Friday, June 14, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.
Mark Richards loves game shows. Always has.
Richards is the host of "The Radio Game Show," heard 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays on KNUU 970-AM. But his love of quiz shows runs much deeper than his radio program. It borders on a lifelong passion.
When he was 12, Richards and his family were contestants on the TV quiz show "Break the Bank," which featured former Miss America pageant emcee Burt Parks as host.
Richards did well in his first game-show experience: His family walked away with $200 in cash, a nice sum in 1954.
Fifteen years later he appeared on "The Dating Game" as one of three bachelors. "I didn't get picked," Richards joked. "It was her loss."
He made his biggest game-show haul $8,700 in cash and prizes as a three-day contestant on "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983, when Chuck Woolery was still being asked for vowels and consonants.
In all, Richards, a youthful-looking 60, has appeared as a TV game-show contestant six times.
So confident in his abilities was Richards that in 1981 he created a "how to be a game-show contestant" school in San Diego. Richards coached would-be contestants on the "how-tos" of being selected to appear on quiz shows and maximize their winnings.
"I worked out a deal where I got 20 percent of what they won, as long as it was over $1,000," he said.
The school closed two years later when Richards left to pursue a dream job as host of his own game show, "Starcade," which was broadcast Monday afternoons on WTBS in Atlanta.
The show's contest centered on some of the top arcade games of the day Pac-Man, Defender, Buck Rogers with two players competing for the higher score.
Richards was replaced nearly nine months into production by host Geoff Edwards when the show went into syndication.
"They dropped me after I got it going," he said.
But Richards recently returned to his hosting duties on his self-created "The Radio Game Show," which on Sunday celebrates its sixth week on the air.
The program is two hours of game-show mayhem.
Each week listeners call the station to compete against each other and occasionally a time limit in one of 12 contests, ranging from radio versions of "Jeopardy" "Family Feud" and "Wheel of Fortune" to games Richards created, such as "Earn Your Clue," "Down You Go" and "Solve That Riddle." Richards said he has 35 contests in rotation.
To add to the "TV game-show feel," as Richards calls it, "The Radio Game Show" features quiz-show sound effects: buzzers, bells, boings, the applause of a crowd, even the clicking sound made by the wheel on "Wheel of Fortune."
The idea, Richards said, is to keep the show moving so listeners never get bored.
"People like fast-paced," he said. "(Each) game is always three minutes in length, then thank you and goodbye,' and on to the next contestant and game."
Just as on a TV game show, many contestants seem bewildered by even the simplest questions. During a recent show, the question: "According to the old expression, a mama's boy is considered attached to his mother's ... ?" produced the answer "umbilical cord" instead of "apron."
At stake is the chance to win prizes, such as $50 gift certificates to Las Vegas restaurants, tickets to shows and even a free car wash.
All that is missing is the home version of the game. But that's the point, Richards insists: This is the home version.
"Game shows have been around for 55 years. People watch but they don't really win," he said. "Here's an opportunity for people who always wanted to participate on a game show, whether it's TV or radio ... to call in and win.
"The Radio Game Show" is not the first time Richards has brought the quiz show to radio. A disc jockey since the early '60s, he developed the idea for a radio game show in 1982 while working at an oldies station in San Diego.
In what began as a four-week trial run, "The Radio Game Show" aired 6 p.m. through 9 p.m. Saturdays. The show proved popular enough that it was expanded to six nights a week, Monday through Saturday.
Since then Richards' radio quiz show has aired in three other cities: Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and an earlier attempt in Las Vegas from 1990-'93 on KENO 1460-AM, which was an oldies station before switching to an all-sports format.
He also created and produced three television programs -- a game show, a dating show and a karaoke-talent show -- in 1990 that aired weekly on KFBT Channel 33, all of which also lasted three years.
Richards, who bought the air time and paid the production costs for his TV shows, said he was a one-man operation.
"I was hoping to build up ratings and a track record and move on to a bigger station," he said. But Richards dropped the shows when the high ratings never materialized and the expenditures mounted.
Richards and his wife, Beverly, then formed a video production company, Videos by Mark and Beverly, that specializes in filming weddings. But the game-show bug never left Richards. Convinced the radio game-show program would again succeed in this market and elsewhere, he approached KNUU in February.
The all-news station was very warm to the idea, having recently run a similar program that was syndicated from New York.
"I thought it would be a fun thing to do," said Andy Vierra, KNUU program director. "We got a good response to (the New York game show), but their backing dried up after 9/11 and it went by the wayside. Mark came in with the concept. Because it was local, that helped out a lot."
Vierra said the number of call-in contestants during "The Radio Game Show" has been "pretty good," and he is pleased with the program's early success.
However, he said, it is too early to discuss expanding the program from Sunday nights for several more weeks, "until we can see what it's done."
Meanwhile Richards said he hopes the show -- for which he also buys the air time -- will be expanded to weeknights and then into syndication.
"It's the only show of its kind in the country," he said. "A lot of radio stations have a prize for the right caller, but that's not fun. What my show does is bring fun back into radio.". to call in and win."
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