Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 November 5

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November 5

Why on most radio/television quiz shows the constestant interact with the game (answering questions, activating lifelines) by speaking instead of pressing buttons?

--Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 13:28, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Because it would be too odd if they put up their hands like if they were answering to their teachers at school? Or maybe because of the professional status thingy. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 13:35, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Because television shows are supposed to be interesting to those watching.--Jayron32 14:04, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

And, in the case of radio, how would the audience know which button they pressed ? Even for TV, there are many who just like to listen as they do chores and such. StuRat (talk) 00:48, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

The Golden Age of Broadcast Radio

I have three questions concerning radio broadcasting in the US in the 1930s and 1940s: 1-What did local radio stations broadcast during the daytime? Presumably the evening broadcasts were the popular shows like Fibber McGee, Amos and Andy, Bob Hope, shows like that, but what was broadcast during the day? 2-Is there a website which lists the broadcast schedules for the evening shows during that period, and how long they ran? 3-Were the evening shows delayed on the West Coast like TV is today, or did the West Coast get the broadcast shows live at the same time they were being broadcast on the East Coast? RNealK (talk) 20:33, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Regarding question 1, they broadcast all sorts of things. Soap operas were prominent, since, as with TV now, sponsors assumed that the most of the daytime audience would be women. But there were music shows, game shows, and most of the sorts of shows that populate daytime broadcast TV now. I heartily recommend the Woody Allen film Radio Days if you want to get a good sense of the programming of the time. Deor (talk) 22:14, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Regarding question 3, in some cases at least, e.g. the Jack Benny Show, they would do two live performances of the same show, to allow for the time zone difference. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:56, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

And regarding question 2, this site reproduces prominent newspapers' radio schedules for what looks like every single day from 1930 to 1960, with the Washington Post listings showing particularly clearly how long each show was. Is that the sort of thing you want? (Picking a day at random—May 3, 1940—I notice that Kate Smith's variety show was heard at 8 P.M. on WABC in New York, at 7 P.M. on WJSV in Washington, D.C., at 7 P.M.on WBBM in Chicago, and at 8 P.M. on KNX in Los Angeles, so some sort of time shifting was clearly going on.) Deor (talk) 10:12, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

DC and NY are in the same time zone. Perhaps NY used Daylight Saving Time and DC did not? 7 PM in Chicago should be the same as 8 PM in New York, so that's one show. 8 PM in LA would be 11 PM on the east coast. So either Kate had two shows, or they recorded the first one and played the recording for the second show. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:43, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

It was common for a program to be performed twice, so that it was heard on both the US east and west coasts at convenient times. Transcriptions were used for rebroadcast in the 1930's and 1940's , but union rules required extra pay for performers. A recording might have had clicks, skip or other audio defects but broadcast transcription technology was pretty good by the late 1930's, and network and other major broadcasts were routinely recorded for sponsors and others to hear later, and for review to see what went well or needed improvement in future broadcasts. Some programs were recorded in transcription studios rather than broadcast stations, and were mailed to stations around the country. Edison (talk) 22:05, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

A side benefit of those recordings is that the ones that were saved provide us a window into that era. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:02, 7 November 2013 (UTC)