From 1963 to 1989, the Capital District’s top students looked forward to their day in the sun – a chance to compete on WRGB’s 1960’s televised quiz show “Little Red Schoolhouse,” which was later rebranded “Answers Please” in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In its nearly 30 years of existence, the show’s format remained relatively the same – two teams of high school students were challenged to answer questions of varying degrees of difficulty.

This program can trace its roots back to two different shows – one on radio, the other on television. “Little Red Schoolhouse” was a staple of WGY’s radio broadcasts in the 1940’s – for example, a team from Kingston High School won eleven consecutive weeks in a row from March 16-May 25, 1941.

In television station WRGB’s infancy, they aired several quiz and panel programs (which, in those early broadcast days, were quick and cheap to produce), and a show in 1945, “Telequiz Kids,” was broadcast for a few weeks. The show featured a host, who asked several desk-seated students questions about history and general studies.

In 1963, the idea of a high school quiz show was revived with the premiere of “Little Red Schoolhouse.” The host of “Little Red Schoolhouse” was Dave Kroman, an on-air radio and television personality. Kroman, who wrote a contract bridge column for the Times-Union, was married to WGY radio personality Martha Brooks, and for many years they hosted a “Breakfast with the Brooks” radio show on WGY. The show premiered on February 3, 1963 at 12:00 noon, just before TV Tournament Time.

In “Little Red Schoolhouse,” two teams answered questions in which right answers earned that team points – and if a team answered enough toss-up questions, they would receive bonus questions that they could answer without interruption by the opposing squad. The winning team would be invited back next week to face another school; if the school won three straight matches, that school retired undefeated.

“Little Red Schoolhouse” was so popular, it was eventually broadcast as part of WRGB’s evening prime-time lineup, and would air in place of various NBC shows that would have normally aired in that timeslot.

“Answers Please” actually began as a summer version of “Little Red Schoolhouse,” in which two teams of adults faced each other in a battle of brains. One of the teams would be comprised of various WRGB and WGY on-air personalities, as such people as Ernie Tetreault and Howard Tupper matched wits against various other community teams.

By 1970, however, the “Little Red Schoolhouse” name was retired, and “Answers Please” became the de facto high school quiz show from that point on.

At some point in the program’s history, WRGB started announcing a disclaimer on the program, noting that the show was a test of recall and not a test of which school had a better academic program. This was done to prevent people from saying, “Oh, my school is academically superior to your school because my school beat the pants off your school on Channel 6.”

“Arthur Garland, an executive within WRGB, asked if I would host Answers Please,” said Tim Welch, who worked with the station as a meteorologist in the 1970’s and 80’s. “Little known fact – some of the questions that I used on Answers Please at the time, I actually paid my brother – who was a fireman – to write them for me.”

Getting on “Little Red Schoolhouse” and “Answers Please” was a major source of pride for Capital District students and schools. Many yearbooks show an “Answers Please” four-person team, along with their faculty advisors. Scores and results are often listed – especially if that team happened to retire undefeated.

In some seasons, there was actually a “tournament of champions,” in which teams who had retired undefeated that year would come back and face each other in a battle of unbeatens.

But in June 1989, “Answers Please” – along with another WRGB production, the “Big Money Movie” – were canceled. The last episode aired on June 24, 1989. At the time, WRGB general manager David Lynch called the show’s cancellation “a very tough decision to make.”

A complete page with wins and losses and scores is at this link.

Okay, now here’s the fun part. And I’m asking all you blog readers out there.

Did you ever appear on “Little Red Schoolhouse” or “Answers Please?” What school did you represent?

Who were your teammates? Who were the schools you faced? How did you do on the show? Do you remember the month and year in which your school appeared? Do you remember who hosted the show? Do you have any photographs or video footage from your appearance? Do you have any memories of your time on the show?



Feel free to comment. In fact, I hope you do comment. Any information or images you have will be added to the list above.

Much of the material for this blog post was provided by the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium, Schenectady, N.Y. The assistance of the museum and of its archivist, Chris Hunter, is greatly appreciated.