Year: 2011

Archived Blog Post

Wait Wait Stats Update: Not My Job Data

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I have finished entering the list of Not My Job guests into the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page database; although, I have not included any guest scores as that will be a nice process of listening to the older shows. I am now working on adding in show descriptions for shows, filling the void between 2000 and 2004. This process will probably take a couple of weeks to complete. Thankfully, it isn’t quite as tedious as entering in the list of Not My Job guests. Please note that I am basing the show descriptions on what is listed in the show archives on NPR.org, so the level of detail may vary dramatically. Once that has been completed, I will work on filling in the data for shows prior to 2000. It’s just easier to do it in chunks, particularly when the really …

Archived Blog Post

Wait Wait Stats Update: Panelist Appearances (Part 3)

 

I have finished entering in all of the panelist appearances into the database for the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page. Unfortunately, the panelist scores are still void since that data will have to be collected and entered through other means. It is also unfortunate that a lot of the earlier show audio is no longer available through the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! archives, so I will need to figure out other means to procure that information. Next up? I’m going to try to finish filling in the Not My Job guest appearances.

Archived Blog Post

Wait Wait Stats Update: Panelist Appearances (Part 2)

 

When the latest version of the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Statistics Page gets published later today, you might notice a couple of new additions. The one that that I have finished implementing is displaying the percentage of appearances that each panelist has gotten first, tied for first, second, tied for second and third place. This should be a better indicator on how well a panelist has done based on how often their appeared on the show. The other additions to the page hint at an upcoming feature that I am currently coding up: statistics for both the show hosts and scorekeepers. At this point, I’m not sure exactly what statistics will be displayed. I don’t have a timeline on when I will have the new feature ready for release.

Archived Blog Post

WWDTM Live Taping

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Tonight, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! came to Portland, Oregon for their third live taping of their show at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Being slightly obsessed with the show, I had to go and try to meet Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell and the gang. The seat that I got was about 9 rows back and had a great view of the stage. Before the show started, the audience was handed out a sheet of paper that had three questions that people would answer, fill in their name and hand back. More on this later. Tonight’s panelists were Peter Grosz, Roxanne Roberts and Roy Blount, Jr. (who has been one of panelists all three times that Wait Wait has been in Portland). Let’s just say that there were many, many hilarious moments and several not-so-PG jokes and comments; of which, only a few will probably …

Archived Blog Post

Wait Wait Stats Update: Panelist Appearances

 

One of the features that I had been wanting to add to the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Statistics Page was to display when a panelist first appeared on Wait Wait and when was the panelist’s most recent appearance on the show. A fellow Wait Wait (and Paula Poundstone) enthusiast also asked about adding the feature as well. So, after a little bit of tinkering around with SQL queries, I was able to work out a view that I could query from the page’s PHP code. At first, the query included every show in which the panelist was on, including repeat and best of shows. The problem with that is not all best of shows have panelists associated to them, so the dates would not be as accurate as possible. A compromise was made to exclude appearances on repeats and best of shows. The …

Archived Blog Post

Wait Wait Stats Update: Jumping Down to a Specific Show

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Up until now, there was no way to create a link that goes to a certain show on the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me statistics page. Instead, you would have to go the page and scroll down or search for the show’s date. Now, you can create links that refers to a specific show’s entry. To link to a specific entry, you can use the following URL template: http://wwdt.me/stats/#s<YYYYMMDD> Replace “<YYYYMMDD>” with the show’s four digit year, two digit month and two digit day. For example, to create a link that points to the spot for the April 23, 2011 show, the URL you would use is: http://wwdt.me/stats/#s20110423 I know, it’s a small update, but I hope someone finds it useful. :)