My own radio game show!

[vtown7]

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

[Mario500]

"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

[DrBear]

Hmmm...charades?

[clemon79]

[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.

[Harold E Riedel]

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!

[ssjason]

*begins evil plotting to call Ryan on-air*

Just kidding.  

-Jason

[The Ol' Guy]

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.

[JayC]

Try doing a "How much money is in my pocket thing", and make it as IUFB style as you can.

[tommycharles]

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?

[inturnaround]

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!

[clemon79]

[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.

[chris319]

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 :-)

[chris319]

[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.

[BrandonFG]

[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.

[chris319]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 02:35 PM\'] Hmmm...charades? [/quote]
 Working title: CHARADIO!