We now have about 30% of our digitization complete (300+ hours) for our CLIR-funded project, Broadcasting Baltimore: Digitizing Hidden Histories in the WJZ-TV Collection, and among the tapes digitized includes the series described as “WJZ’s nightclub on the air,” Shakedown! This series was executive produced by Michael Easterling, produced by Earnest Winbourne, and hosted by Harold Anthony. You may recognize Harold Anthony from WJZ’s City Line where he hosted the segment, the “Entertainment Page” and later co-hosted the show with Jaki Hall. Every Saturday evening on Shakedown, he “invited viewers to hear the hottest music, see the best dancers and some of his favorite people from in and around Baltimore.” The show was seen as a revival of The Buddy Deane Show which aired from 1957-1964 until it was canceled due to integration controversy (read more about how The Buddy Deane Show influenced John Waters’ Hairspray in another blog post).
The show first aired in February 1986 and was an hour long, and then was shortened to a half-hour. 60 dancers were chosen at auditions held at Maxwell’s, Odell’s, and the Golden Ring Mall. Regular and new faces would filter in and out throughout the series as people sent in photos to WJZ expressing their desire to be on the show and regular Shakedown dancers would move on to other opportunities. An hour-long show took between two to three hours to tape and typically two shows were taped in one day, usually Saturday morning on the Eyewitness News set. Shakedown dancer, Aeja Jenkins expressed, “I like to dance, no make that I love to dance. I also love to watch myself on TV. I also get a big kick out of watching my little girl Shannon watching the TV tape.”
Easterling differentiated Shakedown from other dance shows like American Bandstand, Dance Fever, or Soul Train because “Our kids look real…[in other shows] you don’t see an ounce of fat. You don’t see a zit. You don’t see a middle-income or lower-income person. Here everybody is your neighbor or the guy who checks your oil at the pumps. And all that makes the show real and unique to Baltimore.” John Waters praised the show for not having “Yuppies” and he found it “refreshing [because] it showed a side of Baltimore that [he] happened to like.” Barefoot Bruce and Cha Cha were among his favorite dancers and the Pajama Party and the Beach Party (Salute to Summertime) were his favorite episodes.
Barefoot Bruce interviewed during “Fireside Chat” (L)
Cha Cha with her dance partner, Kevin during the “Shakedown Show Down” (R)
Apart from watching dancers, Shakedown had many rotating segments. Among the most consistent was the “Silver Bullet Pick” which featured a local radio personality who chose a top 40 song that they predicted would become number one. The show regularly hosted local Baltimore bands such as Oran “Juice” Jones, The Press Club, Sweet Cookie, and later expanded to host national musicians. The “Nightclub Salute” featured local nightclubs such as Odell’s and Hammerjacks. One or two videos were chosen per episode for the “Video Showcase” and at the beginning of the series, there was a “Rate-A-Video” segment where Shakedown dancers would rate a new video from 1-10. Dancers were interviewed in the “Fireside Chat” and were asked everything from their birthdays to recent accomplishments, and even read some of their fan mail. Dancers really shined on the “Shakedown Show Down” where they partnered up and showed off their dance moves and outfits.
Roy Sampson, V-103, and Kauleen Sharp, WQSR-FM
Shakedown Show Down
The show was canceled by the end of November 1986 despite it finally being rated number one beating out Saturday Night Live in October. WJZ promised Winbourne several specials in the future. John Waters made a guest appearance at the “Fireside Chat” segment on episode #10 in April and was on set again, but off-camera at the last taping, which was a “Leather and Lace” special. The show was given a 12-week summertime series in 1987 with half-hour episodes from June through September. Harold Anthony returned as host and WJZ’s Steve Aveson from Evening Magazine took over the “Nightclub salute” segment.
The 1992 11-week summertime special showed a lot of changes. It still consisted of 60 dancers but few were featured, especially not as prominently as before. It was hosted by Tacuma in the studio and by “Hip-Hop Advisor” Prime in the field featuring regional locations such as Tom Mitchell’s Grid Iron, the Carrol County Fair, and Camden Yards. Prime also interviewed celebrities such as MC Search and Boyz II Men. The “Silver Bullet Pick” became the “Taco Bell Pick of the Week.”
1992 Shakedown hosts
We have about 50 surviving tapes from the series overall. They primarily consist of the show’s first season which had a 44-week run in 1986, four from the 12-week 1987 summer special, six tapes from the 1992 summer revival, and one field tape saluting Odell’s nightclub.
Explore Shakedown in our ArchivesSpace and watch episodes on our Aviary.
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning. To learn more, visit www.clir.org and follow CLIR on Facebook and Twitter.
This blog post was written by Joana Stillwell, MARMIA’s AV Archivist.
February 6, 2023: Broadcasting Baltimore Update #1: City Line Is Digitized
August 28, 2022: Digitizing Hidden Histories Begins
April 28, 2022: MARMIA Receives a CLIR Grant
Sources
1. Alvarez, Rafael, Final shows of TV’s ‘Shakedown’ are taped as dancing regulars say goodbye, The Baltimore Sun, Nov 16, 1986, pg. 12C
2. Frenkiel, Nora, WATCHING THEIR STEPS, The Baltimore Sun, Mar 27, 1986, pg. 1B
3. WJZ revives dance show, The Baltimore Sun, Apr 15, 1992, pg. 6C
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