Wednesday, January 05, 2000
Who wants to watch a game show?
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Let the games begin! The game show millennium starts today with Fox's three-day Greed stunt before the other three networks jump into the TV picture:
• Chuck Woolery's Greed, which debuted in November, airs at 11 p.m. today on Channel 19 (delayed by the 8 p.m. University of Cincinnati basketball telecast). It also airs at 9 p.m. Thursday and 9 p.m. Friday.
Greed will air at 9 p.m. Fridays for the winter.
• CBS' Winning Lines with host Dick Clark premieres Saturday. Channel 12 will delay the 8 p.m. national telecast until 11:35 p.m. Saturday. Next week it will air at 8 p.m. Saturday, followed by Candid Camera.
• NBC revives Twenty One, canceled in the 1958 quiz show scandals, for a four-show test starting 8 p.m. Sunday (Channels 5, 22). Maury Povich hosts the game in which two contestants in sound-proof booths try to amass 21 points first by correctly answering questions rated in difficulty from one to 11 points.
Twenty One, which inspired the 1994 feature film Quiz Show, bumps Dateline NBC at 8 p.m. Sunday Jan. 16 and 8 p.m. Wednesdays Jan. 19 and Jan. 26. More episodes may be ordered, depending on ratings.
• ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which started the game show frenzy five months ago, returns with a week-long stunt at 9 p.m. Sunday (Channels 9, 2). Regis Philbin will host a one-hour version for eight consecutive days. Then it settles into its thrice-weekly schedule for the year: 9-10 p.m. Sunday, 8-9 p.m. Tuesday and 9-10 p.m. Thursday.
MILLIONAIRE LINES: ABC's phone lines are open for contestants to qualify for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire episodes taping this month in New York.
The new number, (800) 433-8321, is open 6 p.m.-2 a.m. EST daily through Jan. 16, says USA Today. Ten finalists will be selected for each tape date.
“ALEX” MOVE: By spring, Warren County's first and only radio station will abandon Warren County.
Over Christmas, WYLX-FM (97.3) moved from a Lebanon tower to Sharonville, to increase its audience in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. In a few months, the studios will move from Lebanon to the Mount Auburn headquarters at 2060 Reading Road for sister stations WKRQ-FM (101.9) and WGRR-FM (103.5), also owned by CBS' Infinity Broadcasting.
“We moved the town about 15 miles south to make us much more of a Cincinnati player,” says Mike Fredrick, general manager of WYLX-FM (“ALEX 97.3”).
“ALEX” markets itself as “Cincinnati's Official Time Warp” station, playing 1980s hits by artists such as Billy Joel, Elton John, John Cougar Mellencamp and Madonna. Musically it fills the radio group's gap between oldies on WGRR-FM and the newer music on “Q102.” All three stations are aimed at women ages 25-54.
“With the "Q' on one end of the demo, and 'GRR on the other end, "ALEX' fits right in the middle,” Mr. Fredrick says.
The station became Warren County's first broadcaster in April 1994. Former WCKY-AM talk show host Mike McMurray and his wife, Marilyn, worked nine years on starting the station after the Federal Communications Commission allocated a Warren County frequency in 1985. They sold the station, then called WMMA-FM, to Boston-based American Radio Systems for $3 million in 1998. ARS later was acquired by Infinity.
In the past 15 years, the original “city of license” has become unimportant to the FCC, allowing suburban stations to migrate to urban centers. Cities which have lost stations include Hamilton (WGRR-FM, WYGY-FM), Fairfield (WMOJ-FM) and Milford (WKFS-FM).
NO JOY: Survey says: Family Feud has moved from obscurity (2:05 a.m.) to prominence (10 a.m.) in Channel 12's daytime schedule this week.
Feud, hosted by comedian Louie Anderson, replaces Dr. Joy Browne, which has been buried at 3:05 a.m. Tuesday through Friday. The radio psychologist's TV show was produced by Burt DuBrow, who produced the Bob Braun and Jerry Springer shows at Channel 5 here for Multimedia Entertainment.
Dr. Joy is the second fall talk show to fail here. Martin Short (2:05 a.m., Channel 5) lasted two months at 10 a.m.
ALLY OOPS: Ally, the 30-minute Ally McBeal reruns, has been canceled by Fox. Creator David E. Kelley suggested cutting the Emmy-winning one-hour shows in half to sell as a half-hour sitcom in syndication.
AROUND THE DIAL: Dayton's Channel 16 will broadcast PBS' coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Debate at 10 p.m. today. Peter Jennings moderates the taped debate.
Channel 48 will air the debate at 11:30 p.m., after the An American Master's profile of choreographer Paul Taylor (9:30 p.m., Channels 48, 54).
The same thing happens on Thursday for Republicans. Dayton's Channel 16 airs PBS' debate coverage at 10 p.m., while Channel 48 delays it until 11:30 p.m., after The Remarkable 20th Century with Howard K. Smith (10 p.m.), a new 10-part PBS series.
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