1960s 'Dream House' spawned a destructive hedge fund?

[Kniwt]

A long report out this morning in The Atlantic details the history of hedge fund Alden Global Capital and how it's changed local newspapers. (For better or for worse, we'll just leave that part to the off-topic board.)

An interesting -- and relevant to our interests -- tidbit is buried deep in the article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/

The story of Alden Capital begins on the set of a 1960s TV game show called Dream House. A young man named Randall Duncan Smith—Randy for short—stands next to his wife, Kathryn, answering quick-fire trivia questions in front of a live studio audience. The show’s premise pits two couples against each other for the chance to win a home. When the Smiths win, they pass on the house and take the cash prize instead—a $20,000 haul that Randy will eventually use to seed a small trading firm he calls R.D. Smith & Company.

[weaklink75]

Didn't a lot of people take a cash buyout instead of the house because of tax issues? I remember reading that only a couple of houses were actually built- makes you wonder how many people on the 80's version actually got their houses built (though they had a lot of house building partners in that run) or if there was a cash buyout option there too...

[BrandonFG]

There's a picture in Maxine Fabe's book with Mike Darrow standing in front of a house under construction. I don't remember how many took the buyout; I just remember the caption saying "Ticky tacky!"

My thoughts on Alden and other hedge funds getting into journalism are not suitable for this forum.

[TLEberle]

The caption might have been an allusion to the song “Little Houses.”

[SuperMatch93]

Didn't a lot of people take a cash buyout instead of the house because of tax issues? I remember reading that only a couple of houses were actually built- makes you wonder how many people on the 80's version actually got their houses built (though they had a lot of house building partners in that run) or if there was a cash buyout option there too...

From what I understand, in 1969 TV Guide published an expose on Dream House that stated that no houses had been built and that couples had to borrow more than the $7,000 land credit they won, and that was the impetus for offering the cash option. I haven't heard anything about the 80s show offering a cash option.

[byrd62]

Although didn't the 1983-84 version of Dream House with Bob Eubanks on NBC value the winning house at $100,000, with no cash option on offer?

[chris319]

Did the winners have any say as to where their Dream House would be built geographically?

I've seen the old TPIR give away a home in Florida, but what if I don't want to live in Florida? There's also the matter of land acquisition for the house.

So the "Dream House" aspect was somewhat of a come-on if so few winners actually built houses.

didn't the 1983-84 version of Dream House with Bob Eubanks on NBC value the winning house at $100,000, with no cash option on offer?

Oh great. Imagine telling a contestant "you can either have the house or go home with a case of Turtle Wax."

[TLEberle]

Although didn't the 1983-84 version of Dream House with Bob Eubanks on NBC value the winning house at $100,000, with no cash option on offer?

I recall that $15,000 was allotted for land buying, and it was not quite $90,000 all up. Besides that any cash came from the main game. You would need to defend as champ to get to $100k.

[chris319]

That version of Dream House is a story in itself.

It originated from the erstwhile Colonial theater in New York city. In the 1950s, RCA acquired the Colonial and used it as a test bed for color TV as well as a theater to produce color programs for NBC.

Color television was a really big deal in those days, especially for RCA. RCA had an all-electronic color TV system in competition with a system developed by CBS which involved spinning color filter wheels. At the time, both companies manufactured TV receivers and they both had a potential stake in manufacturing color TV sets. RCA was also working on color TV at their headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. A major consideration was the fact that the CBS color system was incompatible with the existing user base of B&W receivers. Consumers would have to buy new TV sets to receive anything at all with the CBS system.

The Price Is Right was one of the first color shows on NBC and originated from the Colonial theater. The Colonial was equipped with four huge RCA TK-40 cameras, each weighing 350 pounds, with racks of associated vacuum-tube electronics which consumed a lot of power and generated a lot of heat.

TPIR was eventually cancelled by NBC and RCA/NBC vacated the theater. TPIR moved to ABC, originating from the Ritz theater where it continued for several years in glorious black and white. RCA won the color TV war with CBS. In addition to color receivers, RCA went on to manufacture TV studio and transmission equipment.

ABC was the next occupant of the Colonial. They installed more modern cameras and the hoary, dated old TPIR set was gone. A snazzy new set was constructed for Dream House. As TV production migrated to the west coast, the Colonial theater was ultimately demolished. There was a lot of TV history in that theater.