The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: vtown7 on November 10, 2003, 04:17:49 PM
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Hi guys and gals,
I walked into the campus radio station this morning, and the program director was in. He says to me "Ryan, do you want to do a live call in game show? And I'll produce it?"
I'm thinking dear me, YES!!!
So, what I'm wondering from you folks is... suggestions on what type of format I should use? Questioning, word games, name association... I would imagine anything goes! Please do give your input!
Also... in other news, I interviewed a guy at my university that was on TPIR this past week. I should be playing it shortly after 11 am eastern/12.30 Newfoundland (ironically, when TPIR is on) this Wednesday, if you'd like to hear.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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"Just Luck"
Call in constestants are asked 5 multiple choice questions to win up 5 lucky numbers on a scale of 1-15 for the big spin of the "Lucky Wheel". If the ball lands on any one of the lucky numbers the contestant picked, he/she wins a prize.
-Mario500
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Hmmm...charades? :)
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[quote name=\'Mario500\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 03:17 PM\'] Call in constestants are asked 5 multiple choice questions to win up 5 lucky numbers on a scale of 1-15 for the big spin of the "Lucky Wheel". If the ball lands on any one of the lucky numbers the contestant picked, he/she wins a prize.
[/quote]
This is radio. Nobody gives a rip about a wheel spinning.
[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 03:35 PM\']Hmmm...charades? :)[/quote]
Now that's funny. :)
Seriously? Keep it simple. You're not gonna wanna have more than one contestant at a shot on the air anyhow, your listeners will not be able to keep track.
The local morning show in Seattle plays a couple of games: "Dead Or Alive", where you have to guess whether people are, yes, dead, or, alternately, alive, and "Yea or Nay", where contestants are to discern the true statements from the false ones. Both have the same scoring system: $10 for a right answer, you can stop anytime and take what you've won, or risk it all on the next question.
I'm not suggesting you have that kind of budget (although virtually everyone who plays continues until they flame out, so more often than not it costs them nothing), but maybe you can steal the scoring system: ask trivia questions, and the person who nails the most in a row wins the prize. Anyone who nails 7 or 10 straight is an automatic winner. Anyone can call in to play.
That's just with 30 seconds of thought, I'm sure you can refine it into a program somehow. Just don't try to be too complicated, it's college radio, nobody is listening anyhow. ;)
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For what it's worth, back in 1979, when I was in college at the University of Central Arkansas, a couple of other guys in the speech department and I launched a live call-in show called "Mr. Trivia" on our campus station for an hour each week. Since we couldn't do trade-outs as such, we got places like McDonald's and the bowling alley to donate coupons for prizes and we did a "community service grant" announcement for them at the top and bottom of the show. We asked questions like guessing the numerical answer to a question and saying higher or lower until it was answered, we had a question where we gave increasingly easier clues toward a famous person's identity (the more clues, the less prizes) and then we turned the tables and let people call in and try to stump us. Plus a dose of oldies records sprinkled throughout plus some news and weather. All in all, a pretty entertaining hour (for us, at least). Over time, several students and some locals found us (college students with not much money will gladly call a radio station for a chance for a free burger!) Your show sounds like a lot of fun! Have a blast and enjoy!
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*begins evil plotting to call Ryan on-air*
Just kidding. :)
-Jason
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Maybe create your own "Price Is Right"-style concept with multiple games? One station I worked at, we had about 6 or 7 different games we played throughout the week - word games, trivia, music... Perhaps you might like to have a list of 10 games a show - when a caller rings in, they pick a number, play the game. Keep in mind that a number of game companies may be willing to donate copies of popular board games for prizes if you play them on-air. Mix them in with originals. Since game show outfits adapt from each others' ideas, make your own twist on a popular format - take a Family Feud home game, find a category with eight answers, read them in a different order and challenge the listener to pick the top 5, allowing only one wrong answer. Another favorite we played was a word game variation of the old Winning Streak end game. So many possibilities. Good luck with whatever you do.
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Try doing a "How much money is in my pocket thing", and make it as IUFB style as you can.
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I'm gonna agree with Chris on this one. Gambling is probably a good idea for part of it. Word association doesn't work too well, as you can't very well have another contestant in the studio giving clues.
Maybe a "pass the buck" sort of thing would work? Have a catagory, and a time limit, each correct answer gets you cash. You can take said cash, or risk it by waiting until the end of the show, and if you have the most correct answers you win a bigger jackpot.
Too complicated?
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Maybe you can listen to the best radio game show out there (and the one that has the oddest prize out there) NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!". It's funny and it's quirky. It's like if you married "The Daily Show" and "Jeopardy!".
I'm sure it's been discussed on this board before, but I always enjoy listening to it every week and it can't hurt you to listen to a one of the few radio game shows out there for ideas on how to do it well.
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! (http://\"http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/index.html\")
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[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 10:28 PM\'] Maybe you can listen to the best radio game show out there (and the one that has the oddest prize out there) NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" [/quote]
That's a fine idea. "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" is said to be an excellent show.
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After thinking about it for five minutes ...
You could adapt the Mystery Guest segment of WML? A famous person is chosen, living or dead. Each caller asks a series of yes/no questions until a "no" answer is given, at which point you drop that caller and go on to the next until the identity is solved. The beauty part is that such a game requires minimal advance preparation, i.e. no researching and writing questions.
You could play "reverse password". A password is chosen. The first caller is given a clue to the password. If the password is unsolved, the next caller receives the first clue plus an additional clue. Each successive caller receives one more clue until the password is solved or until X clues have been given (basically you're playing the P+/SP puzzle). This idea requires more research, writing and preparation.
Just hope that Mandel doesn't send the Fremangle legal beagles after you :-)
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 02:35 PM\'] Hmmm...charades? :) [/quote]
I think Blockbusters would adapt ever so well to radio. Or Concentration.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 11 2003, 12:54 AM\'] [quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 10:28 PM\'] Maybe you can listen to the best radio game show out there (and the one that has the oddest prize out there) NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" [/quote]
That's a fine idea. "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" is said to be an excellent show. [/quote]
Just played the online quiz. I love it....very addictive.
ObGameShow: I'm surprised someone hasn't jumped on the idea of doing something like this...could do it with some kind of mini-games a la TPiR.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 02:35 PM\'] Hmmm...charades? :) [/quote]
Working title: CHARADIO!
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Nov 11 2003, 02:12 AM\'] [quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 02:35 PM\'] Hmmm...charades? :) [/quote]
I think Blockbusters would adapt ever so well to radio. Or Concentration. [/quote]
Actually, I was thinking "Win, Lose or Draw...."
Seriously, have fun with it. Do something silly like "Dead or Canadian?" Or maybe a Cram-style guess-the-riddle contest. And remember to sneak "The Phrase That Pays" in there someplace.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 11 2003, 08:11 AM\'] Seriously, have fun with it. Do something silly like "Dead or Canadian?" [/quote]
That's another excellent idea. Get a couple of the more recent editions of You Don't Know Jack and steal (or write your own!) some Dis or Dat questions.
"I have a list of seven names, for each one, you will have to tell me whether it is a Pasta, or an Opera Composer. Five points for each right answer, and remember that the high scorer at the end of the show wins a prize. You will have two seconds to answer, so be fast. Are you ready?"
"Um, yeah."
"Then here we go. Puccini! Fusilli! Rigatoni! Bellini! Donizetti!"
If you could set up several such games, for a flat point amount each (say, 50 overall), you could play them TPiR style. I think playing the Mystery Guest game WML-style is a great idea too. The all-sports station in San Francisco used to do it, except of course they had the famous sports figure on the line, but you can do it without that, if you come up with a good hint to lead people in the right direction.
"Thanks for playing, Bob, we'll be in touch if you're our winner. We're gonna take a quick break, Name That Dude is coming up after this..."
You might also consider using your PD / producer as a sidekick...it'll take some of the heat off of you, and butter him up nicely ;) Give him the Randy job:
"Rick, who is our next player?"
"Ryan, please welcome Dick Hertz!"
"Hi, Dick, howareya?"...etc.
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Guys and gals,
Thanks SO MUCH for all of your suggestions. They're great! That idea of rotating games is very intriguing. I'm meeting with the production manager this week and hopefully we'll be able to mount a pilot show soon enough!
And Jason: you can call. I'll take your call :)
Paging Randy: you want a job? I can pay you in Cod. :)
Cheers, and thanks,
Ryan :)
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I do a daily quiz/trivia show here in Huntington, West Virginia. My 100th show is Monday, Nov.17. I call it "Take A Chance." It's simplistic in nature, but very few people win out. I offer 6 categories, just like Jeopardy! There are 3 questions in the category. The caller picks 1 of the 6 categories and I ask the 1st question. If answered right a prize is given. The caller risks losing that prize to move to #2. If answered right, caller gets both prizes. The caller risks losing the 2 prizes to move on to #3. If answered correctly, caller gets all 3 prizes and is registered for a jackpot prize at the end of 6 weeks. If the caller misses along the way, a consolation prize is given.
I'm at a commercial station here, so the "sales weasels" get me stuff to give away. I could envision a campus station giving away t-shirts, coupons, college apparel, etc.
I have a theme, sfx of right & wrong answers and an announcer(Adam Nedeff)who is also a member of this board.
The execution comes off very nicely.
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I think Blockbusters would adapt ever so well to radio. Or Concentration.
On my rarely heard college station back East, my radio partner and I actually DID play 'Blockbusters' on the radio for our morning show...
Granted we were stopping people outside the studio to challenge my co-host in-studio, but still, it's difficult to play 'Blockbusters' (a purely visual game) on the radio.
How about radio 'Match Game'?
JOSH
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[quote name=\'gameshowhost1\' date=\'Nov 13 2003, 08:41 AM\'] I do a daily quiz/trivia show here in Huntington, West Virginia. My 100th show is Monday, Nov.17. I call it "Take A Chance." It's simplistic in nature, but very few people win out. I offer 6 categories, just like Jeopardy! There are 3 questions in the category. The caller picks 1 of the 6 categories and I ask the 1st question. If answered right a prize is given. The caller risks losing that prize to move to #2. If answered right, caller gets both prizes. The caller risks losing the 2 prizes to move on to #3. If answered correctly, caller gets all 3 prizes and is registered for a jackpot prize at the end of 6 weeks. If the caller misses along the way, a consolation prize is given.
I'm at a commercial station here, so the "sales weasels" get me stuff to give away. I could envision a campus station giving away t-shirts, coupons, college apparel, etc.
I have a theme, sfx of right & wrong answers and an announcer(Adam Nedeff)who is also a member of this board.
The execution comes off very nicely. [/quote]
How much time do you spend preparing questions each week?
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The Don & Mike radio show is able to (more or less successfully) play Match Game, Strip Trivia, and Low-Budget Jep-par-dee.
I'd say start out with one contestant games for your first "season", and then both your audience and your staff will probably be ready for two contestant games.
Good luck,
Mike / reason
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One point to take into consideration is this: a typical drive-time radio program might intersperse game elements among other show elements such as songs, commercials, traffic reports, etc. Actual game play may last only a few minutes. Contrast this with an entire show devoted to your game, where actual game play might take upwards of 20 minutes during a half-hour show. IOW it's one thing to play a handful of Jeopardy! or Match Game questions between sets of songs, commercials and traffic reports. It's quite another thing to construct a full 30-minute show based solely around a game without those other program elements.
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Hi guys,
Thanks once again for your help. Good news, we're recording two pilots next week. The format will be five rounds, with two pairs facing off each other. The idea is that we'll tinker with it and do a full out launch in January.
Will fill you in with more when it comes time!
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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How frequently will this show air? Daily? Weekly?
Five rounds of what? If this is going to be a Q&A game, be prepared to spend a substantial amount of time researching and writing questions, probably more time than you realize. Once you get past the obvious "first tier" questions ("Who was President Nixon's vice president?") that you can write off the top of your head, question researching and writing can become a major undertaking in terms of time consumption. I speak from experience on this, and it's why I suggested the WML? format. If all of your material consists of obvious, easy-to-write questions then your game won't be much of a challenge. If you lift material from, say, Trivial Pursuit then you have copyright issues.
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We're doing five rounds that vary in their material and game play: only two (the first and the last) are strictly quiz questions.
It's going to air weekly, a half hour slot. We're recording a couple of pilots next week, and then we'll start a regular slot in January.
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Nov 17 2003, 01:36 PM\'] The format will be five rounds, with two pairs facing off each other. [/quote]
Two PAIRS? You are asking your audience to juggle FOUR seperate voices they don't know?
Wow. Good luck with it, but that's a bad idea, IMO...
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In response to Chris319, The question writing comes in spurts--whenever I have time with the other duties I have here at WRVC. I write academic questions for other tournaments, so I take some from that material, others I just get from wherever. So, there's no real time spent writing I can give you, other than it's whenever I have the time
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clemon79 said:
Two PAIRS? You are asking your audience to juggle FOUR seperate voices they don't know?
We're going to try our best! I'll be recognizing the team name/player name when they answer questions.
I'm sure these issues will work themselves out in the pilots, though!
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 11:18 AM\'] clemon79 said:
Two PAIRS? You are asking your audience to juggle FOUR seperate voices they don't know?
We're going to try our best! I'll be recognizing the team name/player name when they answer questions.
I'm sure these issues will work themselves out in the pilots, though!
Cheers,
Ryan :) [/quote]
These are going to be call-in contestants or in-studio contestants?