Bowling for Dollars

As each contestant appeared, the host would interview him or her for a couple of minutes. Then the audience camera would cue as the contestant pointed out who he brought along ("There's my wife Paula, there's my son Nick..."). The contestant was then instructed to pick a Pin Pal out of a container filled with postcards sent in by home viewers, then went off to the lanes where they would bowl at least two balls.

A half-hour show had seven contestants.

There were two separate runs. Both aired on WBAL-TV, and both sites were filmed in studio (with bowling being with a Brunswick set):

• Duckpins and Dollars

Hosts: Bailey Goss, then Chuck Thompson
This show only required contestants to make one strike for the jackpot — a significantly harder task in duckpin bowling than in standard tenpins.

• Bowling for Dollars

Hosts: Tom Cole, then Ron Riley, then Royal Parker
At one point, the show alternated between duckpin and tenpin bowlers.

This edition was titled Candlepins for Cash, featuring the regional candlepin variation of bowling, and had two separate runs:[2]

• WNAC-TV (now WHDH), 1973–1980, hosted by Bob Gamere;[3] originated from area bowling lanes using WOR-TV's remote truck, then at special lanes built in the basement of WNAC-TV's Government Center studio
• WXNE-TV (now WFXT), 1980–1982, hosted by Rico Petrocelli;[4] originated from Wal-Lex lanes in Waltham (since closed)

Both editions only required contestants to make one strike for the jackpot — a significantly harder task in candlepin bowling than in standard tenpins. In the last two seasons of the show, the player would get $30 for a spare plus one bonus ball, worth $2 more per pin knocked down. When a person threw a 10-box (all pins knocked down on the third ball) they got $20 plus one bonus ball.

The 2006 show Candlepins For Dollars that aired on WLVI Channel 56 was not related to this format.

• Station: WGR-TV/WGRZ Channel 2
• Host: Ed Kilgore
• Sites:
  • Original—In studio. (It's believed that the set shared the same studio with the news set.)
  • Revival-- Dave & Buster's at the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence, New York.

A revival of Bowling for Dollars aired between January and February 2008 on WGRZ, also hosted by Kilgore. This version, airing weekdays at 11:45 AM, was much shorter, with only one frame. It used a rotation of numerous theme songs, mostly from game shows of the 1970s.

A similar competing show, called Beat the Champ, aired on WBEN-TV during the original Channel 2 program run, hosted by Van Miller. This was one of two local-origination bowling programs on Channel 4 throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the other being a women's team-bowling program called Strikes, Spares & Misses hosted by Chuck Healy.

• Station: WPCQ (now WCNC) Channel 36
• Host: Larry Sprinkle
• Site: George Pappas Park Lanes
• Only runs for a short time from September 10, 1984 until September 1985.

• Station: WKRC-TV Channel 12
• Host: Glenn Ryle; fill-ins included weatherman Mike Fenwick, sportscaster Dale Conquest, and WKRC radio host, Jerry Thomas.
• Site: In studio lanes. The set for Nick Clooney's daytime talk show sat atop the lanes. There was also a daytime version that featured only lady bowlers called Strikes and Spares, hosted by Jerry Thomas.
• The show first premiered on WKRC as a 13-week trial run in the fall of 1971. It became a regular series on September 3, 1972, airing live at 7:00 p.m. weeknights, later moving to 6:30 p.m.
• Gus Bailey, then-station PD, cancelled the show in the fall of 1975; its last weeknight program was Thanksgiving night.
• WKRC began a pre-recorded Saturday afternoon filler show in 1976, hosted by Dick Schorr, who also hosted the weeknight edition on then-sister station WTVN-TV in Columbus.

Had two separate runs of Bowling for Dollars. Both used in-studio lanes.

• 1st run
  • Station: WEWS Channel 5
  • Hosts: Don Webster, Paul Wilcox
• 2nd run (1977–79) Weeknights at 7:00 from August 1977 to September 1978; 5:30pm Sept 1978-January 1979
  • Station: WJW (then WJKW) Channel 8
  • Host: Dick Goddard
  • Substitute Host: Bob "Hoolihan" Wells
  • Announcers: Joe Grant, Andy Hale, John FitzGerald

• Station: WTVN Channel 6 (Now WSYX)
• Host: Dick Schorr, Gene Fullen with Sally Flowers
• Site: Two in-studio lanes
• Aired weeknights at 7:00PM.

• Aired on: WFAA Channel 8 ABC, (6:30 PM Monday through Friday).
• Host: Verne Lundquist for most of the series
• Site: Forum Lanes in Grand Prairie, Texas (which at that time was the host site for a PBA tournament held in the spring) and Golden Triangle Bowl in Irving, Texas.

• Station: WLWD (now WDTN)
• Host: David G. McFarland
• Site: the WLWD studios (aired live)

The show aired Mon-Fri at 7:00 p.m.

• Station: WWJ-TV/WDIV Channel 4 (original run); WADL Channel 38 (2013–present)
• Host: Bob Allison
• Site: Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, MI

This was originally at Highland Lanes in Toledo, Ohio, where it was also seen on WDHO Channel 24 (now WNWO-TV). It moved to Detroit in about 1974. A revival of this show began in June 2013 on WADL, initially as a one-hour retrospective special, with a weekly half-hour series started in September. As with the original version, the WADL version was hosted by Bob Allison and originate from Thunderbowl Lanes.[1]

• Station: WJRT Channel 12
• Host: Ed Phelps
• Site: Southland Lanes (now Grand Blanc Lanes), Grand Blanc Township
• Original Host: Fred Trost 1979-1980

• Station: KWHE Channel 14
• Site: Aiea Bowling Center, Barber's Point Bowling Center, Hickam Bowling Center, K-bay Bowling Center, Leeward Bowling Center, Pali Bowling Center, Schofield Bowling Center, and Subase Bowling Center [5]
• Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. every Saturday [6]

• Station: KMBC Channel 9
• Host: Fred Broski
• Site: Originally at King Louie West Lanes in Overland Park,[7] 2 years NKC Pro bowl, then in studio

• Station: CKCO-TV Channel 13
• Host: Jim Craig (1972/73), then Bill Inkol (74-?), later Jeff Hutcheson, Tom Knowlton
• Site: Victoria Bowlerama/Twin Cities Bowl

• Station: KTLA Channel 5 (July 4, 1972 – March 4, 1977); KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV) Channel 9 (February 27-September 15, 1978)
• Host: Chick Hearn (July 4, 1972 – September 3, 1976; February 27-September 15, 1978); Jim Lange (September 6, 1976 – March 4, 1977)

1st station

• WVTV Channel 18 (1972–1975)
  • Site: Red Carpet Lanes North (Now closed)
  • Host: Dick Johnson until October, 1975. Replaced by co-hosts Lee Rothman and Tom Kohl
  • After 1975, WVTV and station owner Gaylord Broadcasting created a different bowling show called The Bowling Game, which would air until January 4, 1987 on WVTV.[8] It then moved to WDJT-TV where it aired until at least 1993.[9]

2nd station

• WISN-TV Channel 12 (1975–1978)
  • Site: In studio
  • Host: Bruce Bennett

• Station: KSTP-TV
• Host: Tom Ryther, Johnny Canton
• Site: Village North Bowl (closed), Jim Maddens Diamond Lake South Lanes (Closed), Cedarvale Lanes

• Station: WOR Channel 9 (now WWOR-TV)
• Host: Bob Murphy, then Larry Kenney
• Site: Madison Square Garden Bowling Center (closed), then a studio in Brooklyn, located across from the Romper Room set

Host Larry Kenney later achieved national fame as the voice of Lion-O in the smash hit 80s cartoon ThunderCats and the voice of Karate Kat in The Comic Strip.

• Stations: WTAF-TV (now WTXF-TV); WPHL-TV
• Host: Dick Schorr (WTAF), Bob Gale (WTAF), and Tom Dooley (WPHL).
• Site: The WTAF version was taped at Willow Grove Park Lanes in 1969 (closed), moved to Andorra Key Lanes in 1972 (closed), then in the basement of their Center City studios, which also served as the studio for weekly bowling matches, while the WPHL version was taped at Boulevard Lanes (closed) in Philadelphia.

• Station: WTAE Channel 4
• Host: Nick Perry, then Ron Jaye.
• Lanes: In Studio Lanes. These same lanes were also used for Channel 4's Greater Pittsburgh Championship Bowling, a fixture on Saturday afternoons throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In Studio Lanes used pinboys at the time.

• Station: WOKR-TV Channel 13 (Now WHAM-TV)
• Host: Ron DiFrance, then Matt Rinaldi
• Site: In studio. (Studio's lanes also host to Sunday's Junior Bowling and Brighton-Panorama TV Roll-offs hosted by sportscaster DiFrance, then Tony Distino.) In the 1970s, the studio previously used a Brunswick set with a custom sweeper label. In the 1980s, the studio lanes upgraded to an AMF set with a magic triangle and 82-30s.

• Station: KXTV channel 10
• Hosts: Ken Gimblin
• Sites: Unknown.

• Station: KBHK-TV channel 44
• Hosts: Unknown.
• Sites: Unknown.
• KBHK's version ran from March until September 1978.

• Stations: KDNL-TV channel 30 (1973-1976), KTVI Channel 2 (c. 1976-1980)
• Hosts: Russ Carter (KDNL) and Morgan Hatch (KTVI).
• Sites: In studio lanes (KDNL version), Arena Bowl (KTVI version, no longer in existence)

• Station: WSTM-TV Channel 3 (Then WSYR-TV)
• Hosts: Bud Hedinger

The WSTM version was taped in the basement of the studios on James Street with a Brunswick set. The studios were also used for the taping of Challenge Bowling, a regional junior bowling show co-hosted by Marty Piraino.

• Station: WTSP Channel 10 (then WLCY-TV); 1975–76
• Host: Jim Bradley
• Site: Sunshine Bowl in Pinellas Park (closed, following hurricane damage in 2004 and, during rebuilding, a fire in 2005; since demolished and replaced by a WalMart Neighborhood Grocery)

• Station: WDCA Channel 20
• Host: Johnny Holliday
• Site: River Lanes in Bethesda, Maryland

• Station: CKND-TV
• Host: Bob Washington
• Show Announcer: Dave Clayes
• Site: Academy Uptown Lanes. The center relocated in 2018 and is now known as Uptown Alley - a modern family entertainment complex north of the Polo Park shopping center.
• This was a five-pin edition of the show, which ran from 1979 to the mid-1980s.
• The jackpot started at $200 and increased by $15 per contestant until it was won.
• Strike or spares earned $20 for the bowler and pin pal. An open frame was scored as per five pin rules and $1 per pin was awarded.
• If a spare was made then a third ball would be allowed – if this ball was a strike, the prize was $40.
• In the initial running of the show, if the first strike was achieved and the second strike missed, the turn was over and the prize was $20. Later on, if the first strike was achieved and the second strike missed, the bowler could attempt a spare. If the spare was made, the prize was $40.
• The bowler must throw three consecutive strikes to win the jackpot.
• If a third strike attempt was missed, the prize was $40.
• Each 30-minute episode consisted of seven bowlers. One bowler among the seven would be selected at random as the Bonus Bowler. If the Bonus Bowler won the jackpot, they won an array of additional merchandise and services.