Miss America 2006

Miss America is getting a facelift.

No, not Deidre Downs, the reigning Miss America—but the institution itself. The 84-year-old pageant is getting a major overhaul with a new location, a new TV home and a new attitude.

Despite this year’s changes, the core tradition of the fourth-longest-running live event in television history remains the same: celebrating excellence, scholarship, talent and beauty in young women.

"It is amazing that it has outlasted wars, depressions, social movements and scandals," says broadcaster Phyllis George, who was crowned Miss America in 1971 and now serves on the organization’s board of directors. "It is part of the fabric of this country in many ways, whether you like it, don’t like it, make fun of it or really rooted for it throughout the years. It is a tradition, and tradition is good in this country. And we need it right now more than ever."

A televised tradition

Businessmen in Atlantic City, N.J., launched the Miss America pageant in 1921 to lengthen the resort community’s summer tourist season beyond Labor Day. When the competition was broadcast on television for the first time in 1954, it attracted 27 million viewers—a whopping 39 percent of the television audience—and it remained one of TV’s highest-rated annual events for years. Despite protests from feminist groups in the 1960s and ’70s, and complaints during the early ’80s that the pageant was racist—Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was crowned in 1983—the pageant continued to thrive through the late 1980s.

But as cable television and an ever-expanding variety of TV "events" took over more and more American living rooms, the Miss America pageant began to appear almost quaint and outdated, and ratings dropped. Last year, fewer than 10 million viewers watched the show, a precipitous drop from the event’s heyday. Something had to be done to bring the pageant back to its former glory.

So the Miss America Organization, which is based in Atlantic City, decided to shake things up in an attempt to re-brand one of America’s most famous cultural traditions. This year, instead of its longtime home on the ABC network, the show will move to a new TV home, cable’s CMT (Country Music Television). The event itself has made a seasonal move, from September to January. And, the show will be telecast live at 8 p.m. ET Jan. 21, not from its home in Atlantic City as it always had been, but instead from Las Vegas, Nev., at the Aladdin Resort and Casino.

"There’s no question that it’s a year of transition," says Art McMaster, president and CEO of the Miss America Organization. "A year ago, Miss America understood that we really had to start changing things around to bring energy back to the show."

Although CMT usually is associated with music-related programming, its executives were eager to broadcast the pageant and promote it in new ways. In October, CMT brought all 52 contestants to its headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., for photo shoots, interviews and various made-for-TV local events, and the network created one-minute profiles of each contestant to air in the weeks leading up to the show and online at www.cmt.com.

"Over the years, there have been a lot of attempts to modernize and ‘hip-up’ the show," says Paul Villadolid, CMT’s vice president of programming and development. "We’re returning closer to the tradition of the original pageant." For instance, last year marked a move away from the talent portion on the show; this year, CMT plans more emphasis on the talent segments. The time that had been spent on casual wear now will be used to showcase the contestants’ personalities and backgrounds.

The contestants themselves have been undergoing intense last-minute preparations, including fine-tuning their talent performances, studying newspapers for their interview segments and hitting the gym to fit—or fill out—their swimsuits and evening gowns. But wherever the show is held and broadcast, it still boils down to 52 young women all sharing the same dream.

Representing their states

In 2005, 12,000 young women competed in local and state pageants in hopes of being the one to represent their state in this year’s Miss America pageant. "It’s more likely for a family to have a son compete in the Super Bowl than to have a daughter compete in Miss America," says contestant Susan Guilkey, 22, Miss Indiana, who hails from Noblesville (pop. 28,590). "So I just feel incredibly honored to be part of that. Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake."

Those who win their state titles undertake a schedule packed full of appearances, speeches and travel. "It really is a full-time job and consumes most of my day," says Tracey Brown, 19, Miss Idaho, a native of Post Falls (pop. 17,247). Each state winner is very active in promoting her social platform through visits to schools and hospital, as well as in conversations with politicians and other decision-makers. For instance, Miss Maryland, Rachel Ellsworth, 21, is a registered nurse and her platform is diabetes awareness and education, while Miss Kansas, Adrienne Rosel, 23, spends her days touting the importance of financial literacy. "It’s so fun because every day is something different, whether it’s a different community event or appearance," Brown says. "No day is ever the same, but you always have that goal of Miss America in the back of your mind, trying to get ready for that."

The Miss America Organization, which annually provides $45 million in scholarships to contestants as well as non-contestants, is known as the world’s largest provider of academic-funding assistance for young women. But for more than 20 years, the organization also has made quite an impact in the realm of community service, on both local and national levels. Each year, contestants participate in 12,000 community projects, logging more than 500,000 hours to various service organizations. Before Deidre Downs was known as Miss America 2005, she was Miss Alabama and helped create a specialty state license plate that has raised more than $100,000 for pediatric cancer research.

"A lot of people assume that you win Miss America and that is really the end of it, but truly it is a full-time job and then some," says Downs, 24. "You go on the road; you begin traveling the next day. About every two days, you are on the plane to a different city. Whatever your platform issue may be, that is the thrust of your year." Serving as the official spokesperson for the nationwide network of pediatric cancer research and treatment centers, she’s visited children’s hospitals, delivered speeches and lobbied Congress for additional research funding.

But these fresh-faced contestants are undaunted about the prospects of such a grueling lifestyle because they know with the Miss America crown comes career and personal opportunities that they likely would never otherwise experience.

"It changed my life, no question," says George, who has launched her own line of skin-care products and is writing a book and developing two TV shows. "I could win an Academy Award, I could be president of the United States, but they would always say, ‘Former Miss America Phyllis George.’

"It doesn’t matter what you accomplish—that is a part of your legacy. A proud part."

Visit www.missamerica.com for more information.

Beverly Keel is a Contributing Editor for American Profile.

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