Many of us are aware that the city of Truth or Consequences NM received its name from a game show in 1950 (on radio at the time - then for many years on TV). It’s original name was “Hot Springs”.
The TorC program was to celebrate its 10th anniversary on radio, and thought of a gimmicky way to commemorate it. "We will broadcast the anniversary show from a city which decides to call itself “Truth or Consequences” - and the name stuck with the New Mexico city.
Apparently - there were several cities in the running, but I’ve never seen them listed. Could some decent-sized city in another state have been named TorC rather than Hot Springs, New Mexico? Any link that lists the losing cities?
I found a newspaper clipping that says “more than 100 cities applied,” but Ralph Edwards and his staff chose Hot Springs.
I’d be surprised if a list ever made it out of the Truth or Consequences production office, such as that was (four people, maybe?) in radio days. I found nothing in Billboard magazine, which is online.
All Edwards promised was to do one radio show from the winning town, but he took a liking to the place and returned every spring. What had been a hastily organized parade and barbecue became an annual “fiesta,” and a riverside park was named for Edwards. (I show it on the maps I drew of TorC, which is why I have my own special interest in the place.)
I was also looking through “Billboard” for more info, and came upon this 1958 full-page ad for the show with a horrendous typo (Bob Barker had been the host for the past two years):
Yup, it was almost certainly a set up. Notably a May 13 1950 issue of the Tucson Citizen states Hot Springs NM city leaders wired Edwards they would change the name if he broadcast from that small city, not the other way around. An April 1 1950 issue of the El Paso Times mentions Chamber of Commerce manager Burton Roach planned the name change to promote the resort community (usually confused with Hot Springs, Ark.) and a hospital for crippled children–which Edwards conveniently started sponsoring that time. None of the many articles on the name change mentions any alternate cities at all.