April 12, 1986. A half-hour dance show taped in Philadelphia quietly premiered on the USA Network.

Nobody involved thought they were making history. We can say that with some authority, because we were there — and we can promise you that the main things on anyone’s mind were hair, clothes, and not looking at the camera at the wrong moment.

But Dance Party USA turned 40 this year, and forty years is the kind of number that makes you sit down for a second.

The short version, for the newcomers: the show ran from that April afternoon in 1986 all the way to June of 1992. It started as a half hour and got bumped to a full hour in 1987, because apparently America could not get enough of teenagers dancing in a Philadelphia TV studio — and honestly? America was right.

Bobby got there first, coming up through the Philly dance-show world in 1985, and ended up hosting the party from ’89 to ’91. Jason was the co-conspirator-in-chief in the studio from ’86 through ’88, back when the show was brand new and none of us knew what it would become. Between us we saw the whole arc — the regulars, the guest artists, the songs, the sunburns from Penns Landing remotes nobody warned us about.

What still gets us about that show isn’t the nostalgia, exactly. It’s that it was live-wire real in a way TV barely is anymore. Real teenagers. Real reactions. Somebody’s actual first heartbreak happening just off camera while the floor kept moving. You can’t write that. You could only point a camera at it, five days a week, and let it happen.

Forty years later, people still find the cast online, still send us their memories, still ask the same question: “was it as fun as it looked?”

It was more fun than it looked. And it looked like the most fun on television.

We talk about the show constantly on the Awesome 80s Podcast — the stories that never made air are half the reason the podcast exists. Forty years in, the party’s still going. It just has better parking now.

— Bobby and Jason

FAQ

When did Dance Party USA premiere?
Dance Party USA premiered on the USA Network on April 12, 1986, and ran until June 27, 1992.

Where was Dance Party USA filmed?
The show was taped in Philadelphia, at TV studios including WPHL-TV and WGBS, with famous remote shoots at spots like Penns Landing.

How long was each episode?
It began as a half-hour show in 1986 and expanded to a full hour in 1987.

Were Bobby and Jason really on Dance Party USA?
Yes — Bobby was part of the Philly dance-show scene from 1985 and hosted Dance Party USA from 1989 to 1991; Jason was a regular on the floor from 1986 to 1988.