It's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. (WRC-TV) and Central Virginia (WVIR) and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland (WJZ-TV). The show has been on the air since October 7, 1961, making it the longest continuously-running television quiz show ever. The program was created by Sophie Altman, who continued as executive producer until she died on May 24, 2008. Mac McGarry hosted the Washington shows from the beginning until June 25, 2011. Hillary Howard, a news anchor for the radio station WTOP-FM took over as host subsequent to McGarry's official retirement in November 2011.[1] The Baltimore show is currently hosted by David Zahren. The show features three local high school teams of three players each. Over the years, chief sponsor Giant Food has given more than $2,000,000 in scholarship funds to participating schools.
The single elimination tournament features 81 schools in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, 81 schools in the Baltimore metropolitan region (including western Maryland and the Eastern Shore), and 9 schools in the Central Virginia region. The winners in each region go on to battle each other in the Super Bowl. The record-high score of 935 is held by Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, achieved in 2000.
Under the name "Academic Challenge", the quiz has also been produced on WEWS in Cleveland since the 1960s. Pittsburgh area schools compete on KDKA-TV, where the series is called Hometown High-Q. KDKA morning anchor Rick Dayton became host in 2011, succeeding original host Ken Rice.
It's Academic is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running quiz program in TV history. This title was first entered in the 50th anniversary edition of the Guinness Book.
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Each contest is composed of five rounds. Round 1 is a category round with eight questions, all centered around a theme (e.g., "the letter B" or "famous paintings"). Questions do not appear on the players' monitors but do appear for the viewing audience.
In Round 2, each team is individually asked five questions worth 20 points each.
Round 3 is a toss-up visual round. The monitor displays an image and the host provides a question accompanying the image. Teams receive 10 points for each correct answer and lose 10 for each incorrect answer. Eight questions are used.
In Round 4, the captain of each team introduces the sponsors and administrators. There are three question packets from which to choose. The team to the immediate left of the team that is supposed to answer chooses which packet the answering team will use. Eight questions are given to each team, with 20 points for a correct answer and no penalties. A 25 point bonus is given if a team correctly answers all eight questions, for a total of 185 points in this round.
Round 5 features toss-up questions, each worth +/-20 points. Visual questions are worth +/-30 points. The number of questions varies depending on the time left in the game. The game ends when the buzzer sounds.
Prior to the adoption of the current format, there were several other formats of play.
In the 1977–78 Buffalo season championship, Van Miller told teams to "use [their] lights and buzzers" for a "one-minute scrimmage round."[2]
The "very fast"[3] category round consisted of questions pertaining to the same category. In some cases, the question was the same throughout the round: teams were given different items, and had to answer the common question on the basis of each item (e.g., given a state, name either senator from that state[4]). In other cases, all the answers in the category round shared an announced characteristic in common (e.g., geographical locations whose names begin and end with "A"[3]). Teams used their buzzers in this round, earning 10 points for a correct answer, but losing 10 points[4] (later 20 points[3]) for wrong answers.
In all forms, a team individually answers questions from a packet within a time limit. In one form, at the beginning of the game, teams get one minute to answer questions for 20 points each. In this form, teams are not penalized for wrong answers, in order to help the teams in "building score".[5] In another form, teams have one and a half minutes to answer questions for 20 points each. However, 20 points are deducted for a wrong answer. Teams may pass a question, losing 10 points; however, the other two teams may buzz-in to answer the passed questions (with a few exceptions) for plus or minus 20 points after the time runs out for the team's turn. Every question that is fully read must be answered or passed within a reasonable time. However, if a question is not finished when time expires, the team may reject it without penalty or answer the question at their own risk. In this form, getting all 10 questions (later 8) correct originally earned the team a 50-point bonus, later reduced to 25.[3][5][6]
After the host has announced the teams' final scores, he invites the studio audience down from the stands to join the contestants on camera during the closing credit sequence. The song heard under the credit roll is "T.L.C. (Tender Loving Care)" by the band MFSB.
Beginning in 2008, telecasts on the WRC-TV version have included "guest questions" from notable persons in government, business, sports, and the arts. Among those seen in pre-recorded videos are:
Many teams participating in It's Academic are also active in the Washington region's quiz bowl circuit.
An Australian version of the show aired on Network Ten and the Seven Network from 1968–1975, and was revived by Seven's Perth affiliate in 2001. Seven took the show national in 2005. (http://au.tv.yahoo.com/b/its-academic/)
A version was also screened in New Zealand by TVNZ in the 1980s, with Lockwood Smith as the host.
WNBC-TV in New York aired a local edition of It's Academic from the mid-1960s through at least 1972, hosted most of the time by Art James, with Lee Leonard filling in for a year.
WMAQ-TV in Chicago had a version in the 1960s and 1970s under the "It's Academic" name, hosted by Ed Grennan.
KCBS-TV in Los Angeles aired a similarly-formatted quiz show KidQuiz during the 1980's and 1990's.
WLWT and WCET in Cincinnati aired a local It's Academic from the late 1960s into the 1980s.
A similar competition aired in Columbus, Ohio under the title In The Know. It began in 1966 on WBNS television and later moved to WOSU, a PBS affiliate, where it still airs today.
A version of It's Academic aired on WBEN-TV in Buffalo from the 1960s through 1986, hosted by sportscaster Van Miller. It was later revived for a few months in 2008 by WGRZ-TV, with Kevin O'Neill as host.
A show using the It's Academic name aired in Richmond, Virginia on the NBC affliliate, WWBT Channel 12, in the 1970s, which was also hosted by Mac McGarry and sponsored by Giant. That was replaced by Battle of the Brains. Battle of the Brains has also replaced a version of It's Academic that aired in Hampton Roads.
The World Affairs Council, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, hosted an'It's Academic International event in 2002, also hosted by Mac McGarry.
In 2007, the game Brainstorm was introduced to Arizona. It featured 21 teams for its inaugural season.
KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Houston, Texas, had their own version of It's Academic called the Texaco Star Academic Challenge. The show left KPRC-TV and would eventually be retitled The Challenge, airing on one of Houston's Public-access television cable TV channels and KTBU Channel 55.
KRGV-TV in Weslaco, Texas has aired their own version of It's Academic for many years, entitled Masterminds.
KRCR-TV in Redding, California had their version of It's Academic called Academic Challenge which ran until 2005 before Station Manager Robert Wise moved to KOBI in Medford, Oregon where he brought Academic Challenge with him and still airs to this day on KOBI/KOTI.
KCTS in Seattle, Washington runs a PBS-affiliated version called Apple Bowl that airs in the Pacific Northwest.
Hometown High-Q airs on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is sponsored by Westfield Insurance (and previously by Giant Eagle) and was hosted by KDKA news anchor Ken Rice from its inception in 2000 until the end of the 2010-11 season.[7] It is now hosted by KDKA morning anchor Rick Dayton.
Dan Braddock is the show's producer.[8]
The winning team receives $11,000, second- and third-place finalists win $5,500, and non-winning semifinalists win $2,000.[9] In earlier seasons, winning teams received points their schools could use toward the purchase of computers and equipment.
An alternate version of Hometown High-Q, which began in summer 2005 is the Steelers Trivia Challenge, a nighttime series hosted by KDKA sports anchor Bob Pompeani featuring adult contestants answering trivia related to the Steelers.
From 2003-2007, the show aired twice on Saturday: a new episode aired at 11:00 a.m., and the last week's episode reran at 11:30 a.m.
Academic Challenge (Ohio) — not to be confused with the college-level competition — is a high school version of quizbowl that was aired on WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, USA from 1964 to 1999 and has been aired again from 2003 to the present, formerly produced by Phyllis Sossi and Steve Kurrent, now with Berry Pinney as executive producer and Steve Kurrent as producer/director.
The show is hosted by WEWS meteorologist Jason Nicholas, who took over in 2007 following anchor Danita Harris and former anchor Adam Shapiro, who went to New York City's WNBC. Jason Nicholas is a native of Medina, Ohio, and graduated from Medina High School. The Cleveland version was hosted by Don Cameron from 1964–75, by former WEWS weatherman Don Webster from 1975–86, then again from 1994–99, by Steve Wolford from 1986–88, and by Lou Maglio from 1988–1994, before he went to WJW. The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company or CEI (now FirstEnergy) sponsored the show in Cleveland, joined by Ohio Edison Company in 1972. The Ohio Lottery sponsored the show from 1996-99. Today, Academic Challenge (Ohio) is sponsored by Medina County-based Westfield Insurance, which also sponsors Pittsburgh's Hometown High-Q and other such programs.
The major difference in the championship format is that It's Academic uses a playoff method, while Academic Challenge (Ohio) simply invites the three highest-scoring schools for a championship game, though the Cleveland show experimented with playoffs during the late 1990s.
Schools rotate every two years. Example is St. Peter Chanel High School, St. Peter Chanel appeared in the 2010-11 School year, but will appear again in the 2012-13 school year. Garfield Heights High School did not appear in the 2010-11 school year, but they will appear in the 2011-12 school year.
It has won several awards, including the Emmy for "best regularly scheduled children/youth program" by the Cleveland Regional Emmy chapter.
Notable figures who have competed on It's Academic include:
Other notable participants:
In 1979, a charity special was held between a team of three Democratic senators (Patrick Moynihan, Lloyd Bentsen, and Alan Cranston), three Republican senators (Lowell Weicker, John Danforth, and H. J. Heinz III), and three members of the press (Jessica Savitch, Art Buchwald, and David Broder).[11]
(Note: bold denotes Super Bowl Champions.)