After launching Jeremy Fenech’s Classic Conversations with Flint’s Newsman, Bill Harris earlier this week, I am honored and very excited to welcome game show legend Wink Martindale as my next guest in the hot seat!

Well aware that he wanted a career in radio at a very young age, Wink (or Winston Conrad Martindale) started his career on radio in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee before finding himself on the number one radio station in Memphis, WHBQ, the station that launched Elvis! Just a few months after that transition, WHBQ launched a television station where he found himself  transitioning yet again from radio to television, hosting Wink Martindale’s Mars Patrol and Teenage Dance Party.

Even though Wink was hosting a morning radio show and an afternoon television show, Wink was also starting a family and was still able to find time to finish his college education at U of M (not the University of Michigan, but the University of Memphis). Education is very important to Mr. Martindale, as you will hear in our Classic Conversation.

Once transitioning to television, it wasn’t long before Wink was hosting game shows like Gambit, Trivial Pursuit, High Rollers, Debt, and my personal favorite, Tic-Tac-Dough! In fact, I use the theme from Tic-Tac-Dough weekdays when we play Just Bob’s 420 Contest on the air.  That’s the game where I use one of my previous radio aliases, Just Bob, and ask listeners to name four random things in :20 seconds, while calling them random names… but never their real name!

Even though our Classic Conversation is close to :40 minutes in length, we did record a few extra things that were played exclusively on the air, including Wink kicking off The Punch-Out Party with Jeremy Fenech on 103.9 The Fox. And even more fun than hosting the 420 Contest myself, listen to Wink hosting my game with a very excited Fox listener! Check out those on-air exclusives below:

He may have hosted the Beat The Dragon bonus round on Tic-Tac-Dough thousands of times, but I was shocked to learned that even during development and testing, he never had the opportunity to play. So for the first time ever, it is my pleasure to host Beat The Dragon so Wink can have a shot at it!

When I set out to select a few people that I would really like to talk to, Wink Martindale was at the top of my list, and I am very grateful and honored that he was able to spend some time with me this week.  You can tell that Wink really cares about people, and is very humble about his success.  As star struck as I was to have one of my life-long influences on the phone with me, within just a few seconds I was chatting with him like we had been friends for years.

Just after we got done with our interview, he shot me an email to inform me of Alex Trebek’s medical situation following the news that the Jeopardy! host has stage four pancreatic cancer. To that, Mr. Martindale said:

“If anybody can beat this, Alex can!!!”  -Wink Martindale

He’s one of the nicest people I have ever interviewed, and I easily could have gone on for hours!  He’s truly one of the most delightful, real, and inspiring people I have had the privilege to talk to! Visit Wink Martindale’s website for his full bio, photos, videos, merchandise and more by clicking here!