I'm sure most places, well, all places no longer broadcast any type of locally produced bowling shows. What used to be on in your area?

Detroit used to have 4 of them. All four were at the height of their popularity during the 1970s, and by the early 80s, were off the air.

1) Beat the Champ. In the early 70s, was shown after the Tonight Show at 1am, and moved to Sunday mornings at 10am, and was originally an hour long. Hosts were Chuck Walby (the proprietor of Thunderbird Lanes, in Troy, MI, where the show took place), and Don Kramer, sportscaster for Channel 4. The concept was easy. There was a one game match typically featuring 2 or 4 amateur bowlers (can't remember) with handicap factored in. The winner of the roll off game, would then play a one game match against a pro bowler, or local top all star bowler. I've seen Joe Joseph, Bob Strampe and Bob Hart are a few that come to mind. Once in awhile, they would have a regular PBA star, as I can recall Larry Laub on there. The pro would have to give handicap pins to the amateur. Larry Laub shot a 299 game (solid 10), and I can remember Walby walking on the lane and retrieving the pin for Laub. The amateur would be bowling for prizes as well. A turkey, you would get a dinner pass somewhere. 5 strikes in a row was another prize. 7 was something else. 9 strikes was a new car, which I saw won only once. If the amateur left a split, say the 5-10, Chuck Walby would shout out, I'll give you $25 cash if you make that split. The 3-10 might be worth $10. Once a guy left the 7-10, and Walby shouts, I'll give you $500 if you make that split, and the guy made it! I remember Walby and the gang all laughing after it happened! During school vacations, they had kids day, where different bowling lanes would have qualifying rounds where the top bowlers would compete to get on the show. Then the kids would bowl against the pro. I remember trying out for one of these, but didn't do very well.

2) Bowling for Dollars. Show was popular for about 5 years from about 1975-1980. It appeared 5 nights a week at either 7pm or 7:30pm. They taped all 5 of their shows for the week on one day, and showed them the following week. It was held at the arena, lane 4, at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park (Site of the World Series). Hosted originally by Dick Van Sice, replaced by Bob Allison. They usually had 7 contestants on. Bob Allison would interview the bowler for a few minutes, i.e., where do you bowl, where do you work, etc. The bowler would introduce who they brought with them to the show, and his friends would get on TV and waive. The bowler would chose a card from the barrel, who would be his pin pal. The pin pal would win the same prize as the bowler. There was a jackpot, typically starting off at $250 or so, and the object was to get 2 strikes in a row to win the jackpot. If you got less than a spare, you would win that amount as a cash prize. i.e., 7 count, then 2, you would win $9. If you made a spare, I believe you would win dinner for 2 (typically at the Rooster Tail restaurant in Detroit). First strike, and not getting the 2nd, would be $15 and dinner. Each time a bowler didn't get 2 strikes, then the jackpot would increase by $10. My father was on (after I sent in a card for him). He left the 3-6-10, and left the 3 pin standing, so he got $9. Most of the bowlers were typical mediocre bowlers. The jackpots used to get up there, sometimes in the thousands. Near the last season, if someone got 5 strikes in a row, they would win a new car. I can remember this being won only once.

3) Pin Busters was also held at Thunderbowl, and centered around kids bowling. It was probably shown for 1 or 2 seasons around 1978 or 1979. I don't remember the concept of the show very much, but they had different age groups, 8 to 14 year olds. It may have been a king of the hill type of a thing. I think this was shown on Saturday afternoons, around 1pm.

4) Make It and Take It. This was held at Timber Lanes, and was shown maybe for 1 season, 2 at most during 1978/1979. It was shown on Sunday nights, at 11:30pm after the news, not the best time slot. The host was Bob Neugebauer (people in detroit may have heard of Neugebauer travel, same guy). The idea of the show was basic. The contestant would go through a short interview, tries to predict what pin count they were going to get, they would choose a prize off their board (typically a basic prize, dinner or a cheap gift), and then would bowl their shot, one ball only. If they predicted a 8 count, and they got 8, they won, anything else, they went home empty handed.

If anyone from Detroit can expand on my comments, I would love to hear them. If you are from another city, and had a different type of show that was given, I'd love to hear your comments on that, as well.