From a former KCOP ENGINEER

I was a maintenance engineer at KCOP during the time Barry and Enright taped Jokers Wild there.As I remember, the Joker machine didn't use Telecine parts at all. The slides were mounted on three flat wheels that spun through modified Kodak Carousel slide projectors with slots cut in them so that the spinning wheel could pass the slides between the light and lense. The wheels themselves were mounted on a frame to the side of each projector and were spun by an electric solenoid when the contestant pulled the handle. At pre-set times another solenoid would extend an arm and catch a matching notch in the wheel to stop the wheel at a slide. There was no sensing of where the wheel was at any moment so the chance of a particular slide coming up was entirely random. Likewise, the machine operator did not spin the wheels by hand or otherwise touch the machine during the course of the game. All the operator did was control the slide machine lamps and the lights around the outside of each window that signified matching categories. There were another two projectors, standard Kodak Carousels, that fed a smaller rear projection screen behind the host's position. These were used to display the catagories of questions as Jack read them off at the beginning of each round. Five shows (a weeks worth) were taped in a single day, with two or three days worth of taping scheduled back to back. Since KCOP only had a single production studio and it was leased to other clients between Joker tapings, the set had to be torn down and placed in storage after each taping session. The original syndication set was the one built by CBS for the network run, slightly modified to fit in the smaller KCOP studio. This was a permanent set which remained set up in a dedicated studio at CBS, so it wasn't designed to be torn down on a regular basis. After a couple of years of being set up and torn down it literally wore out. This is why the set was replaced by the neon blue one, which was designed to be taken in and out of storage more easily. Contestant security was very tight during the tapings. Station personnel were not allowed to approach any contestant, and they were isolated in a backstage area during the tapings. Even bathroom breaks were supervised, with B&E employees insuring the rooms were empty before contestants were allowed to use the facilities. The sound effects came from two different sources. There was an auxiliary audio console set up in the back of the audience riser where an audio engineer controlled the audience PA feed. Since he had an unobstructed view of the stage, he also fired the machine's audio sound effects from a bank of 6 cartridge machines. The live audience was miked to pick up their reactions, but this was supplemented by a second operator in the audio control room. He controlled a McKenzie multiple playback tape machine that contained about two dozen 5-10 second snippets of various audience reactions. These supplemented the live microphones to sweeten the audience reactions. This machine also played all of the theme music, bumpers and sound effects not controlled by the PA operator. All of the audio production was done live during the taping, and the shows emerged from the studio essentially ready to air. All that needed to be added in post production were the prize announcements and commercials. During one taping, a contestant became a little too exuberant during the bonus round (when they pulled the large slot machine handle to the right of the machine) and wound up snapping off the plexiglass column at it's base. All of the light bulbs inside the handle cascaded to the floor in a heap, still fully lit. Jack became completely flustered, and the whole scene was quite hilarious. Unfortunately, I doubt you'll ever see it on a blooper reel as Dan Enright immediately took control of the tape room and insured no one made any unauthorized copies. KCOP also was used to tape a couple of seasons of Tic Tac Dough. Thanks for putting up the Jokers Wild site - it brought back memories of my first "real" TV job. Lou Schneider