Dick Clark was DJ pioneer and a top deal...

Dick Clark was DJ pioneer and a top deal...

KRISTA NILES/AP

Singer Brandy rehearses with Dick Clark during the taping of ‘American Bandstand’s 50th ... A Celebration!’ in 2002 in Pasadena, Calif.

People may not remember everything Dick Clark said, muses Norm N. Nite. But they will never forget how he made them feel.

Nite, a longtime deejay on WCBS-FM, now hosts weekend shows on Sirius XM satellite radio and will devote his 3-6 p.m. show Saturday (Ch. 5) to remembering his 40-year friendship with Clark.

Hell be talking with artists who knew Clark, which includes pretty much everyone, and playing excerpts from interviews.

Its amazing how candid he is, says Nite, when hes talking about his early career and how Bandstand started.

Bandstand, of course, is how most rock n roll fans over 55 remember Clark.

They remember coming home from school when there were no smartphones and the black-and-white TV in the living room was still a novelty.

And hey, here was Bandstand, playing the music you heard on the radio with actual kids dancing to it.

Sure, some of them were a pretty tough-looking bunch from South Philly, but that was fine. Rock n roll was a Great Leveler. The squarest kid in school couldnt be the coolest kid, or the juvenile delinquent. He could listen to the same music.

For the rest of the 20th century, the phrase Its got a good beat, you can dance to it was instantly recognizable to most of America as a line from the Bandstand record ratings.

Clark didnt come to rock n roll as just a guy who liked it. He was the smartest businessman I ever saw, says Nite. You did not want to sit across from him at a negotiating table.

But at the same time, says Nite, He returned your phone calls. He took care of his friends.

Nite remembers scoring big points on New Years Eve 1975 when Clark, who had written the foreword for the first volume of Nites Rock On books, took up Nites invitation to a party at Nites Park Ave. apartment.

The doorbell rings at 1:30 a.m. and theres Dick Clark, says Nite. Wed just been watching him on TV and now hes here. Everyone was speechless. He said, Id have been here earlier, but I couldnt get a cab.

While Clark made his biggest mark on TV, he was also a radio guy. He started at WRUN in Syracuse and syndicated programs that he started three decades ago, like Rock, Roll and Remember and Rewind With Gary Bryan, are still on radio today.

One radio project never got made, however, says Nite: a bio-pic on pioneer deejay Alan Freed.

He and I talked about it in 1978, says Nite. Then American Hot Wax came out and it was shelved. I was always sorry we didnt get Dick Clarks film instead of the one that came out.

But mostly, says Nite, he remembers Clark as the guy who picked the Stylistics Betcha By Golly Wow as his wedding song in 1977.

How can anyone not feel good about that?