Wink Martindale, an iconic voice of American radio and television, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91 in California. While widely recognized for his game show hosting, Martindale’s illustrious career began and flourished in radio.
Born Winston Conrad Martindale, he got his first on-air gig at 17 in his hometown of Jackson, TN, working at three separate stations before going to college in Memphis. There he hosted mornings on WHBQ, and played a pivotal role in arranging Elvis Presley’s first radio interview after the debut of “That’s All Right.”
In 1959, Martindale took over mornings at Los Angeles’s storied KHJ. That same year, he achieved musical success with the spoken-word hit “Deck of Cards,” which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. While in LA he would move to KRLA, KFWB, KGIL, KJQI, and KMPC.
His game show legacy launched in the 1960s with NBC’s What’s This Song?, but his breakout success came with CBS’s Gambit in 1972. He went on to become a household name as host of Tic-Tac-Dough from 1978 to 1985.
Martindale later formed Wink Martindale Enterprises and produced a number of shows including Headline Chasers and the Canadian hit Bumper Stumpers. In the ’90s, he led The Family Channel’s slate of interactive game shows such as Trivial Pursuit, Boggle, and Jumble. His final major hosting role was Debt on Lifetime from 1996 to 1998.
In his final decades, Martindale contributed to radio programming by hosting and producing shows like The 100 Greatest Christmas Hits of All Time and The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the latter of which was syndicated with USRN.
Martindale remained a champion of both nostalgia and innovation, bridging the golden age of radio with the rise of television. His smooth voice and warm presence left a lasting imprint on multiple generations of Americans.
