Wink Martindale Net Worth

Wink Martindale's Quotes

• [on getting his first job after graduation from high school]: They gave me a job at $25 per week, and for that you were expected to do everything. You read commercials, the news - play-by-play high school football and basketball, and you played records. If the floor needed sweeping, you did that too.
• I had been a deejay since I was 17. My roots were in radio, but I thought it would be fun to try my hand hosting a television game. I'd become addicted to Allen Ludden's popular show, 'Password.' And after hosting a local version of 'What's This Song,' a musical show featuring celebrities, NBC added it to its daytime lineup.
• I always thought I'd want to have a restaurant.
• [on his mother who wanted him to be a preacher]: She felt that way, because God gave me such a wonderful voice. She thought that I should think seriously about going to seminary to become a preacher, but what she didn't understand was that preachers had to be called to the ministry. You just don't wake up one day and become a preacher.
• [When he had a #1 song]: That's something that can never be duplicated; it was just unbelievable to me that I was on the show, I was just so nervous. Like everyone else, I'd sit in Memphis and watch "The Ed Sullivan Show". When I got the call to [perform "Deck of Cards"] on Ed's show, it was like an out-of-body experience.

Interesting Facts about Wink Martindale

1. Before he was a successful game show host and producer, he was a disc jockey on KFWB radio in Los Angeles, California, in the 1950s.
2. Ranks third behind Bill Cullen and Tom Kennedy in the number of game shows hosted at 15, but in front of Geoff Edwards, Bob Eubanks and Alex Trebek, breaking that record.
3. Attended and graduated from North Side High School in Jackson, Tennessee (1951).
4. Received his Bachelor of Science degree from Memphis State College in Memphis, Tennessee (1957).
5. Nicknamed "Wink" by a neighborhood buddy. Launched his career in radio as a teenage disc jockey for his Sunday school teacher's radio station in Jackson, Tennessee.
6. Had a hit record in the 1950s with the spoken-word country song, "Deck of Cards".
7. Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 2, 2006.
8. Is a huge talk radio fan.
9. Has the distinction of hosting two longest-running game shows in television history for almost 35 years, one in front of Alex Trebek, the other behind Bob Barker: Gambit (1972) for five seasons on CBS daytime, and The New Tic Tac Dough (1978), for seven of eight seasons on syndication.
10. Is a huge fan of Tony Bennett's music. In fact, when he was standing in front of a 17-year-old Martindale, after the teenager played the music with Bennett's records, Bennett met him and greeted him with a smile.
11. Former The New Tic Tac Dough (1978) producer, Dan Enright asked him to host the pilot of a show that did not sell, after Headline Chasers (1985) ended.
12. Had a long-standing friendly feud with Chuck Woolery and Gene Rayburn. Upon Rayburn's death late in 1999, he admitted that both Rayburn and Woolery were responsible for his potty-humored nicknamed of "Stink Fartindale," and would always fondly remember their times together.
13. When Tic Tac Dough (1990) was revived for a third time in 1990, he understood Patrick Wayne, who watched tapes of Martindale's episodes for weeks before he succeeded him as the host.
14. Left his role as host of The New Tic Tac Dough (1978), at the end of the seventh season, to still host and produce his own game shows. That same year, he hosted Headline Chasers (1985), which he hosted and created.
15. Before he was a successful game show host, he was once a soda jerk at a drugstore.
16. Was one of Jack Barry's and Dan Enright's candidates to host The New Tic Tac Dough (1978), he got the job.
17. Executive Producer of Wink Martindale Enterprises from 1985 to 1993.
18. At one point, his mother had suggested that he be a preacher, because she felt her son had a calling to the ministry, at a very young age.
19. Had three biggest winners in his seven years of hosting The New Tic Tac Dough (1978): one was Thom McKee, a Navy Lieutenant, who has won $312,700, and ranked as the #1 contestant, a couple of years later was Wilbur Hicks, a coach, who has won $159,600, and was ranked as the #2 best contestant, and Kit Salisbury, a future Jeopardy! (1984) contestant and future salesman, who has won $199,150, and had finished in second place.
20. Second-only to The New Tic Tac Dough (1978), his other favorite game show was Debt (1996).