Dick Clark is dead at the age of 82.

I keep thinking about all the icons on television that, for me, meant it was time for "the holidays." When Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were on, it was time for Christmas. When Dick Clark and, yes, Guy Lombardo, was on, it was time for New Year's.

Even when a stroke in 2004 slurred Clark's speech, viewers like me expected Clark to be given just a little bit of time during his New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Old fogey time: with Clark gone, I won't watch Rockin' Eve anymore. The music is so bad...I only watched to experience a little bit of tradition when Clark appeared.