The AMAs are the third major awards show that CBS has picked up in the past few years, following the CMT Music Awards and the Golden Globes.
American Music Awards
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The American Music Awards, a fixture on ABC from 1974 to 2022, is moving to CBS. The first show on its new network is set for Sunday, Oct. 6, live on both coasts at 8:00 p.m. ET and 5:00 p.m. PT and streaming on Paramount+.
The official announcement was made on Friday (April 26) by CBS and Dick Clark Productions (DCP), which is producing the 2024 AMAs. Nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts – including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay.
The AMAs are the third major awards show that CBS has picked up in the past few years, following the CMT Music Awards (in 2022) and the Golden Globes (earlier this year, having previously broadcast the show in 1981-82). CBS has also been the long-time home of the Grammy Awards (since 1973), the Tony Awards (since 1978) and the Kennedy Center Honors (also since 1978).
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With the AMAs leaving ABC, the Oscars are ABC’s longest-running awards show. The Oscars moved from NBC to ABC in 1976.
The AMAs were created as a fan-based alternative to the Grammys. The first two Grammy live telecasts in March 1971 and March 1972 aired on ABC. When the Grammys shifted to CBS for the March 1973 telecast, ABC looked for a show to fill that void and went with Dick Clark’s fan-based show.
In December 1973, Clark was working on the first AMAs, which would launch on Feb. 19, 1974. The veteran producer knew a little publicity couldn’t hurt, so he found time for an interview with Billboard’s Bob Kirsch which ran on page one of the Dec. 15, 1973 issue under the headline “ABC-TV Slates Favorite Acts’ Awards Feb. 19.”
At the end of the piece, Clark attempted to take the long view of his fledgling show and said “If this is done properly, we may have a show that will last 20 years and will finally get the general public involved in popular music awards.”
Clark underestimated the longevity of his own creation. This year’s AMAs will be the 51st (there were two shows in 2003).
That first show ran just 90 minutes. It has been allotted three hours for many years, though this year’s show length has not been announced. The show in the first five years had a tight focus on three broad genres – pop/rock, soul/R&B and country. It now recognizes far more genres, including hip-hop, Latin, inspirational, gospel, Afrobeats and K-pop.
But, for the most part, the vision that Clark outlined to Kirsch 50 years ago still guides the show.
“This is probably the first time a major effort has been made to sample the U.S. public music taste through popular vote. … To date, we have received extremely favorable response from those in the music industry we have talked to about the show. They seem delighted at the opportunity to be honored by the music-buying public.”
Helen Reddy, Smokey Robinson and Roger Miller co-hosted that first show – each representing one of the three main genres. Reddy, who was red-hot at the time, was also the inaugural winner of favorite pop/rock female artist. Clark was executive producer of that first show. Bill Lee was producer. John Moffitt directed.
Clark, a master showman, was a legend in both music and television. He received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 1990 and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1992. He died in 2012 at age 82.
DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.
