The History of Granite State Challenge

It was on January 30th, 1984 that Granite State Challenge first appeared on New Hampshire Public Television’s airwaves. The show was patterned after the popular College Bowl radio and television programs first broadcast nationally in the 1950’s and 1960’s. A young Tom Bergeron, of Dancing with the Stars fame, was the original host.

Featuring three rounds of questions - a bonus round sandwiched by two toss-up rounds - the show was a rousing success right from the start. Thirty-seven New Hampshire high schools vied for only 16 spots in the competition. The lineup for that inaugural season was selected using much the same criteria as is still used today, and almost every school chosen to compete that year has been an active participant in the show since. Londonderry took the first-ever championship title in the hour-long final broadcast of the season, which would later come to be known as the SuperChallenge.

Hot on the heels of the success of season one the decision was made to bring the show back for a second season starting on October 14th, 1984. Bergeron had since moved to Boston and taken a position with WBZ-TV. Enter long-time broadcaster and local sports announcer Jim Jeannotte who handily stepped into the role he occupies to this day.

Seasons two and three of the program ran with essentially the same format as did the first with season two being broadcast in the Fall of 1984 and season three in the Spring of 1985. Sixteen schools were again selected for each season and those schools put forth four of their most talented students to represent them in competition.

By the end of season three it seemed that the primary goal of the show – to provide a means by which academically talented students could gain the same sort of recognition as did their athlete peers – was being realized. It was because of the show’s continuing success that the competition was expanded in season four to encompass a full roster of 32 schools competing in a single season that would start broadcast in the October of 1985 and conclude with an hour-long SuperChallenge in May of 1986.

 

 

Season four saw another first as well. Being the first “expanded” season it is likely that this was the when the popular “60 Second” round was added to the competition. Following in the tradition of other such “lightning” rounds, the 60 Second round requires team members to answer as many as 10 questions in the course of 60 seconds earning 10 points per correct answer with a bonus of 10 points if all 10 answers are correct. Due to the limited time allotted for the round it created an extra burst of excitement within the game as well as an opportunity for trailing teams to make stunning comebacks.

In the Fall of 1986 the stakes were raised once more when it was announced that the winner of season 5 would move on to compete in the National High School Academic Championships at Ohio State University in June 1987. It was Bishop Guertin High School that narrowly defeated Merrimack High School by a score of 485-460 taking both the SuperChallenge championship and a berth in the national competition.

In the years since those early seasons, Granite State Challenge has undergone a number of changes, but the heart of the show has always remained. Challenge has always been a place to showcase the hard work and talent of New Hampshire’s young people. It was in that spirit that a decision was made to add student interviews to the program in order to give the viewer a little more insight into just what it was that made these students so special. Originally conducted on-set by Jim in real-time, the task of interviewing the students was handed off to a co-host in the late 1990’s when changes to the set made it necessary to pre-produce the interviews.

Ally McNair

John Herman

Lori D. Warriner

Allison MacNair, who would later go on to host NHPTV's NH Outlook, joined the show in 1998 as the first-ever Granite State Challenge co-host. Ally took on the role as only she could, and instantly set nervous students at ease allowing them the opportunity to share a more personal side with the viewers. Ally served as co-host for two years before moving on to NH Outlook.

Capably following in Ally’s footsteps was John Herman, a former Alton High School Challenge contestant himself as well as a member of the NHPTV Production Crew. John knew Granite State Challenge inside out and brought a youthful energy to the role that the students found to be very engaging. An old hand at theatre and improvisational comedy, John was never afraid of “putting himself out there” for the benefit of the show.

Following John’s departure, Tim Estiloz was the co-host through the 2008-2009 season. For GSC’s 27th season, Lori D. Warriner, a well-known radio personality, became the co-host.

Recent years has seen the show continue to grow, most recently on its 25th Anniversary where a sleek modern look was introduced to the set with a bright color scheme and an energetic logo reflecting the youth that makes the show the success that it is.

In celebration of the landmark year NHPTV has fully embraced some of the newest technologies available in order to tell the stories of New Hampshire’s finest students. Making the show available not only on YouTube, but also as a free podcast on the iTunes Music Store, NHPTV hopes to show not just New Hampshire, but the world, just what our best students have to offer!