As local hero James Holzhauer’s record-breaking streak on “Jeopardy!” has become national news, ratings for the game show have skyrocketed. But for many Chicagoans, the show is on while they’re still at work.
That’s because “Jeopardy!” airs at 3:30 p.m. in Chicago on the local ABC station, known by the call letters WLS-TV or ABC 7.
So why does the show air so early in the day? That’s a decision that goes way back in time.
Why is ‘Jeopardy!’ on at 3:30 in Chicago?
According to ABC: Because it pretty much always has been, and it’s always succeeded there.
The current version of “Jeopardy!” hosted by Alex Trebek debuted in 1984. And it was already on ABC 7 at 3:30 — and thriving — in April 1985, when the Tribune ran an article about ABC 7’s dominant slate of daytime programming bookended by “Jeopardy!”
Game shows were the anchor of ABC 7’s strategy in those early days — along with a little someone named Oprah Winfrey, who at the time was just getting her start as host of “A.M. Chicago.”
“We own the daytime,” an ABC 7 spokesperson said in the 1985 story. “We own the fringe time from 9 in the morning till 4, starting with (“A.M. Chicago” host) Oprah Winfrey. We delay ‘Family Feud’ and show it at 3, right before ‘Jeopardy.’ And we're basically doubling the ratings of the daytime competition, like ‘The Price is Right’ (Channel 2) and ‘The Love Connection (Channel 5).’”
WLS hasn’t seen any reason to change the show’s airtime since then, according to the station’s current spokeswoman, Jayme Nicholas.
“For the better part of 35 plus years, ‘Jeopardy!’ had been a great success at 3:30 p.m. and that’s why it remains in that time period,” Nicholas said.
Sorry, 9-to-5 workers: You’ll have to keep DVRing “Jeopardy!” for the foreseeable future.
What time is ‘Jeopardy!’ on in other places?
A website called “Graph Graph” took airtime data from the websites of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” in 2014 to map what time the shows are on around the country. While “Jeopardy!” airs at 3:30 p.m. and “Wheel of Fortune” airs at 6:30 p.m. in Chicago, in the majority of TV markets across the country, the shows air one after another — often with “Jeopardy!” first and “Wheel of Fortune” second.
Chicago Tribune Sports
The most common slots for the shows to air are 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m., and 7:30 p.m., according to the chart (which, again, was published in 2014). Chicago isn’t the only TV market to show “Jeopardy!” at 3:30, though: 10 total markets air the show at that time, and 33 markets show the show at 4:30 p.m.
The wildest outliers? Montgomery-Selma, Ala., which shows “Jeopardy!” at 9:30 a.m.; and Lafayette, La., which shows “Jeopardy!” at 12:37 a.m.
How has James Holzhauer’s record-setting “Jeopardy!” run affected ratings in Chicago?
Spoiler: The ratings have been great. Nicholas says ratings are up by an average of 20 percent since Holzhauer’s first win on “Jeopardy!” — and they keep getting better.
Holzhauer’s first day on the show, April 9, drew a 5.3 rating in the Chicago market — which means an estimated 5.3 percent of people in Chicago watched the show, according to data provided by ABC 7 (the number includes people who watched it on DVR that same day). His appearance May 1 drew an 8.5 rating, according to the same data set — meaning 60 percent more people watched the show that day.
Not sure what that means? Well, for one, those numbers dwarf the ratings for Chicago’s winter and spring sports teams, according to a Tribune story. The lowly Bulls averaged only a 1.31 rating in the 2018-19 season in games on NBC Sports Chicago, and the Blackhawks averaged a 2.08 rating for their games on the channel. For the first month of baseball in 2019, the White Sox are averaging a 1.11 rating while the Cubs are averaging 3.63 on NBC Sports Chicago.
Twitter @bmeyerson