Rod Thompson / rthompson@starbulletin.com Nancy "Sugar" Matsuoka, center, climbs up to adjust the mechanism that raises and lowers the roof over the "Wheel of Fortune" stage. Donn McCusker, left, and Mike Zwaal, right, help her.

‘Wheel’ takes Hawaii for another spin

HILO » About 150 Hawaii workers joined 225 mainland employees for three weeks behind the scenes to turn what was an empty lawn into a set for "Wheel of Fortune."

About 15 million viewers per night will watch the 15 "Wheel" shows produced at Waikoloa this fall following the November election, said supervising producer Steve Schwartz. Another five Hawaii episodes will air in February before Valentine's Day.

The value of the publicity for Hawaii is "huge, huge," said John Mason, Hawaii County's film commissioner.

Rod Thompson / rthompson@starbulletin.com "Wheel of Fortune" supervising producer Steve Schwartz squats next to a tangle of electric cables while more cables in front of him form a mat extending toward the outdoor stage. The production uses six miles of cable.

FULL STORY »

HILO » Producing the enduringly popular "Wheel of Fortune" television show outdoors on the Big Island instead of in a California studio is comparable to an acrobat walking on a high wire, says the program's executive producer.

When working "without a net," a show needs top-notch performers not to fall off the wire, and audiences will see two of the best, hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White, when "Wheel of Fortune" begins five days of taping 20 shows beginning Friday.

The site is a former seaside golf putting green, transformed into an outdoor studio with seating for 1,200 people on the grounds of the Hilton Waikoloa Village resort.

Audiences seated next to one of the Hilton's three residential towers will look through the stage with Sajak, White, contestants and the famous wheel itself, across a white-cap covered bay, to another residential tower on the far side.

They will be seated on metal bleachers covered with blue padding, and the floor of the outdoor studio will be covered with artificial turf, giving the impression that grass extends all the way to Sajak and White, said supervising producer Steve Schwartz.

What the audience will barely be aware of is about 225 mainland employees plus 150 Hawaii crew who worked behind the scenes for about three weeks creating a studio where there was only grassy lawn.

Those workers included Nancy "Sugar" Matsuoka, a wiry woman whose job included climbing a rope ladder up to a tentlike studio roof, which can be raised and lowered on four huge steel posts and can withstand hurricane-force winds.

Schwartz, who has worked for "Wheel" for 18 years, began planning the production at the Waikoloa site north of Kailua-Kona two years ago. That was before the price of oil skyrocketed, putting a crimp in air travel to Hawaii.

When 15 "Wheel" shows produced at Waikoloa air this fall following the November election, and another five air in February before Valentine's Day, Hawaii will receive publicity seen by up to 15 million viewers a night, Schwartz said.

The value of the publicity for Hawaii is "huge, huge," said John Mason, Hawaii County's film commissioner.

The production will cost $5 million, Friedman said. Much of that will be spent in Hawaii.

The effort to make it happen is also "huge, huge."

The "Wheel" crew has to transport 1.8 million pounds of equipment to Hawaii. That includes six miles of electrical cable and two "bubbled" (enclosed) diesel generators, each with a 9,000-amp capacity.

Several years ago, when "Wheel" was produced on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, the Navy offered to bring a nuclear-powered submarine alongside to supply electricity, Friedman said.

When the "Wheel" staff told the Navy how much power the show needed, the officers turned as white as their dress uniforms, Friedman said.