Airdate(s): |
September 1974-1981January 3- June 10, 1977 |
Network(s):
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1974-78: Weekly Syndication
(Prime-time) 1977: NBC Daytime 1978-81: Twice-a-Week Syndication (Prime-time) |
Announcer(s):
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John Harlan |
Produced
By:
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Ralph Edwards Productions |



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1974-1976: Seasons 1 & 2 Nighttime version rules |
ROUND TWO: Melody Roulette is played with a wheel with dollar values ranging from $20 up to $1000. For each tune, Tom spins the wheel and the contestants compete for whatever value comes up. Each contestant also had a designated $200 space on the wheel, and if the wheel landed on one of those two spaces, the appropriate contestant received $200 straight up, in addition to playing the next tune for $200. Most tunes named after five tunes, or the first contestant to three tunes, wins the round and 10 points. Again, the contestants get five points apiece for a tie.


Screen capture obtained from the now defunct Page O'Clips website.
In the Golden Medley, the contestant
has 30 seconds. The orchestra then gets to playing, and the contestant hits
the lockout button to stop the clock and names that tune. Guessing correctly
wins $500 worth of prizes. A wrong guess ends the game. The contestant is
allowed to pass on any tune and come back to it if time is left. If the
contestant guesses seven tunes before time elapses, s/he wins $15,000 in
cash and prizes.
At the end of the show, Tom would go into
the audience called "The Name That Tune Special," in which audience members
had a chance to name a tune for $50.
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PRESS RELEASES & TV GUIDE ADS, 1974-76 |
| "Tom Kennedy, host of Name That Tune" | ||
| "Tom Kennedy, host of Name That Tune" | ||
| A shot of Tom from the first season. | ||
| A neat photo probably done before the set was built. This photo was featured in the book "The Final Four of Everything." | ||
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"THIS IS A WINNER'S DANCE OF TOM KENNEDY, STAR OF NAME THAT TUNE, EVER SAW ONE!" (Episode 35) |
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| "GRANNY NAMES THOSE TUNES" (Episode 40) | ||
| "BIG WINNER" (Episode 46) | ||
| "BIG WINNER" (Episode 51) | ||
| "BIG WINNER" (Episode 65) | ||
| "PAROLEE MISSES TUNE" (Episode 77) |
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1976 - Season 3 Nighttime version rules |
For Round One, the contestants again tackled the Money Trees.
In Round Two, the contestants played a revamped version of Melody Roulette.
This version uses two wheels. The inner wheel has dollar amounts ranging
from $50-$1,000, the outer wheel is empty except for two “Double” cards.
Tom spins the wheels and the contestants compete for whatever value comes
up. The orchestra plays five tunes, and Tom spins the wheel for a new value
before each. Contestants keep everything they win, but the top scorer after
five tunes (or the first contestant to get three tunes) wins 10 points. If
there’s a tie, both contestants get 5 points.
Round Three is Bid-a-Note for 20 points.
The winner moved on to Golden Medley. If the contestant can go 7-for-7 and win the $15,000 top prize in the Golden Medley, they come back the following week, with no risk involved, to go for a $100,000 cash bonus.
After the 20 seconds has elapsed, the pianist stops playing and the contestant has 10 seconds to give a single guess to the correct name of the tune. Tom then allows the contestant to come out of the booth, and he reads the background information and any appropriate writing and performing credits for the tune. From there, he announces the title. If the title is an exact match for the contestant's answer, s/he wins $10,000 a year for the next ten years.
And if they failed, no problem. During these two seasons of "Name That Tune" at least one Guaranteed Payoff Tournament was held, with contestants competing for a grand prize of $100,000 without having to guess a Mystery Tune at the end.
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1977 Daytime version |
In what seemed like a total shoe-in for a daytime hit, NBC added a five-day-a-week version of the nighttime sensation to their A.M. line-up. Surprisingly, it didn't last.
The daytime version used other games during its run: Cassette Roulette, where Tom removed cassettes from a revolving drum, and contestants played to the best of five tunes; and Build-a-Note, where one instrument in the show's orchestra played a tune and other instruments gradually joined in, and contestants again played to the best of five tunes. Each game was worth 10 points, or five for a tie.
ROUND THREE: Bid-a-Note, the same as the nighttime show.
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1977 DAYTIME VERSION PUBLICITY PHOTOS & TV GUIDE ADS |
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TOM KENNEDY "Name That Tune" NBC Promotional Department |
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| A general publicity shot. |
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1977 - Season 4 Nighttime version rules |
ROUND THREE: Bid-a-Note, played the same as before for a bonus prize package and 20 points. Top score after all threes (or a tiebreaker) goes on to play Golden Medley for $15,000 in cash & prizes.


If time permitted, Tom and Kathy Lee would play the Home Viewer Telephone Game. A viewer selected at random from somewhere in the continental United States would be called, and Kathy Lee would get on the phone and sing him or her a tune. If the home viewer could name that tune, s/he would win a new car.
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1976-78 PRESS RELEASES & TV GUIDE ADS |
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"JOYOUS LEAP!" (Episode 99) This joyous leap was featured in a montage of "Name That Tune" clips featured in a 2002 retrospective on "The Today Show." |
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| "TENSE MOMENT" (Episode 101) | ||
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1978-81 Nighttime version |
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The press release announcing all the big changes for the 1978 season: |






The show now turned to a number
of sources for the tunes contestants had to guess throughout the show.
New bandleader Stan Worth along with Name That Tune orchestra played
mainly standards and show tunes. A rock band, Dan Younger & The Sound System, was
added to play contemporary hit music. Monica Burress was the vocalist for
the orchestra's tunes, while Steve March (biological son of Mel Torme and
stepson
of "$64,000 Question" emcee Hal March, making him the perfect candidate
for a musical game show) sang tunes with The Sound System.

Tom evidently liked the addition of rock music to the show, by the way. On a couple of the episodes on the trading circuit, he can be seen air-guitaring the show's theme on his way to the stage!





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April 6, 2002 version (Surprise!) |
Nostalgia for the 1970s is the
in-thing during this decade, and the Today Show spent a week in 2002
celebrating the greatest game shows of the 70s. (Funny the attitudes
networks have toward game shows anymore...they're good enough for our
blooper specials and our nostalgia programming, but keep them off our
regular daytime schedules at any cost.)
Tom received the invitation to
reminisce about "Name That Tune" and as a bonus, after an interview
conducted by Al Roker, Tom headed back to his old job, emceeing a game
between the show's on-air personnel on the street outside Rockefeller
Plaza.
To the surprise of--well, not me---Tom still looked like he belonged up
there, emceeing a nice friendly game with the team of Katie Couric and
Ann Richards vs. Al Roker and Matt Lauer. The women were the clear
favorites in this game, particularly because Katie had been yelling the
answers throughout the montage of game clips from the 70s version.
But during Round One, Pick-a-Tune
(so named because Tom had picked the tunes to be played for this round),
cracks in Katie's dangerous facade began to reveal themselves. The men
dominated, to everybody's surprise, and finished the round leading 3 to
1.
Matt and Al showed themselves to
be a formidable duo, which privately gave me a thrill because I was
rooting for them the whole time. After all, Al was a former game show host
who had been nothing but pleasant to me during our brief handshake
encounter, while Matt got his start in broadcasting in my home state,
reporting for WOWK in Huntington, WV.
Round Two would offer a chance
for Ann and Katie to rally on the journey toward the grand prize...hey,
there's a lone pianist onstage, that must mean it's time for Bid-a-Note!
Just like on the classic series,
Tom read the clues and the contestants bid on how many notes they
needed. Unlike the original series, the contestants were allowed to go
as low as ZERO notes, which Katie Couric actually did successfully at
one point in the game.
Katie's miracle performance
seemed to be for naught, though, as the men continued to dominate and
won the game 5-2, winning a fabulous prize package: a Today Show
backpack and a supply of Eskimo Pies!



I can name this show, and its host in one word...CLASSIC.

Tom's biggest hit, and fondest
memories (2.81 MB, 7 min)
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