Goodson made the show. 1976. They needed answers from regular people. The producers did not ask the audience that sat in the studio. That is a lie people believe.
They hired a polling firm. Applied Research. Men sat in rooms. They called one hundred people on the phone. They asked simple questions.
Right now they use the internet, random dialing. They pay an outside firm to do the asking. The firm gathers the data. They take the top answers, put them on the big board.
It runs on what the average person thinks.
Basically, a man with an idea to make a game out of our common thoughts. That is truly all it is today.