Name That Tune is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being played by an on-stage orchestra or band.
Name That Tune premiered on the NBC Radio Network in 1952, where it aired until 1954, and moved to television in 1953 on the same network. CBS aired the television series in the summer of 1954 and carried it through 1959.
A revival that started in 1974 was more successful than the original. Airing weekly, the 1974 syndicated offered a new show format and, beginning in 1976, offered a top prize of $100,000 to a lucky champion (after which the show became known as The $100,000 Name That Tune). Tom Kennedy hosted this series, which ran until 1981 and began airing twice weekly during its final season.
During the course of Kennedy's series, two attempts were made at reviving the series for network television, both on its original home at NBC. Dennis James hosted the first of these series, which ran daily for five months in daytime in 1974 and was canceled in early 1975. In 1977, a second daily daytime series with Kennedy hosting was conceived, but this was also short-lived and was canceled after six months.
Name That Tune returned in 1984 to syndication, again using the $100,000 prize in its branding. Hosted by Jim Lange, this revival was the first syndicated edition of Name That Tune not to air on a weekly basis from the start. Instead, the show aired as a daily series with some changes to the format, including the tournament structure. It did not find the success that its predecessor had in syndication and was canceled after one season in 1985.
In November 2020, Prestige Entertainment, Eureka Productions, and Fox announced a primetime version of Name That Tune hosted by actress Jane Krakowski with Randy Jackson as the bandleader, which premiered on January 6, 2021. The ten-episode first season was filmed in Australia with American contestants. Production moved to Ireland beginning with the second season, which premiered on March 29, 2022. In this season, four of the ten episodes featured celebrity contestants. A third season of the revival, titled Celebrity Name That Tune, premiered on January 11, 2023. A fourth season consisting of both celebrity and non-celebrity games began on June 3, 2024. A fifth season began on September 15, 2025, and a sixth season, which featured Robin Thicke as the new bandleader, premiered on September 21, 2026.
Background and production
Development
Name That Tune had its conceptual origins in an earlier radio and television series, Stop the Music. Stop the Music was created by Mark Goodson, orchestra conductor Harry Salter, and advertising executive Howard Connell. Stop the Music relied on studio audience members and random telephone calls to potential viewers/listeners to identify melodies played by an orchestra. Name That Tune changed this idea to a competition between two onstage contestants.
Incarnations of Name That Tune over the years have maintained core concepts. These include an orchestra or a band, competitive contestant identification of songs played by that orchestra/band, and a bonus round known as the "Golden Medley", where the winner of the competition plays on their own for the episode's grand prize. Previous winners would sometimes return to identify songs for much larger prizes, in the 1950s television version the prize was $25,000, and by the 1970s, this grand prize was increased to $100,000.
Orchestra, band, dancers
Bob Alberti was the conductor of the orchestra for the first season of the 1970s run, with Tommy Oliver replacing him in 1975 and Stan Worth replacing Oliver in 1978. Beginning in 1977, the orchestra featured Kathie Lee Johnson as a vocalist. She left after one season and was replaced by Monica Pege of the singing group Lady Flash, who performed under the name Monica Burruss.
Also for the 1978–1979 season, the series featured choreographers Dennon Rawles and Jerri Fiala, who had also worked for show producer Ralph Edwards as hostess on The Cross-Wits, to serve as background dancers for that season only, although Fiala remained until the series ended in a similar role to the one she held on The Cross-Wits. Worth's orchestra was joined by The Sound System, a rock music ensemble led by Dan Sawyer with Steve March as its featured vocalist. They remained as part of the show through the final season in 1981.
In the 1984–1985 series, Tommy Oliver returned to lead the orchestra.
The first five seasons of the 2021 version featured musician, record executive and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson as the bandleader. In 2026, it was announced that singer and The Masked Singer panelist Robin Thicke would succeed Jackson as on-stage bandleader, with Jackson continuing to serve as music supervisor.
Gameplay
1950s version
In the 1950s version of Name That Tune, the contestants stood across the stage from two large ship's bells as the orchestra started playing tunes. When a contestant knew the tune, they ran across the stage to "ring the bell and name that tune". Four tunes were played every game, and each tune was worth increasing dollar amounts. The first tune was worth $5 and each subsequent tune was worth double the previous tune, up to $40 for the fourth and final tune. The contestant with the most money after four tunes won the game and played the "Golden Medley" bonus round. From 1955 to 1959, only three tunes were played, worth $10, $20 and $30. If both contestants were tied at $30 each, both played as a team in the Golden Medley.
Golden Medley
In the original series, all the tunes played were selected by home viewers. Each correct tune won money for the winning contestant as well as the home viewers. The first correct answer was worth $25, and each subsequent correct answer doubled the money. Naming all seven won $1,600 and gave a home viewer a chance to come to the New York studio where the show was taped at that time, and play along with the studio contestant in a special round called the "Golden Medley Marathon".
In the Golden Medley Marathon, the winning home viewer and the winning studio contestant worked as a team. This time, the two contestants had to correctly guess five tunes in 30 seconds, and if they did so they split $10,000 and returned the next week to try and do it again. They could return for up to four additional weeks, and potentially could win a combined $50,000.
The top prize for the prime time CBS show, by 1959, was $25,000.
1974–1981 version
Two contestants selected from the studio audience compete in various song identification games to win points as well as cash and prizes. Three rounds were played per game, typically beginning with Melody Roulette, followed by a second game which varied by-episode, and culminating with Bid-a-Note. Each of the first two games awarded ten points to the winner, but Bid-a-Note was worth 20 points. A round's points were split between the contestants in the event of a tie. If the contestants were tied after the final competitive round, a single tiebreaker tune was played to determine who advanced to the Golden Medley bonus round for a chance at more prizes.
Melody Roulette
A wheel was spun onstage to determine a cash prize for identifying the tune. Early in both the daytime and syndicated versions the wheel contained categories. Each contestant selected a category before each spin and received $100 if the wheel stopped on their choice. However, the categories were later replaced by money amounts ranging from $20 to $1,000 from 1974 to 1976, $50–$1,000 from 1976 to 1977, and $50–$500 on the 1977 daytime series. The amounts were $100–$1,000 from 1977 to 1981 on the syndicated series. Also, after the switch to dollar amounts on the wheel, each contestant selected a space on the wheel (a $100 space in daytime, a $200 space in the syndicated series). If the wheel landed on one of those spaces, that contestant won that amount automatically prior to the start of the tune. This was discarded in 1976.
An outer wheel was added in 1976 which held two spaces marked "Double" and was spun in the opposite direction of the inner. From 1977 to 1980, it also featured a space offering a new car, but the car could be won only once per episode. In 1980, this was replaced by two generic "prize" spaces, which worked the same way, along with only one Double space. In order for a tune to be worth double the value or to have a prize on the line, the corresponding space had to be covering the space where the inner wheel had stopped.
Both contestants kept the cash they received.
Other games
These games were typically played during the second round:
- Build-a-Tune, played only on the short-lived 1977 daytime version, where the orchestra played a tune starting with minimal instrumentation and gradually added more until it became a full orchestral arrangement. Whoever named more tunes out of five received ten points and a prize package. If both contestants were tied, each received five points and the prizes.
- Cassette Roulette, played during the first few months of the 1970s syndicated version, where contestants alternated selecting categories for songs from a board of eight 8-track tapes. Seven tunes were played, and the contestant who correctly named the most tunes won the round and ten points. Four of the cassettes also contained a bonus prize, which would be awarded to the contestant who correctly named the tune.
- The Money Tree, where the contestants were both given a "tree" with 100 $1 bills on it. While one contestant tried to guess a tune, their opponent would remove bills from it as quickly as possible until that contestant guessed correctly or ran out of time. The contestant with the most money left on their tree at the end of the round received ten points and a prize package, although both trees sometimes had no money by the end of the round. The game was featured on the syndicated series from 1974 to 1977.
- Pick-a-Prize was another game played only on the 1977 daytime series, where the contestants were shown an assortment of prizes, then alternated between listening to tunes and trying to name them for a prize of their choice each time. The first contestant to name three tunes won the round and ten points.
- Pick-a-Tune, where each tune would feature a list of words that included the words in the tune's title. Contestants eliminated words so that only the words in the title remained. This game was featured early in the first season of the 1974 syndicated series.
- Ring That Bell was a recreation of the gameplay of the 1950s version, where contestants ran to and rang a bell in order to guess the tune. Five tunes were played, and the contestant who correctly guessed the most tunes won the round and ten points. This game was only featured on the 1974 daytime series.
- Sing-a-Tune, where both contestants guessed the song being sung by house vocalist Kathie Lee Johnson (who replaced any instance of its title in the lyrics with "la-las") by writing down the title. Five tunes were played and the winner of the round received ten points and a prize package. If contestants were tied, each received the prize package and five points. The game was played only during the 1977–1978 season, and was removed when Johnson left the show.
Bid-a-Note
Bid-a-Note has typically been the final competitive round of the show, except from 1978 to 1981 and during the 1984–1985 tournaments, when it was the penultimate round.
After being given a clue towards the song, the two contestants alternate bidding as to how few notes they need to identify it, starting as high as seven. Bidding ends when one contestant challenges the other to name the tune, or a bid of one note is given by a contestant to end the auction. The contestant receives one point for correctly identifying the song, while missing it gives the point to the opponent. The first to reach three points wins the game, and the winning point was won by a correct answer, not by default.
From 1978 to the end of the Kennedy run, contestants alternated choosing the tune to be played via displayed numbered packets.
Golden Medley
The Golden Medley is the main bonus round where the contestant must identify seven tunes within 30 seconds. The champion stops the clock by hitting a buzzer, a cue for the band to stop playing, and can either give an answer or pass if they are not sure. Once all seven tunes are played, the contestant may return to tunes passed in the original sequence in which they were played if time permits. The game ends when a contestant identifies all seven tunes, runs out of time, or gives an incorrect answer.
On the 1974 daytime series, the winning contestant had to correctly identify six (later five) tunes. Each correct guess won $200, and $2,000 was awarded if the contestant guessed all six in 30 seconds. No matter what the result of the Golden Medley was, the champion returned the next day and played until they had won five times or had been defeated. Any champion that made it to a fifth day won a car.
Later in the run, corresponding with the change to five tunes, a champion was required to win the Golden Medley in order to return the next day. The car was awarded if the champion successfully completed the Golden Medley four times.
On the syndicated series, each tune was worth $500 in cash or prizes (usually, a contestant who correctly named six won a car on the nighttime version), and any contestant who named all seven tunes won a $15,000 prize package. On the 1977 daytime version, each tune was worth $250, and all seven won a $2,500 prize package.
The $100,000 Mystery Tune
From 1976 to 1978, Golden Medley winners on the syndicated series were given a chance to win an additional $100,000 in cash at the conclusion of the next week's episode by guessing the $100,000 Mystery Tune. A safe filled with large, sealed manila envelopes was placed in a special room backstage called the "Gold Room", and one envelope was chosen at random. The producers made the choice in 1976, while the contestant did so effective 1977. Each envelope contained the sheet music for a mystery tune whose title had been blacked out, along with a smaller second envelope containing the title, composer name, and copyright/background information for the mystery tune.