of the 11 personnel under investigation for soliciting prostitutes and other misconduct while in colombia. my sources say one supervisor, this man with 26 years experience, abruptly filed for retirement after being told the agency was preparing to fire him. a relative newcomer to the secret service resigned after being told he too would be fired otherwise. and the agency is initiating procedures to fire a second supervisor. this an agent with 20 years experience. reviews of the eight others are still pending, but the sources describe the pace of the investigation as aggressive and expect more developments very soon. also tonight i'm told the secret service will within days announce it is creating a new external panel of experts to review the agency's standards and ethics to determine whether the scandal in colombia is a one-time humiliation or a symptom of a much deeper cultural and discipline breakdown. much more on that breaking news in a moment. but first, let's move on now, much more on the passing of industry icon dick clark. the tv icon died earlier today of a massive heart attack. he was 82 years old. but his six-decade career during that period, he changed the way america danced and the way we listen to music. he helped put rock 'n' roll on the map while breaking down racial barriers. as careen wintkcareen winter re was just the beginning. >> reporter: dick clark began his career on the weekly dance party that would later be known as "american bandstand" in philadelphia in 1956. the show became a national and later an international sensation after it was picked up by abc one year later. ♪ in spite of racial attitudes at the time, clark was a pioneer in promoting african-american artists, including percy sledge, the silhouettes, the supremes, and gladys knight and the pips. an appearance on "american bandstand" launched many a musical career and from jerry lee lewis to janet jackson, they all wanted dick clark to give their record a spin. >> if you look at the history of "american bandstand," it covers everything from popular music back to the big band days when we started in 1952. it was perry como and eddie fisher and the four aces and so forth through the rock 'n' roll period, country music, rhythm and blues, rap music, heavy metal, it is everything. >> reporter: but music wasn't his only beat. clark proved a prolific businessman and television icon, hosting the game show "the $25,000 pyramid." "tv's bloopers and practical jokes" and the annual "new years rockin' eve" broadcast. he had a multimillion dollar media empire. clark created the american music awards in 1997 as a rival to the grammys. clark also had a hand in the global fund-raising live aid and in the grassroots farm aid. he was inducted into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame in 1993. >> it has a nice beat. see, you said the magic words. >> reporter: from the early days of rock to the present, dick clark had a way of bringing us the tunes that had a good beat, were easy to dance to and memories of saturday afternoon sock hops. >> she joins us now live. what more can you tell us about the health issues he'd had over the years? >> he had type 2 diabetes, suffered a stroke back in 2004. we received a statement from his family confirming that dick clark entered st. john hospital here in santa monica, california, for an outpatient procedure. they weren't able to resuscitate him and he died as a result of a massive heart attack. so it gives you an idea here of his medical condition toward the end. i have to say quickly when i watched dick clark for the last time back in december, there was something about seeing him there with that whole crowd behind him. he alluded to that. he said it doesn't matter where you are on this planet, there's no place you'd rather be than right here in new york. he said even after all of these years and all of this time in the business, it's all still amazing. he died with that fire and died with that passion and that is what made him one of the greatest. >> that is the defining point. he loved what he did and brought great passion every year for decades. times square, what other place is synonymous with dick clark. that's where our richard roth is live for us tonight. richard, it was every new year's eve dick clark transformed it into rocking new year's eve. tell us about the mood where you are tonight and the place dick clark made so famous. >> reporter: that's right. since 1972, john, dick clark as one man told me was the symbol of times square, except for one or two years for various reasons, especially when he had his stroke, dick clark was here overseeing the millions and then counting down america to ring in a new year. i'm sure everyone remembers various occasions and where they were listening to dick clark and that countdown. one man who did is donald trump, who i asked about his memories of mr. clark. >> i would watch "american bandstand" and i would also watch every new year's eve. dick clark was the one. he was a unique guy. again, a really quality person. i knew him very well because he lived in my buildings. he just is a spectacular man. >> reporter: dick clark was born just north of here in mt. vernon. a lot of memories of people here of dick clark. they get very wistful when you think about it. small rain falling here on a wednesday, big broadway night. new year's eve, not that far away. back to you. >> richard roth live for us in iconic times square. our larry king is live on the phone from los angeles. my friend, you knew dick clark. he was your friend. he was also called american's oldest teenager. this is a bit of a conversation you had with him back in 2004 where he talked about staying youthful. >> how do you stay so youthful? really? >> i love what i do. i love the invigoration of doing things i haven't done before. larry, this i think now is my 56th or 57th year since i've drawn a check, being paid to talk. >> to broadcast, right? >> initially -- >> radio where? >> i wanted to be in radio when i saw a radio broadcast done by gary moore and jimmy duranti. i got my first check when i was 17 and i've been doing it ever since. my father said to me at one time if you're still a disk jockey by the time you're 30, you better find another line of work. listen does he know i'm in my 70s and still to seven or eight hours of radio every week. >> larry, when you think of your friend and reminisce hearing that conversation, what goes through your mind? >> well, he was an amazing person, john. it was a real honor to know him. he was a true generalist. he could do anything. you could put him in any spot and he would be a professional broadcaster. he was also a terrific businessman. he produced many shows. a lot of shows people didn't know he produced. he produced the golden globe awards every year. he owned radio networks. i nearly went to work for him on the radio. when he was out to get you, he was very persistent. he was a true, true legend. you know, you can throw that around about a lot of people, but dick clark, he cut a special place. another thing he deserves great credit for, when he hosted "bandstand," i think he was the first program to have a program where blacks danced with whites. that was unheard of on television until dick clark made it happen on his "bandstand" show so in that sense he was a revolutionary. >> and that was one of the barriers that he helped break, one of the new standards that he helped set. larry, you've sat across and interviewed many good people in the supentertainment industry o the years. what was it dick clark had that helped him cross from good to great? >> he had a talent for being himself. the hardest thing to be, arthur godfrey once said the only secret in the business is there's no secret. dick clark knew that. the camera -- he and the camera had a magic together. he came, it was once said about john kennedy about dick clark, he came easy into the room. you accepted him. he was your friend, whether he was on camera or walking in to meet you in the studio or guest at a dinner party. he made things easier. that's not an easy thing to do. and he had it naturally. it was just easy to be around him. dick clark made you comfortable. he had a great, great talent for that. he was a superb generalist. you could throw him in any situation. >> an interesting point. in the conversation where he was talking about where his dad said if you're a dj when you're 30, you might think of another line of work. he was able to survive. many people have to change themselves and reinvent themselves. he did adapt to the changes in the music industry, to the changes in technology, but is it fair to say, larry, that one of his survivability skills was that he didn't change, he was always dick clark. >> you hit it on the nose. he never changed. but he understood the change in music. you could go to him yesterday and he would tell you the top 40 on the billboard charts. he knew technology. he understood everything that was going on. he understood the internet. he knew what was happening. he was a pioneer in a sense, but as himself he was the same dick clark that he was when he hosted "bandstand" all those many years ago. that is a remarkable talent in and of itself. >> and as someone who knows the business so well and how it has evolved, when did dick clark realize that, sure, he could get paid a lot of money to be a host, to be a game show host, but actually owning the production company and owning the product was the key to, a, financial success but also to a deeper, lasting legacy in the business? >> that's true. that's why ryan seacrest, who he picked to host the new year's eve thing, was the perfect follow-up to him. ryan seacrest is as much a businessman as he is a host. dick clark, as much liked running a radio network or producing the golden globes as he did hosting the top 40 every week, he was -- whatever situation he was in, he was perfect for. and he loved the business of the business. >> you mentioned he was a generalist, and perhaps one of the best, if not the best. in that regard is it harder then to in a sentence say dick clark's legacy is, because he did so many things? >> correct. you can't do dick clark in a 17 tense. you hit it on the nose again, king, which makes you the exceptional broadcaster you are. >> when was the first time you met him, larry, do you remember? >> the first time i met him was years and years ago when he was on my old radio show in miami, when i was literally first starting. he was down in miami on some sort of tour for "bandstand." i interviewed him and got to know him over the years. when i was doing network radio, he had his own network and he was out to get me and we were in between contracts and it didn't happen. i would love to have worked for him. but he was on top of things. dick clark was -- we'll never see his likes again. >> you just mentioned your experience in radio. you're also a survivor, larry. is there something about the radio experience, the conversational -- you can't see who you're talking to but you're having a conversation with the people who call in during the program, whether they are big-name guests or just the average joe calling in. is there something about the radio booth, the radio experience that gives you a special skill, a special connectivity, if you will, that helps you understand when the business changes you can roll with it? >> i think that's a good way to put it. i never thought of it that way. i guess most performers never think of it. but dick clark adapted so well, i think i -- you know, i never approached dick -- i talked to dick about this. we never approached television any different than radio. we regarded television as radio with pictures. it was conversational. you weren't in awe of the camera. it wasn't that big a deal to see the red light go on. you were just as comfortable being in a radio studio as you were in a television studio. there was just a way of knowing to be yourself. the hardest thing in the business is to be yourself. and no one knew that better than dick clark. >> amen to that. my good friend, larry king, a legend, reflecting on the passing of a legend action dick clark. larry, thank you so much. we'll be talking about dick clark's legacy throughout the hour. up next, how he brought african-american artists into the living rooms in white america in the 1950s and '60s. plus breaking news in that secret service prostitution scandal. tonight we're learning some of the employees involved no longer have their jobs. ♪ i've discovered gold. 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[ male announcer ] while others are content to imitate, we'll continue to innovate. the lexus rx. why settle for a copy when you can own the original? see your lexus dealer. the year was 1970. dick clark interviewing a now very famous face on "american bandstand." take a look. >> i think this is probably the first time this record has been played on the air and it's about to be released. this thing called abc. >> yes. >> ladies and gentlemen, would you agree? the jackson five. >> that was the jackson five's first appearance on "bandstand." 1970 was a huge year for michael jackson and his brothers, it knocked the beatles out of the top spot not just once, but twice. joining me is roland martin, john cafferty and matthew delmont. roland, let me start with you. you hear some people say he was a pioneer by bringing white kids and black kids to dance together and for people to see that on television around the country, that he helped break down barriers. true or overstated? >> i think that's a part of it, but also it was the acts. the ability to book the various artists on the show. also you have to add allen fried and ed sullivan as well because they allowed them to showcase their music to the rest of the country. that was huge because for so long black artists had to be pushed aside and could only sell their wares to african-americans as opposed to the broader audience. >> and so to someone who was on television at the time and watched as the industry changed, how much credit does dick clark get? >> i think he gets a lot of credit. if you remember this country in 1955, it was a heavily segregated nation. the segregation was even more insipid than it is today because it was below the radar and more powerful than it is now. black artists, people like chuck berry, ray charles, big mama thornton and muddy waters and on and on and on were doing rock 'n' roll music and rhythm and blues music and nobody knew it. dick clark, if it had a beat and you could dance to it, said book it, bring it on and let's go. he began to get exposure for artists who were unable to get on the white radio stations, ergo, they couldn't get their music into the record stores because the when i audience hadn't heard about them. without realizing it at the time, dick clark was responsible for a pretty seismic change in the music business for sure and the exposure of black artists who weren't getting much and a softening of young people of some of the racial hatreds their parents squawked about. >> professor, you say you thought that when you started the research that he was -- that dick clark was kicking down the barriers, but you came to the conclusion, correct me if i'm wrong, that yes, he helped break down the barriers but he did so because of pressures from don cornelius and that he wasn't such a leader, but a follower, is that fair? >> in terms of the timeline in which things happened, "american bandstand" was on the air in the 1950s, well before "soul train." "american bandstand" did help down break down the doors with regards to african-american artists. it helped them sell a lot of records. where i differentiate, you didn't see integration reflected in the studio audience. they discriminated against black teenagers for the years in philadelphia. there wasn't racial integration in the studio audience, the same as the performers on stage. >> i'm reading a book where they were performing in atlanta, lots of racial tension, 6,000 mixed teenagers in the group and dick clark was very worried. so he went to sam koch and said we can cancel this show. sam said i'm only on two and a half, three minutes, you're on for an hour, i'm fine. dick clark went ahead with the show. he said, quote, it was one of the few ballsy things i ever did to go on with that show. but he faced the other side of race when don cornelius came out with "soul train." dick clark said you're taking some of my territory. he created another show to compete with him. he got a tag for it. they came to the conclusion, "soul train" beat him in the ratings, he pulled his show off. so he felt the other side of race trying to target don cornelius and "soul train." >> a veteran of the business, when you see the survivability of dick clark, we see black and white tv from the '50s and he was on the radio before that, but what's the key to success that you can keep that? >> i think larry king talked about that. he was vanilla ice cream, a big loaf of white bread, but he was good at being that. he was very, very good. dick clark was cool. he was cool like johnny carson was cool. but he was very approachable, very amenable. i interviewed him several times here in new york city. he'd walk into the studio and act like he knew me. i knew who he was but he acted like he knew me. i think the kids picked that up that watched him on television, that he somehow knew them. he knew what they were about and what their lives consisted of. he was the real deal and he had that very rare chromosome that allowed him to go right through the lens of the camera and jump right out in the room with you. >> professor, you talked about the discrimination in the studio audience in your view. what was the other most significant thing you learned about dick clark in your research? >> i would echo the points that jack just made and larry king made, that he was a tremendous businessperson. his role in terms of popularizing rock 'n' roll was unprecedented and no one can match it in the 1950s. in the 1950s you could only push that racial envelope so far. >> we almost did not get to see dick clark the tv star. remember, with "american bandstand" he owned publishing rights. abc said you've got a choice, sell it, sell your publishing rights or keep your show. he sold the publishing rights and went the other way. that's where the money was. had he stuck with publishing, we would not be talking about "american bandstand" to the degree we are right now. >> made the right business choice right there, though. >> he worked it all out in the end. roland martin, jack cafferty, professor, thank you so much. we'll talk to dick clark's legacy. we'll talk to charlie daniels and freddie "boom boom" cannon. this hour we're learning the fate of three secret service employees involved. neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectiou