How could you have been a "Carmen Sandiego" contestant?

[mbclev]

I've just listened to the themes from Where In The World and In Time is Carmen Sandiego?, and I was wondering how one could have become a contestant on those shows?  I don't think there was any on-air contestant plugs on those series.

[SamJ93]

I remember calling up the production office as a kid (via my local PBS affiliate) to find out how to be a contestant, and was told that they only take contestants from schools in the NYC area.  (No idea how they chose them from there, though--perhaps they advertised locally or scouted for exceptionally good geography/history students.)

--Sam

[JamesVipond]

Didn't WGBH and WQED produce the Carmen Sandiego shows? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use schoolchildren from Boston and Pittsburgh rather than New York?

[Adam Nedeff]

Didn't WGBH and WQED produce the Carmen Sandiego shows? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use schoolchildren from Boston and Pittsburgh rather than New York?

No, because you'd have to fly/drive them to the studio. A quick check of the game show fan's best friend says the show taped at Lifetime Studios in New York.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'155749\' date=\'Jun 21 2007, 12:02 PM\']A quick check of the game show fan's best friend says the show taped at Lifetime Studios in New York.[/quote]
That's one hell of a DVR

Well, I'm sure there wasn't a shortage of contestants in the New York City school system.  I think I've seen weirder matchings of show to studio, though (eg Double Dare).

[gsfreak82]

When it became popular, it expanded searches to Philadelphia.  My sister's class was one of many to try out.  She failed but her friend got on the show and won.  Not the trip but she got the Carmen Sandiego Jacket and a camera as a bonus.  I don't remember the production facility but I do know it was in NY.