Rules
The contest traditionally started on the first Saturday morning of February (often at 10:00 a.m. local time), and it ran continuously until some time on Sunday morning. The contest was 21 hours long from 1982-1999 and 2002-2003. The 2000 and 2001 contests were shortened to 9 daylight hours because WISS-AM was unable to get a Federal Communications Commission waiver to broadcast outside its normal daytime hours. The 2004 and 2005 contests were lengthened to 22 and 23 hours respectively.
The questions had a point value of 5, 10, 25, or 50 points. There were two difficult 50 point questions that were asked overnight.
The radio station read a question and announced its point value. Teams were given three songs (approximately 10 minutes worth of time) to call the station's request lines with the correct answer. Teams were allowed unlimited guesses, and the phone operators would only ask for the team name after a correct guess. Teams were NOT allowed to continue guessing after calling in with a correct answer (the term is jamming). Any and all teams that correctly answered the question were credited with question's points.
There was no restriction or limit on the source of the guesses. Teams in the 1980s would use books for sources, but by the mid to late 1990s teams had gone away from books in favor of using the internet. The internet and Fred L. Worth books were not considered "sources" for the purpose of contesting an answer.
The top four team were awarded cash prizes between $25 and $100.
Read more about this topic: WISS Trivia Contest
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