The Audience Takes Part

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 107, 11 July 1941, Page 10

The Audience Takes Part

POPULARITY OF ZB "QUIZ" SESSIONS GROWS APACE

HE vogue for audience participation in radio goes on from strength to strength at the Commercial Broadcasting Service. Almost every month some new programme of this type is added at one or more of the five stations-Alliteration Jackpots, Yes-No Jackpots, quiz programmes of all shapes and sizesuntil it would seem impossible to devise a single further method of testing the public’s ingenuity and wit. It is plain, however, that the public likes to have its intelligence tested before the microphone. There are always far more contestants offering than can be accommodated. Some are undoubtedly attracted by the prizes offering, and listeners who have never thought of the ZB programmes as a way of making money may be surprised to learn that nearly £1,500 is distributed in a year from the four main Commercial stations alone. It is interesting to survey the audi- ‘| ence participation programmes running from the various stations and note how the prize money is allotted. Two of the biggest, Racing in Retrospect and Information Please, have been

conducted nationally. Racing in Retrospect is centred round the replaying of two recorded commentaries on race classics run during the past few years. There are six competitors in the studio, three to each race. They draw for positions, and as the commentary reaches the entry of the leaders into the straight, the re--cording is stopped and the competitors are then asked to nominate the winners. The method of awarding prize money varies at the different stations, but approximately £6 is paid out each week, Most listeners are familiar with Information Please, which is based on the American radio quiz session, and is on the air at nine o’clock every Thursday evening from the four main stations, There is a class of four: people, the one who comes last being replaced. Prizes amounting to £1 15s are paid out weekly at each station in National Savings Certificates, together with cone solation prizes of chocolates and cigare Session for Golfers Station 1ZB has two sessions in which the listening public ~participates by sending in entries, the best of which receive prizes. The Golfers’ Session, on Tuesdays, at 6.30 p.m., consists partly of advice on golf by a well known pro(Continued on next page)

QUIZ SESSIONS (Continued from» previous page) fessional player, partly of a number of golfing anecdotes. These are submitted by the public, and the best story receives a prize of a guinea, while the next two win double theatre tickets, The Hit Parade (Wednesdays at 6.30 p.m.) is really a popularity contest decided by listeners’ letters, Six recordings by chosen artists are played, and listeners are asked to place them in order of popularity. Here again the prizes are a guinea and two double theatre tickets. Give it a Name A new session at 2ZB, replacing Spelling Jack-pots, is the Give It a Name programme, which is exactly what its title implies-the announcer gives a description, more or less detailed, and the contestant gives it a name. Each question has a value of five shillings, which is jackpotted up if the answer is incorrect. At 2ZB and 3ZB is the Yes, No Jackpots session, in which contestants are engaged in a lively conversation by a compére, and can win a prize by chatting for one minute without using the words "Yes" or " No." Thirty shillings is given in prizes at 2ZB and 25/- at 3ZB. Station 2ZB is also conducting a competition among amateur gardeners Who listen in to "Snowy" at 8.30 every Saturday morning. The competition is judged on the quality of vegetables grown over a year’s period and the condition of the gardens in which they were grown. Quarterly prizes of garden tools are awarded, and the eventual winner receives a cash prize of three guineas and a cup given by "Snowy." £8 for a Word Spelling Jackpots is a hardy favourite at Stations 3ZB and 4ZB. Very simple, it is the adult equivalent of a spelling lesson, with prizes for words correctly spelt. Both stations give approximately 30/- in prizes, but they award them differently. On one occasion at 3ZB a competitor won £8. ‘In addition to Yes, No Jackpots and Spelling Jackpots, 3ZB has a Bringing Home the Bacon session conducted every Wednesday afternoon by Grace Green. It is essentially a musical quiz, portions of recordings being played and competitors being asked to name the artist and give the title of the composition. Prizes to a value of 15/- are awarded each week, Christchurch people are apparently enthusiastic quiz-listeners, for two new quizzes will soon be heard for the first time from 3ZB, They are a Sportsman’s Quiz, and a What’s That Noise quiz, and both will carry prizes. Station 4ZB has an Alliteration Jackpot’s session, which, as its name suggests, depends on the shrewd use of " apt alliteration’s artful aid." The winner receives a prize to the value of 15/-. Station 2ZA, Palmerston North, has an Alliteration Jackpots session; also Racing in Retrospect,

Not for a Living As a little mental arithmetic will show, the amount of prize money paid out in the course of a year is considerable, and to the total amount must be added over £120 already paid to winners of Apple Quests, It should be remembered, however, that although the amount of prize money is large it would require an intelligence amounting to genius, together with a remarkably fast and efficient method of transport, to make it worth while taking up audience participation sessions as a living.