As Schools Match Wits
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As Schools Match Wits is a high school quiz show that airs on PBS member station WGBY in Springfield, Massachusetts, and produced in association with Westfield State College. One of America's longest-running high school quiz shows, As Schools Match Wits is well-known throughout western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut.
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[edit] Gameplay
Two teams of four high school students compete in a trivia and academic competition. At the beginning of the show, there is a coin toss, the winning team gets to choose their category and their point value. The categories are as follows:
| Category | Possible Point Values |
|---|---|
| The Arts | 30, 25 |
| Grab Bag | 30, 25 |
| Sports and Entertainment | 30, 25, 20 |
| Social Studies | 30, 25, 20 |
| Math and Science | 30, 25, 20 |
| Literature | 30, 25, 20, 15 |
| History | 30, 25, 20, 15 |
| General Knowledge | 30, 25, 20, 15 |
After a category and point value is chosen, a qualification question is asked to the team. If the team answers the question correctly, they are then asked several questions each of which has a point value. In other words, the qualification question is not worth any points and the points are gained by answering the questions that follow the qualification question. If a team fails to answer a question, the opposing team is given a chance to capitilize and gain more points. This play continues for several questions.
New for the WGBY version is the "Challenge Round" in this category one team will pick a category and a point value for the opposing team. After this, the same protocal takes place as if the team picked the category and point value for themselves in a regular question. This "Challenge Round" replaces the "Dumb Luck Round" which was part of the WWLP show. The "Challenge Round" adds a new spice to the show as well as adds some more stategy to the game play.
After the Challenge Round, there is a 5-point Lightening Round where teams compete again each other in rapid fire type questions that are very similar to a game show like Jeopardy. For each right response a team a team gains five points, for each incorrect response a team loses five points.
Following the first Lightning Round, more regular game play takes places. Soon the final Lightening Round takes place, this round is the identical to the first except that it is worth 10 points. The show's participants are also interviewed over the course of game play, each student talks for about 15 seconds about activities that students participate or interests of the students.
[edit] History
As Schools Match Wits, which originally aired on WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts, is a high school quiz competition that bills itself as "America's Longest Running High School Television Quiz Show Since 1961". This high school quiz show includes schools from western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut. Its regular timeslot going back at least as far as the early 1970s has been Saturday nights at 7:30, although it has aired at other times. Phil Shepardson, an English professor at Westfield State College, hosted the show from its premiere in October 1961 to June 1991. John Baran (WWLP's station manager) took over that autumn when the show returned from its annual summer hiatus.
For many years, the show's theme music was Leroy Anderson's "Bugler's Holiday", performed by the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler's direction. (This information would occasionally appear in questions used on the show.) At least two different Boston Pops recordings were used: one dating from 1967, and another from 1969 that featured a guest performance by legendary trumpeter Al Hirt. The 1969 recording used on the air was recorded off of a record owned by one of the station's engineers. In September 2000, "Bugler's Holiday" was replaced in favor of a generic-sounding, far less distinctive piece because of escalating music licensing fees. Except for very minor trim and background changes, the show also used the exact same set from 1982 until 2000.
[edit] Cancellation and revival
In September 2006, WWLP canceled the program after 45 seasons, citing the cost of new FCC regulations requiring all U.S. over-the-air television programming to be closed-captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing. Shortly after the cancellation was announced, however, WWLP, WGBY and Westfield State College announced a solution to keep the program on the air. WWLP has licensed the program to Westfield State College, and it returned for a 46th season in January 2007 as a co-production of Westfield State College and WGBY. The program will continue to air on Saturday evenings, now on WGBY, and with "Bugler's Holiday" as the program's returned theme. It returned to the airwaves at 7:00 p.m., on 20 January 2007, over WGBY.
The new series began taping in early January 2007. As Schools Match Wits delivers all of the fun of the classic high school quiz-show and introduces a new generation of high-school students to one of the few public competitions that stresses knowledge over physical ability.
When the new season of As Schools Match Wits premiered on Saturday January 20, the show welcomed radio personality and writer Chris Rohmann as its new host. Rohmann is a writer, teacher, critic and radio personality with a broad background in the arts, journalism and the world of ideas. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School (PVPA) in South Hadley, Massachusetts, has been the theater critic for 88.5 WFCR since 2001 and contributes regularly to the Valley Advocate. A director as well as critic, he has staged plays at the Hampshire Shakespeare Company, PVPA and elsewhere. He is also the grants coordinator for New World Theater, the multicultural theater based at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center.
Due to the shortened season, teams will play each other each week and at the end of the season, the top eight scoring teams will advance to the playoffs. This is different from the original format where teams would advance to the next show and if they won 3 times they would make it to the post-season.
[edit] 2007 Season Schedule and Results
| Date | Teams | Final Score |
|---|---|---|
| January 20 | West Springfield High School v. Hampshire Regional High School | HAMP 160 - WS 155 |
| January 27 | Chicopee Comp High School v. Westfield High School | WEST 120 - COMP 110 |
| February 3 | Windsor High School v. Holyoke High School | HYKE 200 - WDSR 125 |
| February 10 | Easthampton High School v. St. Mary's High School | EHAM 125 - STMS 120 |
| February 17 | Frontier Regional High School v. Agawam High School | AGWM 120 - FRNT 25 |
| March 3 | East Longmeadow High School v. Holyoke Catholic High School | ELHS 190 - HCAT 155 |
| March 10 | The MacDuffie School v. Taconic High School | MCDF 265 - TANC 70 |
| March 17 | Simsbury High School v. Wilbraham Monson Academy | SHS 280 - WMAD 190 |
| March 24 | Northampton High School v. Amherst-Pelham Regional High School | AMHS 195 - NOHO 155 |
| March 31 | Enfield High School v. Chicopee High School | TBD |
| April 7 | Suffield Academy v. Gateway Regional High School | TBD |
| April 14 | Lee High School v. Springfield Central High School | TBD |
| April 21 | Sabis International v. The Loomis Chaffee School | TBD |
| April 28 | Monson High School v. St. Joseph’s Central High School | TBD |
| May 5 | Lenox Memorial High School v. Southwick Tolland Regional | TBD |
| May 12 | Minnechaug Regional High School v. Longmeadow High School | TBD |
| May 19 | Wahconah Regional High School v. Ware High School | TBD |
| May 26 | Belchertown High School v. Deerfield Academy | TBD |
| June 2 | Ludlow High School v. Williston Northampton School | TBD |
| June 9 | Pittsfield High School v. Granby High School | TBD |
| June 16 | Springfield School of Science and Technology v. Hopkins Academy | TBD |
[edit] Current 2007 Post Season Seedings
| Seed | School |
|---|---|
| 1 | Simsbury High School |
| 2 | The MacDuffie School |
| 3 | Holyoke High School |
| 4 | Amherst Regional High School |
| 5 | Wilbraham Monson Academy |
| 5 | East Longmeadow High School |
| 7 | Hampshire Regional High School |
| 8 | West Springfield High School |
| 8 | Holyoke Catholic High School |
| 8 | Northampton High School |
Note: No tiebreaker scenario has been released for teams that end up tied at the end of the regular season to see what teams are the final eight.
