Dialing for Dollars
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Dialing for Dollars was a segment on local television shows especially popular in the 1960s and 1970s though still seen in some markets. While the format varied, a common format was one in which a host would have a secret number (announced to the audience) and pull a random phone number from a bowl (from those that had been submitted) and call it. If the viewer was watching the show, they would know that they were being called, answer the phone with the proper password, and would win a monetary prize.
Janis Joplin sings about the show in the song Mercedes-Benz (song):
"Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV? Dialing for Dollars is trying to find me. I wait for delivery each day until three, So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?"The program has also been satirized on Second City TV.
List of stations that carried \"Dialing for Dollars\"
- KTRK-TV-Houston, Texas
- WAAY-TV-Huntsville, Alabama
- WPVI-TV-Philadelphia, PA
- WJZ-TV-Baltimore, Maryland which they used The Hustle as their theme music - at one point in the 1980s Oprah Winfrey hosted the show.
- WKBW-TV-Buffalo, New York
- WHO-TV-Des Moines, Iowa
- WTAE-TV-Pittsburgh, PA
- WFAA-TV-Dallas, Texas
- WNEP-TV-Scranton, PA
- WISN-TV-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- WDSU-TV-New Orleans, LA
- KCRG-TV-Cedar Rapids, IA
- KTVI-TV-Saint Louis, MO
- WPLG-TV-Miami, FL
- WTSP-St. Petersburg, Florida
- WHDH-TV-Boston, MA
- KPTV-Portland, OR
- KTVU-San Francisco, CA
- KTSM-TV-El Paso, Texas
- KARK-Little Rock, AR
- KXLY-TV-Spokane, Washington
- WLBZ-Bangor, Maine
External links
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