College Bowl

G.E. College Bowl
still image from the 1966 season title sequence
Created by	Don Reid
Presented by	Allen Ludden (1959-1962) Robert Earle (1962-1970)
Country of origin	United States
No. of series	12
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Release
Original network	CBS (1959-1963) NBC (1963-1970)
Original release	January 4, 1959 – June 14, 1970

College Bowl (also known as General Electric (G.E.) College Bowl) was a radio television and student quiz show. College Bowl first aired on US radio stations in 1953. It then moved to US television broadcast networks, airing 1959 to 1963 on CBS and from 1963 to 1970 on NBC. In 1977, the game resurfaced as an activity on college campuses through an affiliation with the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) that lasted for 31 years. In 2008, the College Bowl Company announced its suspension of the College Bowl program, citing increased costs and financial infeasibility of continuing to work with ACUI.

College Bowl originated as a USO activity created by Canadian Don Reid for soldiers serving in World War II. The game was then developed into a radio show by Reid and John Moses. Grant Tinker, later President of NBC and MTM Enterprises, got his start as an assistant on the show.

Two four-member teams representing various colleges and universities competed; one member of each team was its captain. The game began with a "toss-up" question for ten points; the first player to buzz in got the right to answer, but if (s)he was wrong, the other team could try to answer (if a player buzzed in before the host finished reading the question and was wrong, the team was penalized five points). Answering a "toss-up" correctly earned the team the right to answer a multi-part "bonus" question worth up to thirty points; the team members could collaborate, but only the captain was allowed to actually give the answer. The game continued in this manner, and was played in halves. During halftime, the players were allowed to show a short promotional film of their school; or they might talk about career plans or the like.

The first College Quiz Bowl match was played on NBC radio on October 10, 1953, when Northwestern University defeated Columbia University, 135-60. Twenty-six episodes ran in that first season, with winning teams receiving $500 grants for their school. Good Housekeeping magazine became the sponsor for the 1954-55 season, and a short third season in the autumn of 1955 finished the run. The most dominant team was the University of Minnesota, which had teams appear in 23 of the 68 broadcast matches. The 1953-55 series had a powerful appeal because it used remote broadcasts; each team was located at their own college where they were cheered on by their wildly enthusiastic classmates. The effect was akin to listening to a football game, but this type of excitement evaporated in later versions, in which both teams competed in the same room.