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The American Music Awards, which ran on ABC from 1974 to 2022, is moving to CBS. His first show on the new network is set for Sunday, October 6th, and will be broadcast live on both coasts at 8pm ET and 5pm PT and streamed on Paramount+.
The official announcement was made on Friday (April 26) by CBS and Dick Clark Productions (DCP), which produces the 2024 AMAs. Nominations are determined based on key fan interactions reflected in Billboard's charts, including streams, album sales, song sales, and radio airplay.
The AMAs are the third major event CBS has covered in recent years, following the CMT Music Awards (2022) and the Golden Globes (earlier this year, the show previously aired in 1981-82). It's an award show. CBS is also the longtime home of the Grammy Awards (since 1973), the Tony Awards (since 1978), and the Kennedy Center Honors (also from 1978).
With the AMA's departure from ABC, the Oscars became ABC's longest-running awards show. Oscar moved from NBC to ABC in 1976.
The AMAs were founded as a fan-based event to replace the Grammy Awards. His two live Grammy Awards were broadcast on ABC, the first in March 1971 and his first in March 1972. When the Grammy Awards moved to CBS for telecast in March 1973, ABC looked for a program to fill the void and turned to Dick Clark's Fanbase show.
In December 1973, Clark was working on the first AMA, which was released on February 19, 1974. Clark, a veteran producer, knew that a little publicity never hurt, so he found time for an interview with Billboard's Bob Kirsch that featured on his first page in Billboard. The headline for the December 15, 1973 issue was “ABC-TV Slates Favorite Acts' Awards Feb. 19.”
At the end of the piece, Clark tries to take a long-term view of his fledgling show, saying, “If we do this right, we could have a show that lasts 20 years, and we could eventually get the public involved in the popular music awards.'' unknown. “
Clark underestimated the longevity of his work. This year's AMA will be the 51st (it was held twice in 2003).
The first show was only 90 minutes. The length of this year's show has not been announced, but over the years it has been allotted three hours. His first five years of shows focused on her three broad genres: pop/rock, soul/R&B, and country. Nowadays, more genres are recognized, such as hip-hop, Latin, inspirational, gospel, Afrobeats, and K-POP.
But for the most part, the vision Clark outlined to Kirsch 50 years ago still guides the show.
“This is probably the first time that a large-scale effort has been made to sample American popular music tastes through a popularity poll. … So far, the show has received very positive feedback from people in the music industry who have spoken to us about it. They've had a positive response. They seem to appreciate the opportunity to be honored by the music-buying public.”
Helen Reddy, Smokey Robinson, and Roger Miller were co-hosts on that first show, each representing one of the three major genres. The red-hot lady at the time was also the inaugural winner of her Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. Clark was the executive producer of that first show. Bill Lee was the producer. Directed by John Moffitt.
A master showman, Clark was a legend in both music and television. He received the Director's Award from the Recording Academy in 1990, and in 1992 he was inducted into the Academy's Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 82.
DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a subsidiary of Penske Media Corporation (PMC) and a joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is Billboard's parent company.