Progress Update on Wait Wait Stats Page Version 3.0 Development

Over the past week, I have been working on adding a few small touches and fixing a few lingering bugs on the soon-to-be-released Wait Wait Stats Page Version 3.0. One of the small touches that I added was to the graph displaying each panelists’s point spread. The graph now includes the count of number of times a panelist has scored that amount above the corresponding score. Below is what the graph looks like for Alonzo Bodden: You will also notice that I have also included the score for each panelist appearance listed below the graph when you view the detailed panelist stats and what position the panelist finished. The other new addition to the each of the show details are arrows next to each host, scorekeeper, panelist and guest that links to their respective details page. I still have a bit clean-up left to …

Previewing Wait Wait Stats Page Version 3.0

Update: I have finished re-writing the code that generates the panelist score breakdown graph and it will be deployed along with the new Stats Page. If you follow me on Twitter (@questionlp), you may have seen my recent tweets about a new version of the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Stats Page, including two sneak peek screenshots. For over a year, I have been dabbling with new design options for the Wait Wait Stats Page, as well as fighting with the original code to add a few new features that have been requested over the years. In the past two months or so, I finally sat down and started sketching out a new design and working in earnest on wireframes and prototypes. It was one of my New Year’s resolutions to get a new version of the site coded and published. Looking at the …

Links to Newer WWDTM Shows on NPR.org Not Quite Working

Due to a very recent Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! site redesign on NPR.org, and restructuring of the URLs for shows starting with January 2006, links for those sites on the Stats Page no longer bring up that specific show on NPR’s site. Up until recently, the URL format for each individual show (starting with the 2006-01-07 show) on NPR.org was: http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35&prgDate=<four-digit year>-<two-digit month>-<two-digit day> Now, individual show URL format includes some unique identifier slapped in the middle of the URL: http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/<four-digit year>/<two-digit month>/<two-digit day>/<unique identifier>/?showDate=<four-digit year>-<two-digit month>-<two-digit day> Until I can work out a way to programmatically generate links to individual shows after 2005 to include that unique identifier, those links will just end up redirecting to the main Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! site on NPR.org. I apologize for the inconvenience. /sigh

When was the last time a panelist won?

Ever wonder when was the last time that a panelist came in first place or tied for first after the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!? Right now, the current version of the Stats Page does not include that information in the “Panelists Statistics” section of the page; but, it is something that I am planning on adding to the next version of the page. Until then, you can use this page to view that information, which will be updated periodically. Last Time Each Panelist Has Finished the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank Round in First Place Panelist Show Adam Felber 2014-01-11 Alison Stewart 2009-01-31 Alonzo Bodden 2013-09-07 Amy Dickinson 2013-04-27 Brian Babylon 2012-03-10 Charlie Pierce 2013-11-23 Claudia Perry 2000-02-12 Evan Smith 2001-11-10 Faith Salie 2013-12-14 Jessi Klein 2013-10-12 Karen Grigsby Bates 2004-03-27 Kyrie O’Connor 2013-12-07 Luke Burbank 2012-11-03 Maz Jobrani 2011-12-17 Mo Rocca 2013-11-16 …

Visiting NYC for the special Wait Wait Cinecast

First, I want to apologize greatly for not posting anything on this blog for months, particularly updates on the WWDTM Stats Page. Well, there have been several major and minor developments on the Stats Page. With that said, I had the awesome opportunity to see the Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! special cinecast event at the source, from the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, on 2 May 2013. Thanks to the gang, I was able to score a seat with a direct view of the Wait Wait set, and just a few rows back. This made up for the fact that I couldn’t meet with Peter, Carl, Paula, Tom or Mo before or after the show. Based on reports from friends that saw the cinecast screened at local theaters, they were able to see my distinctive blue jacket and ogreish build as the …

All show descriptions entered

I have finished entering in show descriptions for all Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! shows from the very beginning up to the latest show; as well as, going back and cleaning up the description for the earliest shows. The next set of statistics that I will start collecting and entering are the Not My Job and panelist scores for the shows that I have audio for. I will work on collecting Bluff the Listener information as well. The latter will be displayed in the next version of the Stats Page.