After serving in World War II, he became employed by Philadelphia's WFIL-TV as a boom microphone operator.
He was later promoted to cameraman (important as most programming was done live and local during the early years of television) and earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania.
In October 1952, Yates volunteered to direct Bandstand, a new concept featuring local teens dancing to the latest hits patterned after the "950 Club" on WPEN-AM.
It was broadcast live in its early years, even after it became part of the ABC network's weekday afternoon lineup in 1957 as American Bandstand.
Yates pulled records, directed the cameras, queued the commercials and communicated with Clark via a private line telephone located on his podium.