Vintage Radio Quiz Show

This weekend, hubby and I grabbed a stack of vintage radio guides, issues of the “Radio Guide”, and paging through them we discovered the joys of ye old radio. Which means today, you get to enjoy ye old radio. Specifically, gems from a bit in the Vol. 8 No. 49, September 22, 1939 “Radio Guide” titled “How Are You On Radio Quiz Games?”

The column features Bob Hawk, “Gayest quizmaster on the air,” who was the host of Mutual’s (MBS) “Name Three.” Hawk was called the “funniest ad-lib man in radio” by Stoopnagle and Bud (”Bud” as spelled in this article) — but Hawk went on to become “one of Chicago’s top announcers” anyway. (Ba-dum-chh!)

“Name Three” was a big dealio, I guess. In 1939, “Time” said this about the radio quiz show:

Name Three, a quiz show based on bank night, is a Monday night MBS half-hour sponsored by Dunhill Cigarettes. Candidates picked from the studio audience, asked to name, for example, three vegetables beginning with S, win $2 for each right answer. If a mike-scared quizee can think of spinach, cannot remember squash or salsify, he wins only $2, and the remaining $4 goes into a jackpot. Near the program’s end the candidates get a chance to share the jackpot by writing answers to a Toughie (e.g., Name three State capitals named after Presidents). If there is still no winner, the money goes into next week’s pot. Biggest jackpot thus far, a three-weeker: $88.

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