Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a complete broadcast of an edition of Scrabble (based on the popular board game) as transmitted over WMAQ Channel 5. Chuck Woolery is your host, and Charlie Tuna is announcer.
(TECHNICAL NOTE: The first seconds are accelerated in speed, as another program was recorded over what was on before this.)
Includes:
(tail end of) Station ID / promo
Opening segment, plus Chuck explaining $5,000 jackpot and Charlie introducing contestants Pam McCormack (sp?) from Taft, CA, and South Haven, MI native David Bunyea (sp?), each of whom explain themselves to Chuck; then, in the "crossword" round, an eight-letter word with 'D' in it, followed by a six-letter word with 'O', an eight-letter word with 'T' and a five-letter word with 'I', ending with Chuck handing out (fake) $100 bills to the winner
Commercials for:
Night Spice cologne
Kleenex tissues
Fantastic Sam's Salon
Drixoral antihistamine/nasal congestant (voiceover by Burgess Meredith)
Next round for $10,000, with first word consisting of five letters; second word, seven letters; and third word, nine letters
Commercials for:
Carnation Coffee-Mate Non-Dairy Creamer
Chee-tos Puffed Balls (with Chester Cheetah)
US Sprint
Dinty Moore Beef Stew
Afrin 12-Hour Nasal Spray - "Before and Afrin"
Segment 3 starts with Chuck promoting next week's shows where game show hosts will be playing Scrabble, then next round with new contestants Flo Procunier from Sacramento, CA, and Richmond, MI native Nathan Fagan, each of whom explain themselves, then they go to crosswords starting with an eight-letter word with 'E' and a seven-letter word with 'E', and after Chuck hands out the winning amount, the bell runs and they go to 'Speed Word' with a nine-letter word with 'O', after which comes a plug for the Yashica T2 camera
Commercials for:
Bully Swish Disinfectant, Toilet Cleaner and Freshener
Anacin
L'eggs Just My Size pantyhose
Bisquick biscuit mix
Promo for Today (with Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley)
Segment 4, with Sprint Round Time with winners, with first word having five letters, the second word six letters, the third word seven letters and a make-up nine letters; one contestant will be back the next day
Commercials for:
Sine-Off Maximum Strength Caplets
Wrigley's Extra Sugar-Free Gum (with Kelly Harmon?)
Friskies cat food (to tune of "Nobody But Me")
Final segment, with first word having six letters and second word six letters; after which Chuck closes show, and end credits (with Charlie announcing who furnished Chuck's wardrobe)
Promo for Santa Barbara
Commercials for:
Beech-Nut Stage 1 Cereals for infants
Illinois Bell - "Phone First"
PSA for League of Chicago Theatres' Curtain Call phone line (with Chuck Smith of Chicago Theatre Company) (music: "Entre Act" from 1979 Broadway musical "They're Playing Our Song")
Station ID / incomplete promo for "Flashdance" (recording ends halfway) (voiceover by Jim Hill)
This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, February 1st 1988 during the 11:30am to 12:00pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
Here's a complete broadcast of an edition of Scrabble (based on the popular board game) as transmitted over WMAQ Channel 5. Chuck Woolery is your host, and Charlie Tuna is announcer.
(TECHNICAL NOTE: The first seconds are accelerated in speed, as another program was recorded over what was on before this.)
Includes:
(tail end of) Station ID / promo
Opening segment, plus Chuck explaining $5,000 jackpot and Charlie introducing contestants Pam McCormack (sp?) from Taft, CA, and South Haven, MI native David Bunyea (sp?), each of whom explain themselves to Chuck; then, in the "crossword" round, an eight-letter word with 'D' in it, followed by a six-letter word with 'O', an eight-letter word with 'T' and a five-letter word with 'I', ending with Chuck handing out (fake) $100 bills to the winner
Commercials for:
Night Spice cologne
Kleenex tissues
Fantastic Sam's Salon
Drixoral antihistamine/nasal congestant (voiceover by Burgess Meredith)
Next round for $10,000, with first word consisting of five letters; second word, seven letters; and third word, nine letters
Commercials for:
Carnation Coffee-Mate Non-Dairy Creamer
Chee-tos Puffed Balls (with Chester Cheetah)
US Sprint
Dinty Moore Beef Stew
Afrin 12-Hour Nasal Spray - "Before and Afrin"
Segment 3 starts with Chuck promoting next week's shows where game show hosts will be playing Scrabble, then next round with new contestants Flo Procunier from Sacramento, CA, and Richmond, MI native Nathan Fagan, each of whom explain themselves, then they go to crosswords starting with an eight-letter word with 'E' and a seven-letter word with 'E', and after Chuck hands out the winning amount, the bell runs and they go to 'Speed Word' with a nine-letter word with 'O', after which comes a plug for the Yashica T2 camera
Commercials for:
Bully Swish Disinfectant, Toilet Cleaner and Freshener
Anacin
L'eggs Just My Size pantyhose
Bisquick biscuit mix
Promo for Today (with Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley)
Segment 4, with Sprint Round Time with winners, with first word having five letters, the second word six letters, the third word seven letters and a make-up nine letters; one contestant will be back the next day
Commercials for:
Sine-Off Maximum Strength Caplets
Wrigley's Extra Sugar-Free Gum (with Kelly Harmon?)
Friskies cat food (to tune of "Nobody But Me")
Final segment, with first word having six letters and second word six letters; after which Chuck closes show, and end credits (with Charlie announcing who furnished Chuck's wardrobe)
Promo for Santa Barbara
Commercials for:
Beech-Nut Stage 1 Cereals for infants
Illinois Bell - "Phone First"
PSA for League of Chicago Theatres' Curtain Call phone line (with Chuck Smith of Chicago Theatre Company) (music: "Entre Act" from 1979 Broadway musical "They're Playing Our Song")
Station ID / incomplete promo for "Flashdance" (recording ends halfway) (voiceover by Jim Hill)
This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, February 1st 1988 during the 11:30am to 12:00pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
