Check out Bragging Rights, Western New York’s TV trivia show

by Connie Oswald Stofko

I had a great time being a contestant on Bragging Rights, the local trivia quiz show on WBBZ-TV.

The show is recorded at the WBBZ studio in Eastern Hills Mall (near Macy’s), 4545 Transit Rd., Williamsville. You can be in the studio audience— I had the opportunity to do that, too, and it’s great fun. They show the studio audience during the opening sequence, so you could be on TV, too!

Bragging Rights airs at 6:30 p.m. weekdays and our episode is scheduled to air at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 25.

My sister, Mary Hoffman of Cheektowaga, had the idea of getting a team together. She came up with the team name–  the Quizards– because we’re quiz wizards. (I have a very creative family.) Mary was the team captain and chatted with our host, John Di Sciullo.

My husband, Phil Stofko, was our third team member. He was in charge of strategy. The game uses a scoreboard that’s like a tic-tac-toe board, but has four squares across. If you get four x’s or o’s in a row  horizontally, vertically or diagonally, you get extra points. Tip: Some people like to start in a corner, but Phil says in any game or sport, you want to control the center, so you should start in the center.

The questions are multiple choice and team members are allowed to discuss their answer. I think my role was to narrow down the selections. I did a lot of shrugging and saying things like, “Well, I know it’s not A…”

The questions have to do with the classic TV shows run on WBBZ, local trivia and general trivia.

Our opponents were the Mushrooms, who chose that name because they’re three fun guys. Get it? Mushrooms, fungi. You just can’t get away from the gardening references in Western New York!

I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so I won’t tell you who won. I will tell you that at the end of the show our team received bacon-scented air fresheners and our opponents got bottles of pop with a flavor that is a combination of oranges and wings.

Each winning team is entered to win the grand prize drawing at the end of the summer for three 40-inch LED televisions.

You can find WBBZ throughout Western New York over-the-air on digital channel 67.1; Ch. 5 on Verizon FiOS (HD 505); Ch 5 Dish; Ch. 67 DirecTV, and these Time Warner Cable channels: Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metro area: Channel 5 (HD 1230); Batavia – Genesee, Wyoming, Orleans Counties Channel 71 (HD 1230); parts of Erie and Niagara Counties Channel 71 (HD 1230); Dunkirk Channel 99 (HD 1230); Olean Channel 21 (HD 1230); Fredonia – Jamestown Channel 72 (HD 1230), and Alfred- Angelica- Avoca- Bath- Bolivar Friendship- Hornell Channel 71 (HD 1230).

WBBZ-TV is Western New York’s only locally owned and operated television station.