American Bandstand
AB-294: Arlene Smith & the Chantels
TV Flash files “AB-294: Arlene Smith & the Chantels” as hour 298 of 2821 in the TV Flash guide — American Bandstand (1952–1989) on WFIL-TV/ABC, season 2, episode 14, aired 1958-09-18, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E14: listed hour 298 of 2821 in the American Bandstand guide, hour 14 of 260 in season 2. It aired 1958-09-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “AB-293” (S02E13). Next is “AB-295” (S02E15). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does AB-294: Arlene Smith & the Chantels sit in the American Bandstand guide?
S02E14 is listed hour 298 of 2821 — hour 14 of 260 in season 2, season 2 episode 14.
When did American Bandstand S02E14 air?
AB-294: Arlene Smith & the Chantels aired 1958-09-18 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Clark's national ABC years: rate-a-record, the dance floor, a guest act paying court. The after-school machine is the point, not a plot.
In the series
Why this series still plays
American Bandstand is Dick Clark's after-school dance floor: kids rating records, stars paying court, payola-era survival skills. Watch it now as the machine that nationalized teen music culture — a Philadelphia floor that taught labels TV could sell singles overnight, and made the host a perpetual industry power broker.
Distribution first: local WFIL-TV Philadelphia, then national ABC from 1957. Dick Clark's after-school floor. **2,821 episodes, 33 seasons**, 1952–1989 in the long count. Kids on camera rating records, artists paying court (often lip-synced), Rate-a-record as participatory UI, dance crazes as the weekly SKU. That is not a sock hop. That is a distribution channel disguised as a dance floor. Rex can hymn the jukebox. The metric is overnight singles.
Filed against
- Dick Clark as Host
Dick Clark made American Bandstand an after-school dance floor with national reach — kids rating records, stars paying court, payola-era survival skills, a Philadelphia machine that taught labels television could sell singles overnight.…