Never Say Die

For the past year, giveaway shows have been scorned by critics, damned by the Federal Communications Commission (TIME, Aug. 29) and apparently deserted by their once-devoted audiences. But this week there were indications that giveaways had not heard that they were supposed to be dead.

In Los Angeles, the Campbell Soup Co., for nearly three years sponsors of Double or Nothing (weekdays, 2 p.m., NBC), bought an additional five-day-a-week morning half-hour for the show, starting in May. And across the U.S., local stations were blossoming with a new giveaway called Lucky Number.

The idea of a Baltimore adman, Lucky Number is based on a five-to-nine-digit master number which listeners must match up with the numbers on their Social Security cards, drivers' licenses or auto permits. By last week so many were scrambling for the $100 prizes that one Washington station was pumping out lucky numbers twelve times a day, and professional listeners were already popping up offering to keep tabs for anyone who was too busy to listen himself. The only check in sight seemed to be the Supreme Court, which is expected to hand down its decision on the FCC's anti-lottery ban on giveaways within the next three months.

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