Hoosier Millionaire

Hoosier Millionaire was a television lottery game show which aired from October 28, 1989 to November 19, 2005.

The game show began on WTTV/WTTK (Channel 4/29) in Indianapolis/Bloomington/Kokomo. Other stations airing the show on a statewide network upon the program's debut included;

• WLFI (18) - Lafayette
• WKJG (33) - Ft. Wayne
• WNDU (16) - South Bend
• WTWO (2) - Terre Haute
• WFIE (14) - Evansville
• WGBO (66) - Joliet, Illinois/Chicago/Gary
• WDRB (41) - Louisville, Kentucky/New Albany/Jeffersonville

With Marion-licensed WNDY (Channel 23) trying to establish itself in Indianapolis, and with the new ownership of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, the Lottery moved the show to that station in February 1996, resulting in a few changes in the statewide network;

• WSBT (22) - South Bend
• WFFT (55) - Ft. Wayne
• WTHI (10) - Terre Haute
• WTVW (7) - Evansville
• WJYS (62) - Hammond/Chicago/Gary
• WFTE (58) - Salem/Louisville/New Albany/Jeffersonville

WLFI continued to carry the show in Lafayette, while the show moved in the Chicago market due to WGBO's conversion to an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish language Univision network.

During the 1990s, the show was sponsored by Long John Silvers, with their logo on top of the main gameboard. In addition, the show would also spotlight a "Hoosier Lottery retailer of the week" at the end of the show; in the early 1990s they would also spotlight an " county of the week".

Four years later, a new format called "The New Hoosier Millionaire" premiered in January 2000 and returned to WTTV. The budget was essentially cut, with the $1,000,000 grand prize available every 13 weeks instead of on every show. The set became a black room with contestant podiums and a game board. The lowest dollar amount on the regular game board was increased to $2,000. More changes to the statewide network occurred;

• WPTA (21) - Ft. Wayne
• WTSN-LP (41) - Evansville
• WKEF (22) - Dayton, Ohio/Richmond

In June 2003, a whole new format emerged, and Tribune Broadcasting took over productions with their purchase of WTTV/WTTK from Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2003 to form a station duopoly in Indianapolis. The new management forced out Mark Patrick and Barbara Hobbs. Cody Stark and Catt Saddler, who were part of WXIN's "Fox 59 Morning News", took over hosting duties, and the program immediately moved to the higher-rated station. WKEF (a Sinclair station and WTTV's sister station before the WTTV/WTTK sale) dropped the program with no other Dayton/Eastern Indiana station taking its place, while in the Chicago area, the program moved to PBS member station WYIN (Channel 56, Gary), one of the few times a lottery game show has aired over a public television station, and WEVV (Channel 44) aired the show in Evansville. Ratings declined for two more years until Hoosier Millionaire's final episode.