• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Who aired what in Atlanta: Lesser-known game shows

J

johnnya2k6

In case you didn't get the memo, Atlanta is my new home now after many, many years in Fairbanks. In other words, I'm back to watching real TV once again in a Top 10 market (Fairbanks is #203).

A long time ago, we had a thread discussing some forgotten network, syndicated, and yes cable shows, especially game shows. And we know that based on listings, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy was on WAGA and WXIA respectively before Wheel went to WXIA and now sister station WATL. WAGA also carried "$1 Million Chance of a Lifetime" (which briefly out-rated Wheel), while 11 Alive had "$100,000 Pyramid". And WSB hasn't carried any more syndicated game shows since dropping Family Feud in favor of Entertainment Tonight and scheduling it at 7:30, where it has remained ever since. As for WANX (later WGNX and now WGCL)? The 1980 Let's Make A Deal and Face The Music got some airtime there.

But what about some of the other lesser-known game shows, like those brought up on that aforementioned thread? Here are some of them and my guesses on where they ended up (bpatrick may back me up on this):

Every Second Counts: Since it failed to get any clearance at all in New York City, I wouldn't be surprised if WATL got it
Wipeout (with Peter Tomarken, not the Big Balls): If it aired in NYC at 2:00 am, maybe WVEU (now WUPA) had it at a more feasible time in early fringe
Anything For Money: I think WXIA, but I'm not sure (KTVA was the only Alaskan station that had this)
Card Guppies (aka Card Sharks 2001): Probably WUPA
Catch Phrase: WGCL, perhaps?
The Challengers: WXIA
1990 revivals of Tic Tac Dough/Joker's Wild: Probably WUPA
Bzzz!: Either WUPA or WATL
Click (hosted by Ryan Seacrest pre-American Idol and everything else): WUPA
$100,000 Name That Tune (Jim Lange): Since they previously had Face the Music, WGCL
Make Me Laugh (1979): Unknown
Pitfall: Unknown

Maybe some more blanks can be filled out.
 
Didn't WSB pre-empt a lot of network daytime programming when they were an NBC affiliate? I'd be willing to bet a lot of the network's short-lived game shows ended up on independent stations.
 
AKA said:
Didn't WSB pre-empt a lot of network daytime programming when they were an NBC affiliate? I'd be willing to bet a lot of the network's short-lived game shows ended up on independent stations.
Click to expand...

We're talking syndicated game shows, not network.

But Atlanta is currently the #9 market; back in the '70s and '80s when those game shows (and others) were aired, they were probably somewhere in the top 25.
 
Last edited:
I know the John Davidson version of "$100,000 Pyramid" aired on WUPA during it's brief run. I spent about a month during the summer of '91 visiting my Grandmother there and watched it nearly every day. The station paired it with WSB cast-off "Match Game '90" in the early afternoons.
 
Last edited:
Neither "Pitfall" nor "Make Me Laugh" (if you're talking about the '70s version) aired in Atlanta; I do remember watching "Make Me Laugh" on KXAS Dallas/Ft. Worth.

The '70s version of "Masquerade Party" with Richard Dawson as host was on WXIA. "Dealer's Choice" was on WXIA in the summer and fall of 1974, then moved to Ch. 17, where it was paired with "The Diamond Head Game" in primetime (8-9 PM) starting in January 1975.

WAGA had "The $128,000 Question" during its first season (1976-77) but didn't renew it for the 1977-78 season. Ch. 5 also had the Bob Hilton version of "Truth Or Consequences" in the 1977-78 season (Ch. 2 had it when Bob Barker was host), but I don't remember who carried Larry Anderson's version in 1987. "Win, Lose Or Draw" also aired on Ch. 5.

Ch. 2 had the dating show "That's Amore," which it aired around 1 or 2 AM.
 
As for nighttime Price is Right? My guesses are that WAGA had the Dennis James/Bob Barker version, WXIA might have carried Tom Kennedy's and buried him to overnights; but according to someone at Golden-Road.net, they also had Doug Davidson's version (at 7:30 opposite -- you guessed it -- timeslot killer ET on WSB!).

Break The Bank (1985) was also on WAGA, since it was still owned by Storer at the time. Still dunno about Card Sharks (Bill Rafferty), High Rollers (Wink Martindale), Pictionary (Alan Thicke version, not that sappy 1989 kiddie version), or any of the other shows I brought up in the first post.
 
Well, the only thing I have to say is...IT'S GREAT TO HAVE THIS BOARD BACK!!!!

Several blanks have been filled since the original post (I asked this same question on Facebook):

The Challengers, Catch Phrase, Liars Club, The Price Is Right (Tom Kennedy), So You Think You've Got Troubles?!, Card Sharks (Bill Rafferty)--WSB
The Price Is Right (Doug Davidson), Quiz Kids Challenge, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, Wipeout--WXIA
Trump Card, The Joker's Wild (1990), Click, Strike It Rich, Pictionary (1997)--WAGA
Cross-Wits (1986)--WATL; the original version might have been on WSB
Split Second (1986)--WUPA
Card Guppies (Card Sharks 2001), To Tell The Truth (John O'Hurley)--WGCL; they originally had the current incarnation of Family Feud before moving to its current home on WUPA

But still, we've got these:
Anything For Money
Tic Tac Dough (1990)
Headline Chasers
Truth or Consequences (1987)
Every Second Counts (that is, if it ever aired in Atlanta at all)
$100K Name That Tune (Jim Lange)
 
Channel 5 carried the Dennis James/Bob Barker "Price Is Right" from 1972-78, usually on Thursdays at 7:30, but on Tuesdays towards the end. 11 Alive had it briefly around 1979 on Saturdays at 7.
 
You Bet Your Life:
1980 (Buddy Hackett)--I'm guessing either WSB or WXIA
1992 (Bill Cosby)--WAGA (among many CBS affiliates who cleared the show and buried it to late nights)
 
WAGA carried the Buddy Hackett version of "You Bet Your Life" on Saturdays at 7:30 PM during the 1980-81 season. WXIA had Cosby's version weekdays at 4 PM in the 1992-93 season.
 
WAGA carried the Buddy Hackett version of "You Bet Your Life" on Saturdays at 7:30 PM in the 1980-81 season. WXIA carried the Cosby version weekdays at 4 PM in the 1992-93 season.
 
And I assume WXIA ran Anything For Money (since they later had Wipeout and the Doug Davidson TPIR, all of them currently owned by CBS), right?

Triple Threat -- also owned by CBS -- was definitely on WSB, but what about...
3rd Degree (Bert Convy's last game show)
$ale of the Century (nighttime version, NOT that Temptation knockoff)
Gong Show '88
The New Newlywed Game
The All-New Dating Game
Jeopardy! (nighttime Art Fleming version (yes, there was one!))
 
Last edited:
The late-'70s version of "The Newlywed Game" was on WSB; WAGA carried the syndicated 1973-74 version of "The Dating Game." It's possible that either Channel 36 or Channel 69 carried "Gong Show '88", "3rd Degree," and the "Dating/Newlywed Hour." As for the syndicated "$ale of the Century" and "Jeopardy!" (Fleming version), neither was carried in Atlanta; the closest market to get "$ale" was Birmingham (WBRC), while the closest market getting "Jeopardy!" was Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville (WSPA).
 
As for Double Dare, Finders Keepers, and Remote Control (the latter aired weekly)? They might have been on WATL.

What about Couch Potatoes? Since it was also a Group W game show like Every Second Counts (and its library also property of CBS), it probably belonged to either WAGA or WSB. Even though they were years away from becoming a Fox O&O, Studs was on WAGA, not WATL like all other Fox stations.

And remember that American Gladiators copycat Knights & Warriors (which lasted one season in 1992)? I'm guessing that WUPA carried it.

By the way...Atlanta was probably one of the many markets that also said "NO!" to Guilty or Innocent, Pictionary (1989), and/or Yahtzee for obvious reasons. Headline Chasers, Tic Tac Dough '90, Love Connection '98 (on somebody other than WSB, which had the original version), $50,000 Pyramid, and The New $100,000 Name That Tune are still unknown.
 
Last edited:
Well, you can scratch off Headline Chasers; it was on WXIA.

And speaking of Wink Martindale, his version of High Rollers as well as the John Davidson Hollywood Squares were aired on the very same station who carried the original versions as an NBC affiliate: WSB!

Also...
Cross-Wits (original)--WAGA
Concentration--WXIA
$25,000 Pyramid (Bill Cullen) and All-Star Anything Goes--WSB
 
And according to their ad in Broadcasting & Cable, WSB originally signed up to carry Joker's Wild '90...that is, until they looked at The Challengers pilot and decided to go with that show instead.

Which reminds me: What about Don Adams Screen Test (I'll say WSB)?
 
Last edited:
"Don Adams' Screen Test" was on WAGA. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it but "It's Your Bet" (hosted successively by Hal March, Tom Kennedy, Dick Gautier, and Lyle Waggoner) was also on WAGA; it was on at 1 PM until the summer of '73, when CBS moved "Secret Storm" back to 4 PM; Ch. 5 elected to air it on delay at 1, and moved "It's Your Bet" to 3:30, meaning "Match Game" wasn't picked up in Atlanta until the fall.

"He Said! She Said!", the show that evolved into "Tattletales," aired on Ch. 11 in the 1969-70 season.
 
Bill Cullen's edition of $25,000 Pyramid aired on WXIA, as did the nighttime Celebrity Sweepstakes.

Tom Kennedy's Price Is Right aired on WSB for three months at 5:30 PM before being shelved. It came back in February 1986 as a double airing Sunday mornings at 11 AM and 11:30.

WAGA aired Match Game PM for its initial season before shelving it as the station dumped the CBS show that past June 1976 (it aired at 1 PM on a one-week delay and was replaced with The Young & The Restless). WAGA brought Match Game PM back that February 1977 three times a week. It moved to WSB in 1978 after independent WATL picked up the CBS show.

Tic Tac Dough '90 aired on WSB late nights at 2 AM. The $50,000 Pyramid aired on WANX (now WGCL). Headline Chasers was on WXIA.

WUPA aired Dick Clark's $100,000 Pyramid in 1986. It moved to WAGA in 1987. The John Davidson edition was on WATL.
 
Last edited:
TTD '90 was on WSB at 2:00 am?! Who was in charge of programming back then, a bunch of stoned 20-year-old college interns?

That still leaves Couch Potatoes, Anything For Money, New $100K Name That Tune, Knights and Warriors (the medieval American Gladiators ripoff), Beat The Clock (Jack Narz/Gene Wood), and Match Game '98.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom