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Question about the first Pennsylvania Lottery TV drawing of Daily Number

J

Jul

Guest
Good evening. On March 1, 1977, the Pennsylvania Lottery Daily Number drawing was televised for the first time. This was before other games like Big 4, Cash 5, etc. was added to the TV drawings show. I would like to find out which TV stations in Pennsylvania carried the first Daily Number TV drawing and when did the stations that is currently airing the TV drawings (KDKA, WJET, WNEP, WGAL, WPVI and WJAC) aired the PA Lottery TV drawings show for the first time and I would like to know since I live in Philly, when did WPVI channel 6 aired the PA lottery TV drawings for the first time?
 
KML-224 said:
Shouldn't there be something for this at the Pennsylvania Lottery's web site?
Click to expand...
I asked but they didn't give me an answer.
 
I was 15 and a half at the time. I don't know about the other markets, but I remember WCAU-10 airing it in Philly the first few weeks or months but the drawing had moved to WPVI by the end of 1977. Why that happened I don't know.

The PA Lottery had been around for about 5 years by then. I always thought its '70s-early '80s logo was the coolest of lottery logos (a stack of currency carved into a keystone).

ixnay
 
wiifm said:
I believe WJAC in Johnstown, PA was part of the original network.
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I would like to know what were the original TV stations in the state that aired the first TV drawing of the Daily Number.
 
ixnay said:
I was 15 and a half at the time. I don't know about the other markets, but I remember WCAU-10 airing it in Philly the first few weeks or months but the drawing had moved to WPVI by the end of 1977. Why that happened I don't know.
Click to expand...
That was during the time that WCAU-TV was a CBS O and O. Thanks for giving me the info that WPVI has been carrying the PA lottery TV drawings since 1977 (31 years this year that channel 6 WPVI has been airing the nightly TV drawings by the PA lottery )
 
The PA Daily Lottery Drawings were originally held in the studios of WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh. The Lottery Commission had a
contract with Hearst Broadcasting to produce them. That ended after the infamous "666" rigged drawing of April 24, 1980.
Several WTAE employees were in on the scam, including Nick Perry, longtime WTAE booth announcer and host of "Bowling
for Dollars" in Pittsburgh. He was the original announcer on the Daily Number broadcasts, and as such, had access (along with
two stagehands) to the lottery equipment. Afterwards the Lottery Commission took direct control of the drawings and moved
them to Harrisburg in order to keep better control over security.

KDKA-TV 2 took over the Pittsburgh broadcasts of the Harrisburg drawings when WTAE's original contract expired.
Ironically it was KDKA that broke the lottery scandal with their news coverage. They ran an interview with convicted
Pittsburgh racketeer and numbers boss Tony Grosso, who claimed to have knowledge that the number was rigged.
I had a friend working at WTAE at the time, and their management seemed absolutely convinced that the whole
thing was just a dirty trick by KDKA management to get the lottery drawings away from them (because they just
KNEW that none of THEIR employees could ever be involved in such a thing!)
 
FreddyE1977 said:
That ended after the infamous "666" rigged drawing of April 24, 1980.
Several WTAE employees were in on the scam, including Nick Perry, longtime WTAE booth announcer and host of "Bowling
for Dollars" in Pittsburgh. He was the original announcer on the Daily Number broadcasts, and as such, had access (along with
two stagehands) to the lottery equipment. Afterwards the Lottery Commission took direct control of the drawings and moved
them to Harrisburg in order to keep better control over security.
Click to expand...
The Drawings moved from the studios of WTAE to the studios WHP CBS 21 in Harrisburg in June 1981.
 
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