Ready, Set, Twivia!

What’s Twivia, you might be asking? Well this week you’ll be finding out as Branford’s own Matt Scott, former WTNH News 8 meteorologist, steps into his role as your first-ever online game show host.

A Miami, Florida native, Scott confesses that he grew up watching game shows and had always dreamed of becoming a host.

“I was always fascinated with game shows. I met my idol Bob Barker at age 11 and it was like meeting the Pope,” he says over a recent lunch at .

“I learned to count on High Rollers – these big flashing numbers up on the game board. I didn’t learn to add two plus two equals four. I learned to add $100 plus $100 equals $200. True story.”

In fact, he says, it was his childhood dream of becoming a game show host that led him to earn his second college degree in meteorology.

“I always loved the weather,” Scott says. “There used to be a number of weathermen who became TV game show hosts. Pat Sajak was a weatherman before he got a shot to host the Wheel of Fortune.”

From his first start in the industry on radio in 1990, to his first television job where he confides that he was wrapped in Saran wrap and sent body-sledding down a hill in the snow, Scott has transcended the media industry. And now, after losing his eight-year career on local television as WTNH’s weatherman, is evolving to adapt to an online market and pursue his childhood dream.

Always keeping the flame burning for games shows – he has dreamt up more than 100 of them and formally pitched about one dozen to producers over the years – Scott is launching Twivia as the first-ever local game show. Driven by the success of his well-recognized personality, coupled with his astute knowledge of online trends (you can follow him as @TheMattCast and @twiviact on Twitter and as Matt Scott and TwiviaCT on Facebook), Scott just might be on to the next big thing.

“I started thinking social media is here to stay. How can I take old-school broadcasting ideas and move them onto the web?”

Scott reflects, “What I tell people is that anyone in journalism these days knows they have to reinvent themselves whether they are in their 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s; it doesn’t matter."

Scott says he has been inspired by leaders in the reinvention industry like Ann Nyberg, who launched Network Connecticut, and Ed Bartlett of Shoreline Out and About, which is changing the way people consume local entertainment.

Twivia, an online game show founded by himself and businesses partner Bob Bishop, will find a niche among other local outlets as its main goal is not to provide news or trends; it’s strictly to entertain.

“There’s 175 million people on Twitter. They are using it smartly and using it effectively so why not give them, instead of a news headline, instead of a sports score, give them a game show. Give them something to interact with.”

How Twivia Works

1. First follow @twiviact on Twitter now.
2. Starting on Feb. 13, three times a day, Scott will send a series of four tweets based around a local business.
3. The first tweet will announce the contest and the prize giveaway; for example a gift card to the business being featured or a product.
4. The second Tweet will be a general-knowledge trivia question. The first responder to tweet the correct answer @twiviact ­– note the answer cannot be given via Facebook – will win.
5. Third tweet will be an ad for the business featured.
6. The fourth tweet will announce the winner.

With more than one dozen Connecticut-based businesses already signed on, including  here in Branford, Scott says, “The brilliance lies in the simplicity.”

Taking the cue from ventures like Groupon, Scott says, “People like bargains. People want to support l. Everyone says that, but it’s hard to do. But if a local business is going to stick their neck out and say we want to accommodate our audience by offering $50 or $25 worth of merchandise, that’s going to get me in the door as a local consumer. Congratulations.”

If you are a business interested in taking part of Twivia, head over to their website for more info; rates start at $500.

Though he’s actually had the chance to be the announcer for The Price is Right, road show edition–"Come on down!"–Scott says his sole venture at this point is Twivia. He’s ambitious about the potential of the product and hopeful that he will launch Twivia in other markets across the county.

Getting to this point, he says, has been a process of surviving in a rapidly changing industry and adapting.

“I think the definition of a good journalist is realizing that the medium is always going to change. Dick Clark started as a very successful DJ, ending up in television as a production mogul. The medium changed him… This is taking my love for broadcasting and for the first time in my life, I get to be a game show host.”

And for those of you who are diehard Matt Scott fans, he adds, “Just because you can’t see it on Twitter, I still have great TV game show host hair.”