Years ago, when Mad Money was first on, my wife decided to call in “just for the fun of it.” Here’s how “I” remember it working…

She called some 800 number, which connected to an automated system that asked for her name and number. She was called back (I believe) the next day by a very nice, female human. The very nice female human told her to call a second number at a certain time (we’ll get to that in a moment). The queue is over subscripted (since some people are likely to forget or otherwise flake out), so she was told to call in “right away” — there were a fixed number of call waiting slots (100?), and a fixed amount of air time. BTW, I don’t believe they change that “second number”…

When she DID call in, she got a second automated thingy telling her to wait, and reading her the riot act (promise not to trade any stock discussed or discuss the call before airtime, etc.). A half hour or so later, a(nother) very nice human got on the phone, said she’d be on the air in minutes, and asked her which stock she was interested in (parenthetically, she panicked, because, as this was for “fun” she hadn’t even picked one!). She just grabbed at some symbol or another. She was put back on hold. Moments later, she got to “talk to the big man” — if you can call about four seconds “talking.” After that, the call just disconnected (“bring them in in a limousine, send them home in a taxi”).

The show is, in fact taped. It is (or at least “was”) taped somewhere around 4:30 eastern time, after market close, but before “after-hours” close –then first broadcast three hours later (allowing for editing, music inserts, etc.) when the entire market is closed.

So in answer to two of your questions, it is taped ahead of the first broadcast, and wackos (at least, the bad kind) can be deleted, even if they somehow manage to get through. The phone-in-staff ask what stock you want to know about, so (one would imagine) they have the time to put the charts, summary, industry/segment info, etc. up on one of Cramer’s screens (since the show is edited, graphics can be added later) — I believe he doesn’t know which stocks are asked about ahead of time, but I bet there is lots of info displayed at the time, and probably a few seconds before and during each call (the “banter” before asking “what stock do you want” gives him time to think — you will also note he’s typing on his terminal while “socializing”, probably trolling for specific info). I would also imagine they have to edit out duplicate requests — can’t have 100 people asking about the same stock.

I don’t know, but suspect that some calls are plants — it seems too coincidental that individual callers ask something specific about the very topics Cramer talks about in the other “acts” (and, in case there’s anyone left who doubts that this is entertainment, ALL TV segments (the stuff between the commercials) are called “acts’).

So, that’s what my wife did.

Here’s what “I” did…

I went in and checked out the tape to see what the stocks that Cramer profiled did. I checked it at the time the show was recorded, not broadcast. What I found was that the stocks volumes went up almost exactly in sync with the recording (recording isn’t necessarily minute-for-minute in sync with a broadcast, and not necessarily even recorded in order). It seemed, somebody was buying the picks ahead of time to sell to the dupes!. If true, I figured it was somebody on the crew calling someone else with a cell phone or some such. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of shares, sold back the next morning after the feeding frenzy (if any).

This, remember was years ago, and I only checked a handful of days. Nevertheless, if I needed any additional evidence that the thing was rigged, this was it for me. It also proved to me that you couldn’t “game” the show unless you were on-set.

Booyah!

Thanks for the chuckle…but it’s sad when people don’t understand that folks aren’t laughing with them but at them.

I just learned about Cramer being bipolar from Todd Harrison, who saw it first hand when Todd was the head trader at Cramer’s hedge fund. Of course Mad Money is just entertainment, and Cramer makes a cartoon of himself. There is a lot more to him. Cramer always said to do your own homework, not just solely listen to him while he barks at your to listen to him.

@bergsten: Yes. You hit on a good point…especially for those of the ‘buy only’ frame of reference.
# ddrich Says:
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm

Gee … I guess I’m lonely in this thread, but I’ve made quite a bit of Mad Money off Cramer. True, I’ll short quite a few of his excited pumps for a day trade, but I’ve stuck by his quite often stated premise of develop your own market view, know what your buying, do your homework every week, own no more stocks than you can devote time to , and sell if the market view or fundamentals change. It has been good advice for me.

————-

Traders like Andy T…might find him worthwhile…and “ddrich” might read enough he can put Cramer in perspective.

I would put out there that Cramer (for the most part) is someone “contrarian investors” should watch. Whatever he pumps watch out for and buy or sell a couple of days after he recommends or disses it. Occasionally he throws out a “teaser winner” just to keep his audience tuned in.

Is he a “Blind Squirrel”…finding that nut….or an amazing charletan whose think in with “GS” the GREAT MANIPULATOR..(according to “Zero Hedge” and others)…and part of the “PPT?”

They guy is brilliant, if you read his bio. I’d suspect he has very influential friends and has his job because of what he’s able to do from his “revival tent” throwing chickens and punching buzzers with sounds like a 2 year old with too many toys.

He’s very clever. I can see why Traders would view him more favorably than “fundamental stock buyers.”

Yeah…I know…Fundamentals are dead……but, still… you can make some money off “dividend stocks.”

His sheer volume of picks would bankrupt anyone that is such a lemming that they would blindly buy whatever is toted on the Tube. That volume has been a good marker for rotations for me. Unlike any other “guest” I see on Financial TV, he lays out some semblance of specifics for a thesis that you are free to take or leave and not just talk their book based on some unfounded, fact-free political/financial clap-trap. Most of what I hear on his show, I ignore because it doesn’t fit my model but I’ve found it very useful to track.

Cramer also recently encouraged viewers to buy major malotov cocktails such as YRCW:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/cramer-you-can-ride-with-yrc-worldwide-if-you-want-to-go-to-hades/?p=3332/

and CIT (yes, he recommended a company on the verge of Ch. 11):

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/cramer-buy-recommendation-cit-goes-bankrupt/?p=3228/

Madoff investors and long-time Cramer fans should start a club …

I guess that passes as “news” these days…