1984 was when ABC, NBC, and CBS all transitioned to full satellite distribution, which meant for Alaska and Hawaii, no more getting tapes of shows flown in regularly from Seattle and Los Angeles respectively.
Around that same time, the syndicators started adopting satellite to send their shows out instantaneously. I think prior to that, a station who had the "bicycled" tape on 2-inch or 1-inch would make 3/4-inch dubs for other nearby markets so that some parts of the country would see that episode on the same week; Solid Gold, Star Search, and America's Top 10 were examples.
As for game shows: the aforementioned Jeopardy, nighttime Family Feud, All-New LMAD, and the newbies that came and went in '84 were the first to be satellite-fed, while Tic Tac Dough and Joker's Wild were still bicycled until the end.
Satellite was also the only way we could see nighttime Card Sharks/TPIR, Win, Lose, or Draw (Bert Convy), and whatever else that never cleared Alaska when they were first aired; the GSN reruns would be "new" to most of us.
