hybrid of country, blues, rock, and folk found its home outside the mainstream. And it was Gracey who helped make many of its practitioners – like Willie Nelson, 
Jimmy Savile was an English disc jockey and pioneering television personality who, since the dawn of the 1960s, was a familiar face on such music related television programs as Top Of The Pops, Pop Go The Sixties, and New Music Express. He, in fact, hosted the very first edition of Top Of The Pops on January 1, 1964, and again its finale on July 30, 2006. Savile also presented several popular radio programs throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s on both Radio Luxemburg and the BBC Radio. Over the course of his long career, Savile became arguably as popular – at least throughout the UK, as the countless pop stars whose careers he helped launch. Jimmy Savile was 84 when he died of pneumonia on October 29, 2011.