TV Powww

TV POWWW was a franchised television game show format, in which home viewers controlled a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes.

History

The TV POWWW format, produced and distributed by Florida syndicator Marvin Kempner, debuted in 1978 on Los Angeles station KABC-TV as part of A.M. Los Angeles, and by the start of the next decade was seen on 79 local television stations (including national superstation WGN as part of Bozo's Circus) in the United States, as well as several foreign broadcasters. While most stations had dropped TV POWWW by the mid-1980s, stations in Australia and Italy were still using it as late as 1990.

Stations were originally supplied with games for the Fairchild Channel F console, but following Fairchild's withdrawal from the home video game market, Intellivision games were used. Kempner later unsuccessfully attempted to interest both Nintendo and Sega in a TV POWWW revival.

While the underlying technology was standardized across participating stations, the format of TV POWWW's presentation varied from market to market. Many presented TV POWWW as a series of segments that ran during the commercial breaks of television programming (a la Dialing for Dollars), while some (such as KTTV in Los Angeles) presented TV POWWW as a standalone program.

Gameplay

In the video game being featured, the at-home player would give directions over the phone, while watching the game on their home screen. When the viewer determined that the weapon was aiming at the target, they said "Pow!", after which that weapon would activate.

Accounts vary as to what kind of controller technology was involved. Some sources state that the gaming consoles sent to the stations were modified for voice activation. However, a 2008 WPIX station retrospective claimed that for the station's version, where the player said "Pix" (Pron: picks), an employee in the control room manually hit the fire button when the caller indicated a shot.

One of the pitfalls of the gameplay was that, due to broadcasting technicalities, there was significant lag in the transmission of a television signal. The player would experience this lag when playing at home, which likely made playing the game somewhat more difficult. (For similar reasons, such a game would be impossible in digital television without the use of a second video chat feed for the player, due to the time it takes to process and compress the video stream; most stations also mandate a seven-second delay to prevent obscenities from reaching the air.)

Featured games

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

Channel F

• Shooting Gallery

Intellivision

• Tic Tac Toe
• Moving Target (a game similar to Breakout)
• NFL Football
• Major League Baseball
• NBA Basketball
• Space Battle
• Sharp Shot

TV POWWW variants

City/Market	Local name	Host	Show Featured on	Network	Air dates
Baltimore, Maryland	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WMAR	Unknown
Battle Creek, Michigan	TV Powww!	Unknown	Star Blazers	WUHQ	Unknown
Brazil	TV Powww!	Unknown	N/A	SBT	1985-1986
Calgary, Alberta	Switchback	Unknown	Unknown	CBRT	1985
Chicago, Illinois United States (Nationwide Cable)	Bozo's TV Powww!	Frazier Thomas	Bozo's Circus	WGN Superstation WGN	1979
Cleveland, Ohio	Zap	Bob Zappe	N/A	WKYC	1978-1979
Columbus, Georgia	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WYEA	Unknown
Dallas, Texas	TV Powww!	B.J. Cleveland	Unknown	KXTX	Unknown
Dayton, Ohio	TV Powww!	Unknown Unknown	Clubhouse 22 (Kids' Version) Evening (Adult Version)	WKEF	Unknown Unknown
Flint, Michigan	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WEYI	Unknown
Green Bay, Wisconsin	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WRLE	Unknown
Greensboro, North Carolina	TV Powww!	Unknown	Captain Triad	WGGT	Unknown
20px Hartford, Connecticut	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WTXX	Unknown
High Point, North Carolina	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WGHP	Unknown
Hobart, Tasmania	TV Powww	"Jim Shoes"	Saturday Fun Show	TVT6	1980s
Honolulu, Hawaii	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	KHNL	Unknown
Houston, Texas	TV Kid POWWW	Unknown	Unknown	KHTV	Unknown
Jacksonville, Florida	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WAWS	Unknown
Kingsport, Tennessee	TV Powww!	Frances Eden	N/A	WKPT	1981
Los Angeles, California	TV Powww!	Unknown	A.M. Los Angeles	KABC	1978-?
		Jack Clark	N/A	KTTV	Unknown
		Unknown	Unknown	KCOP	Unknown
New York City, New York	TV Pixxx	Ralph Lowenstein	N/A	WPIX	197?-1982
Oakland, California	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	KTVU	Unknown
20px Perth, Western Australia	TV Powww	Chris Mills	N/A	GWN7	1980s
Phoenix, Arizona	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	KPNX	Unknown
20px Raleigh, North Carolina	TV Powww!	"Barney"	Barney's Army	WPTF	1982
20px Rochester, New York	TV Powww!	"Ranger Bob"	N/A	WUHF	1981
Sacramento, California	TV Powww!	Mitch Agruss	Cap'n Mitch	KTXL	1980
San Diego, California	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	KCST	Unknown
San Francisco, California	TV Powww!	Pat McCormick	Unknown	KTVU	1970s-1980s
United Kingdom	TV Powww	Unknown	Get Set for Summer	BBC1	1980s
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales	TV Powww	Unknown	Unknown	RVN2	Unknown
Waterbury, Connecticut	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WTXX	Unknown
Wodonga, Victoria	TV Powww	Unknown	Unknown	AMV4	Unknown
Youngstown, Ohio	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WYTV	Unknown

TV PIXXX

One notable version of TV POWWW was used by New York based television station WPIX, called TV-PIXXX (a play on the station's call letters). Hosted by station staff announcer Ralph Lowenstein, it was aired during the traditional weekday afternoon slot of children's TV as an interlude. Participants would be called at home to play a videogame that appeared on their screen.

Participants interacted with the game by saying the word "PIXX" to perform game-related actions. Prizes included T-shirts and $10 U.S. Savings Bonds. They could double their prize or win a bonus prize (such as advance tickets to see upcoming films) by guessing a "Magic Word". For a chance at playing, children could send a postcard with their name, address, and phone number to TV PIXXX.

WPIX's program lasted until 1982; for many New York viewers, TV PIXXX was their first glimpse of the Intellivision home game system.

Switchback

Switchback aired on CBC Television station CBRT in Calgary, Alberta in 1985, also including Intellivision games.

Zap

Zap aired in the mornings from 1978-1979 on Cleveland, Ohio NBC station WKYC which had a feature similar to TV Powww.

United Kingdom

The game was also a regular part of the BBC Saturday morning children's show 'Get Set For Summer' in the early 80s.

Australia

In the early 1980s, Golden West Network (GWN) had a version (also called TV Powww - or maybe TV Pow). Hosted by Chris Mills. There was a spaceship game, a boxing game, a soccer/football game.

See also

• The Golden Shot (similar British program with a play-at-home element)