Dialing for Dollars

[Jimmy Owen]

For the many stations in the '60s that did a "Dialing for Dollars" segment, was that a franchised idea ala "Bowling for Dollars" and "Bozo" or a just a coincidence that all the stations used that title and format?

[chris319]

It was a franchise from Bert Claster Productions, originators of Romper Room.

[GSWitch]

In Houston, KTRK had that show from the late 60's up to 1976 I believe.  It was also a talk show as well.  The theme song was the same as 7 Keys (Everything's Coming Up Roses)

During 5 parts of the show, they would have a money call.  To qualify, you have to have your name listed in the White Pages (Unlisted wasn't allowed).  The jackpot started @ $10 & grew $10 per unsuccessful call (the record was $2,100!).

Unsuccessful call;

1).  If the party couldn't be reached after 6 rings.

2).  Busy signal.

3).  Operator saying, "That number is disconnected, etc"

4).  Contestant neither watching the show or couldn't guess the Count & Amount.

To win the progressive jackpot, you had to watch the show for the secret count (IE:  10 from the top, 4 from the bottom.  Numbers ranged from 1-20) & the amount of the jackpot.

If the caller guessed the count & amount, they win the jackpot!  This show used the famous TPIR sirens heard twice, followed by a tugboat horn tooting twice, then The William Tell Overture (Lone Ranger) being heard!

In 1977, Good Morning Houston replaced it, but kept the money call.  It progressed to $20/$20 per unsuccessful, later $30/$30 per unsuccessful try  That lasted until 1992 when GMH was canned by Geraldo.

[drmusic_99]

The local station in my hometown presumably avoided franchise fees by calling it "Tele-Spin".

[WorldClassRob]

It depends on where you lived.  Many markets around the country had similar "Dialing For Dollars" like the one in Houston, others were slightly different, but the emphesis is to give viewers a chance to win money if they knew the amount of the jackpot and a number and direction (up or down) as determined by the spin of two wheels.

El Paso, TX also had Dialing For Dollars for many many years.  Longtime KTSM Channel 9 Weatherman Ted Bender, who is among the very few weathermen to use the same exact weather symbols that the National Weather Service uses during the weather broadcasts on Channel 9, hosted Dialing For Dollars at 10:05 AM until around the early 1980s or so.  Ted would give four people a chance to win, sometimes six, it depends on how the 25-minute program progressed, and midway between the calls, he would interview a key figure in the city.  Ted would call people, like the Houston program, whom are listed in the white pages not only for the El Paso 915 area code, but for the Las Cruces, NM area (505 area code).

Ted Bender, who is in his 70s, is now retired from television, and is alive and well last I heard.

[Craig Karlberg]

I don't remember "Dialing for Dollars" but I DO remember "Bowling For Dollars".  Back in 1973 or so, I was in Batavia NY & a TV station(not sure if it was a Buffalo or Rochester station) aired it nightly at 7:30 PM I think.  To win the jackpot there, a contestant must bowl a turkey, or 3 strikes in a row.  I think the pots started at $100 & grew at a certain ammount every time it wasn't hit.  The theme music was a very catchy horn sounding theme too.

[Ian Wallis]

"Bowling for Dollars" was seen weeknights at 7 p.m. in most cities.  In my area, both Buffalo and Rochester aired it at that time.  Contestants had to bowl two strikes in a row to win the jackpot.  If they didn't, I think they got $1 for every pin knocked down.  Each contestant also had a "pin pal", where a member of the home audience got whatever they won.

As for "Dailing for Dollars", the Buffalo station carried it every morning from 8:55 - 10:20 (yes, I know they're odd times).  They'd break half way through the show for a game show.  They were an ABC station and didn't carry the 4 p.m. show, so they ran it during "Dailing" instead.  For a while it was "$10,000 Pyramid", then "Money Maze", then "You Don't Say".

I think they're last broadcast of "Dailing" was around '76 or '77.

[Robair]

"Dialing for Dollars" was a Philadelphia area fixture for many years on WPVI, ABC's Philadelphia affiliate. It aired from 9-10AM, IIRC, and it was followed by ABC's 4PM game block (or the 11AM game block) which at that point they never carried same-day. Jim O'Brien, a one-time WFIL Boss Jock who died too young in a helicopter crash, was the best-known host.

"Bowling for Dollars" was the province in New York City of, of all people, Mets broadcast legend Bob Murphy. And when he left that show to concentrate on baseball duties, they called on then WHN DJ Larry Kenney, who now works with Imus. For a few years they had a block of "Bowling", "Joker's Wild", "Tic Tac Dough" and "Hollywood Connection". Not a bad late-afternoon two hours to bridge to the prime access games!

[drmusic_99]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Mar 10 2004, 08:58 AM\'] "Bowling for Dollars" was seen weeknights at 7 p.m. in most cities. [/quote]
 Ah, God bless "primetime access". It gave us Bowling for Dollars, and it gave us syndie game shows.

[DrBear]

While waxing (or at least buffing) nostalgic...

WFRV-TV in Green Bay didn't run "Dialing for Dollars" as a separate show, but did run it as part of a half-hour noon news-weather-dialing show. ("The count is 5 up from the bottom, and the key word is 'NBC Week.') They'd also play DFD during the 3:30 Early Show movie, usually some B&W oldie. Then the syndicated Truth or Consequences at 5, followed by Huntley-Brinkley. Ah, the 60s.....

And I'm surprised nobody has quoted Janis Joplin:
"Oh Lord/Won't you buy me/A col-or TV/Dialing for Dollars/Is trying to find me....

[aaron sica]

When I moved to NY state, in 1982, (right across the border from PA), WNEP-16 (from Scranton) carried a movie from 4pm-6pm, known as the "Dialing For Dollars" movie. So, chalk up one more station that did it.

I believe they did it up until about the fall of 1984, when it was replaced by Quincy and the Rockford Files...

[BrandonFG]

Does anyone know if the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area carried a "Dialing/Bowling for Dollars" show in the 70s? Also, does anyone think something like this could work today, maybe on weekends?

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 10:37 PM\']It was a franchise from Bert Claster Productions, originators of Romper Room.[/quote]
Bowling for Dollars was franchised by Bert Claster, but I doubt Dialing for Dollars was.  If it were so, the latter would have carried the tag "a Bert Claster Production", which it didn't.

Back in the mid-1970's, one TV station in Tampa/St Pete, Channel 10, carried Bowling for Dollars weeknights for a year.  A couple of years later, that same Channel 10 carried the Dialing for Dollars movie in the late afternoon.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'Robair\' date=\'Mar 10 2004, 09:18 AM\'] "Dialing for Dollars" was a Philadelphia area fixture for many years on WPVI, ABC's Philadelphia affiliate. It aired from 9-10AM, IIRC, and it was followed by ABC's 4PM game block (or the 11AM game block) which at that point they never carried same-day. [/quote]
 My memories are better than yours: it was Moneymaze at 9, Big Showdown at 9:30, and Dialing For Dollars at 10:00.

Besides Jim O'Brien, the Channel 6 version of DFD also featured the late Larry Ferrari on the organ, who was quite busy at Channel 6 with this show, his own weekend show, and Captain Noah.

the Philly DFD used cut-up phone books with 30 numbers on each sliver of phone book. A "count" and "amount" were given on air, the count being a relative position on the phone book slip that also determined who was called on each randomly-selected slip (such as "eight from the top" or "two from the bottom"), and the "amount" was the Dialing For Dollars jackpot. If the caller was watching DFD and gave the correct count and amount, they won the DFD jackpot.

I don't know if DFD operated when the station was known as WFIL, during which time a couple of guys named Dick Clark and Charlie O'Donnell were hanging around the station running teenage dance parties...

[ChuckNet]

For a few years they had a block of "Bowling", "Joker's Wild", "Tic Tac Dough" and "Hollywood Connection". Not a bad late-afternoon two hours to bridge to the prime access games!

Seemed like Ch. 9 had some of the best syndie games in their 6-8 PM block from the late 70s/early 80s...it also included, at one time or another, Liar's Club, DG/NG, the last season of syndie Concenration, Face the Music, Bullseye, etc.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")