![]() With the advent and rise of commercial television broadcasting in the U.S. "The amount" was the value of the cash prize at stake.ĭialing for Dollars originated as a radio program in 1939 on WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland, hosted by Homer Todd. If the count was "6 Down," for example, the sixth number down from the top of the slip was called. Slips were cut from pages of the viewing area's telephone book(s), each containing several numbers at each playing, one slip was drawn and the appropriate number was selected. ![]() "The count" consisted of a number (1 through 9) and direction (up/down or top/bottom), randomly selected at the beginning of the show, that served to determine which number would be called. If the viewer did not respond correctly or failed to answer the call altogether, the prize money would continue to increase until it was claimed. Viewers watching the show would know that they were being called, answer the phone with the correct password, and would win a monetary prize. He would then randomly select a phone number to call from a bowl or drum, either from those that had been previously submitted by viewers, or by scraps of paper cut from residential telephone directories. ![]() ![]() The program's usual format had the host, a local television personality, announce a certain password to the audience at the beginning of the program (on most stations, "the count and the amount"). They illustrate how local stations used their own talent and set design to create a Dialing for Dollars series. These two ads show the Dialing for Dollars format in 1972-73 on two sister stations, KXMB-TV in Bismarck/Mandan, N.D. ![]()
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