Quiz 'em on the air
"Quiz 'Em on the Air," also simply called "Quiz 'Em," was a TV and radio quiz show created for high school students in the early 1950s. With the earliest mention of it appearing in 1951, it appears to predate the creation of the College Bowl radio show.
Origins and Format
The show had its origins in a national newspaper column called "Quiz 'Em" that began in the 1940s that provided interesting bits of trivia with both questions and responses. At least some "Quiz 'em on the Air" competitions between students began by 1951. Though there had been a number of radio quiz shows before featuring individual students, Quiz 'Em appears to have featured school-based teams with faculty sponsors and included both radio and TV versions.
Although it appears that the show varied somewhat in format between cities, it mostly featured current events questions drawn from local newspapers. At least some questions, however, were drawn from general knowledge, including tiebreaks such as "How Many Stars Are in the Milky Way?" Prizes generally included radios and TV sets as well as complete sets of encyclopedias and other books for school libraries.
The show was portrayed in Detroit as a way to combat "juvenile delinquency."
At least one TV/radio station appears to have continued running "Quiz 'Em" into the late 1970s.
Cities with Quiz 'em on the Air
- Memphis (and the surrounding Mid-South, including Northern Mississippi)
- Indianapolis
- Miami
- Detroit
- Houston
- Norfolk