Which airs first: J! or WoF?

[pacdude]

Someone did the work:

http://www.graphgraph.com/2014/03/jeopardy-and-wheel-of-fortune-airtimes-in-graphs-and-maps/

[TLEberle]

I suppose I did have an idea that Spokane's TV market (The blue splotch to the right of Puget Sound's red) was that big in terms of area, but when you look at it that way it does put things in an interesting way.

[BrandonFG]

I'm guessing that the fact that "Wheel" primarily airs from 6-8pm stems from the fact that it premiered when the daytime version still aired, and thus affiliates saw no need to deviate for the most part.

Does anyone recall whether any markets aired Wheel before 6:00 when it first premiered?

[PYLdude]

See, I was somewhat surprised that most of Jeopardy's stations are CBS affiliates. IIRC the ABC O&Os all have it, but I was under the impression NBC stations comprised most of its viewer base.

Although the percentage of TVs themselves being in ABC's favor doesn't surprise me considering its big three stations all have it.

[aaron sica]

Good point, Brandon! J! got some pre-6:00 airtime when IT premiered, but I've never seen the nighttime WoF listed anywhere before 6 in the early days..

/interested in seeing a map of how many stations still air the show in SD.

[nowhammies10]

When CBC got Wheel/J! up here a couple years back, the Toronto affiliate aired Wheel at 5:30 before the news, as Coronation Street aired at 7:00 for years prior, and they didn't want to screw up the audience that watches Corrie religiously.

/indeed, the audience for Corrie and Wheel/J! often overlaps

[brianhenke]

I'm guessing that the fact that "Wheel" primarily airs from 6-8pm stems from the fact that it premiered when the daytime version still aired, and this affiliates saw no need to deviate for the most part.

Does anyone recall whether any markets aired Wheel before 6:00 when it first premiered?

In the fall of 1983, it aired in Pittsburgh at 5:30. It aired on KDKA (CBS). I remember if an non-NBC station carried the syndie Wheel before 6, they had to get a waiver from NBC.

Brian

[PYLdude]

I seem to remember KYW airing some form of Wheel in the early afternoon paired with the Newlywed Game sometime in 1985...could've been the daytime series but not sure.

Or I might've missed on this altogether.

[BrandonFG]

Good point, Brandon! J! got some pre-6:00 airtime when IT premiered, but I've never seen the nighttime WoF listed anywhere before 6 in the early days..

I don't know who has it now, but for years, WFAA in Dallas aired it at 3:00 pm, which I remember finding odd as a child. IIRC, it was that way for years, from the premiere up until sometime in the mid-to-late-2000s.

For awhile, it seemed that Dallas was a bit of an anomaly, in that it was a market that aired Wheel and Jeopardy! on different stations for a while. IIRC Wheel was on at 6:30 on KXAS for years. When I was younger, I thought it was odd to see a station air the shows reverse of what Norfolk did, let alone seeing them on two different channels!

/Thanks to everyone else who answered my question about Wheel's early timeslots

[aaron sica]

I seem to remember KYW airing some form of Wheel in the early afternoon paired with the Newlywed Game sometime in 1985...could've been the daytime series but not sure.

Or I might've missed on this altogether.

It was the daytime version...Quite an odd arrangement, but KYW aired Scrabble at 3 (originally $ale..not sure why they changed that), Super Password at 3:30, and daytime WoF at 4. This continued until fall of '89, I believe..

[PYLdude]

I seem to remember KYW airing some form of Wheel in the early afternoon paired with the Newlywed Game sometime in 1985...could've been the daytime series but not sure.

Or I might've missed on this altogether.

It was the daytime version...Quite an odd arrangement, but KYW aired Scrabble at 3 (originally $ale..not sure why they changed that), Super Password at 3:30, and daytime WoF at 4. This continued until fall of '89, I believe..

I remember WNBC doing something similar with Scrabble once it moved to 12:30. It would air sometime in the three o'clock hour (don't know what they did with Santa Barbara- I know they picked up Maury and carried it there until sometime in the mid '90s but before Paramount stopped producing it; they also didn't have a noon newscast at that time, so maybe that's what they did with it).

[aaron sica]

I remember WNBC doing something similar with Scrabble once it moved to 12:30. It would air sometime in the three o'clock hour (don't know what they did with Santa Barbara- I know they picked up Maury and carried it there until sometime in the mid '90s but before Paramount stopped producing it; they also didn't have a noon newscast at that time, so maybe that's what they did with it).

I was *just* thinking about this the other day. I seem to remember around 1990 or so, WNBC moving "Santa Barbara" to noon, and airing game shows in the 3pm hour. "Classic Concentration" was definitely one of them but I'm drawing a blank on the other..I don't believe it was Scrabble..

[weaklink75]

I'm actually surprised at how many stations air J! first- I always thought the preferred order was Wheel first (at least when they did national commercials for both shows it was usually Wheel then J!)...

[Jimmy Owen]

I'm actually surprised at how many stations air J! first- I always thought the preferred order was Wheel first (at least when they did national commercials for both shows it was usually Wheel then J!)...

That was because J! was positioned as a transitional show between the network news and WOF.

[gameshowcrazy]

This was very interesting.

Seeing this, and with what I remember to be the history of what aired when and on what channel in the Philadelphia market, I have to wonder if many of these timeslots have more to do with history and an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude at the local level.

In Philadelphia, Wheel/J! have always been on WPVI.  Originally J! was at 4pm and Wheel at 730pm (you'll see my theory as to why coming).

In the mid-70s, The PA Lottery would air at 7pm, and the Muppet Show (great companion to the lottery) would come on at 701pm.  At 730 there would be a game show.  IIRC, Joker's Wild was there first (and I say first from the time in maybe 1976 when the Muppet Show first came and I started watching it).

After Joker's Wild was off the air, Tic-Tac-Dough replaced it and that stayed at 730 until Wheel came around (by this time, the Muppet Show was done and TTD was moved to 7pm with Wheel coming on at 730pm).  When the Muppet Show ended, other game shows filled the 7pm slot (I could be wrong about the shows, but I remember in this era watching  Bullseye and some other game shows in the pre-primetime slot).  After the first year of J! at 4pm, it was moved to 7pm.

So WPVI always had this 7-8pm syndicated slot, with 730 always having a game show.  J! was also moved to make way for Oprah, which mostly aired on ABC stations (I think only two markets did not have Oprah on an ABC station for most of her run).

I may have some of the specifics wrong, but just wanted to put out there the idea that history plays a role in what airs at what time in various markets.