Celebrities

From Tic-Tac-Dough to Boggle: The Career of Wink Martindale

Published

3 months ago

February 14, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

Contents

1 Wink Martindale
2 Radio Career
3 TV Career
4 Personal Life

Wink Martindale

Born on 4^th December 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee, USA, Wink Martindale is a well-known radio personality, disc jockey, and game show host with a career spanning six decades. His best-known hosting gigs include “Gambit”, “Tic-Tac-Dough”, and “High Rollers”.

Radio Career

Wink’s radio career commenced when he was just 17 years old and began working as a disc jockey for a local station, earning the humble sum of $25 a week. He was later lured away by WDXI, Jackson’s only other station at the time. During his college days at Memphis State University, Wink hosted mornings at WHBQ while studying for his Bachelor of Science degree.

In July 1954, Wink was showing his friends around the WHBQ studio when he realized that his colleague Dewey Phillips, who worked the late-night shift, had received plenty of reactions from listeners after airing Elvis Presley’s first release – “That’s All Right” – had been recorded just five days prior at Sam Phillips’s recording studio.

As Sam was in the WHBQ studio on the first airing night and had Elvis’s number, Dewey wanted to interview the singer during his program. However, when Wink tried to get in touch, Elvis’s mother Gladys answered the call and reportedly said that her son had gone to a movie theater as he was so nervous. Gladys and her husband later brought Elvis to WHBQ, where he was interviewed by Dewey without realizing that he was on air.

In 1959, Wink’s version of the spoken-word song “Deck of Cards” soared to the No. 7 spot on the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart, eventually selling over a million copies. In April 1963, it made an unlikely comeback and peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. 1959 was an undeniably good year for Wink, as he began working mornings at KHJ in Los Angeles, California. A year later, he switched over to KRLA’s morning show, finally settling down with KFWB in 1962.

Image source

The late sixties and early seventies were a prolific time for the veteran broadcaster, who worked at KMPC, KGIL, KJQI, and even had his own short-lived segment on KABC named “Wink and Bill Show”. In 1967, the Tennessee native also acted in a short documentary film which imagined life in the year 1999; the futuristic documentary predicted Internet commerce and other modern-day comforts which seemed unfathomable back then.

TV Career

Wink’s first TV role was as the host of a science-fiction children’s program, “Mars Patrol”, which aired on local Memphis network WHBQ-TV in 1956. During his time at WHBQ, Wink also hosted “Teenage Dance Party”; his friend, Elvis Presley, appeared in a June 1956 episode of the show.

From 1964 to 1965, Wink was the host of the NBC game show “What’s This Song?”. He would take on a similar gig five years later when he hosted “Words and Music”, a song-recognition game show also hosted for NBC. However, his big break came in 1972, when he became emcee on the then-new CBS game show “Gambit”. After hosting the original show until 1976, Wink went on to host a revival in the early 1980s.

To this day, Wink is best-known for his emcee role on “Tic-Tac-Dough”, hosting the revived series from 1978 to 1985. With “Tic-Tac-Dough” being one of the most popular game shows of the time, Wink became a household name and was inspired to form Wink Martindale Enterprises, his own production company which focused on the development of game shows.

Taking a professional gamble, Wink left “Tic-Tac-Dough” to host his first original show, a co-production with Merv Griffin named “Headline Chasers”. Unfortunately for the disc jockey, “Headline Chasers” was cancelled after just one season. His next venture, a Canadian game show named “Bumper Stumpers” which was produced for USA Network and Global Television, was far more successful, airing on Canadian and American television for three years.

In 1986, Wink launched Martindale/Gilden Productions, a partnership with Jerry Gilden that soon landed a game show development contract with CBS. The partnership was a lucrative one, as in 1988 Martindale and Gilden secured licensing rights to develop shows based on the Parker Brothers’ games.

Wink started off the 1990s by producing and launching “The Great Getaway Game”, which aired on Travel Channel. A couple of years after the show was shelved, Wink worked with The Family Channel and Bill Hillier to produce interactive game shows that allowed viewers to play and win prizes from home, which was a novelty concept. Four series were commissioned, with two of them being “Trivial Pursuit” and “Shuffle and Boggle”; naturally, Wink hosted all of them. Although the idea was an original one, “Trivial Pursuit” was the only interactive game to be moderately successful.

Next, in 1996, Wink hosted “Debt”, the Lifetime Channel’s highest-rated quiz show which saw its contestants desperately try to alleviate their financial situations by competing in varying categories. “Debt” was cancelled in 1998 due to having a predominantly male viewership, despite Lifetime’s target audience being female;, over a decade would pass until Wink’s next game show hosting gig.

Wink’s career, which slowed down considerably in the new millenium, has nonetheless been a remarkably long and fruitful one. From receiving a coveted Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2006, to being inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame the following year, many would say that Wink has accomplished professional milestones that most people could only dream of.

Personal Life

Wink tied the knot with his first wife, Madelyn Leech, in 1954; the couple welcomed four children to the world. prior to their divorce in 1972, In 1975, Wink found love for the second time and exchanged his vows with Sandy Ferra.

These days, Wink – who remains hard at work with a YouTube channel and the occasional hosting job – lives with his wife Sandy and their pet dogs, which are named after the various game shows he once hosted. The born-again Christian has conservative political opinions which he’s often endorsed in public; his ex-wife, Sandy, once dated his old friend Elvis Presley.

Celebrities

How rich are “Little People, Big World” cast? RANKED

Published

3 days ago

May 14, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

“Little People, Big World” premiered on TLC in March 2006 and has become staple viewing in millions of households around the world ever since. The latest seasons have brought plenty of drama pertaining to Matt Roloff’s new relationship and his decision to sell part of the famous Roloff Farm, which has caused quite a rift in the family.

With over 15 years in the entertainment industry under their belts, many expect the Roloffs to be comfortably wealthy, thanks to reality TV paychecks and off-screen endorsements. Stay tuned if you want to find out who the richest cast member is.

Contents
Jacob Roloff – $300,000

Of the adult cast members, Jacob Roloff comes in at the bottom of the list with a relatively humble $300,000 net worth. This is unsurprising, as he reportedly opted out of his contract in 2016, and since then has only made occasional appearances in the series, despite staying on close terms with his family.

After much speculation, Jacob broke his silence in 2020, claiming to have left the show after being molested and groomed by one of its executive field producers during his formative years. Matt and Amy’s youngest son added that, while he didn’t blame anyone for not realizing what had happened, he questioned the morality of exposing young children to the world of reality TV.

Although not much is known about Jacob’s current profession, we can confirm that he was invited back to Roloff Farms in 2022 to help his father out with maintenance work. This came shortly after Matt’s spectacular falling-out with his other two sons, Zach and Jeremy. We’re not sure if Jacob took-up Matt on his offer, but we do know that he leads a lowkey lifestyle with his wife and young son.

Jeremy Roloff – $500,000

Although many online sources list Jeremy’s net worth at $700,000, we find that $500,000 is a more likely figure, as the former camera operator only earned $5,000 per episode of “Little People, Big World” at the height of his involvement. In 2018, he and his wife Audrey left the show to focus on parenthood and their careers.

Image source

That’s not to say that Jeremy doesn’t keep busy. In August 2019, the creative became president of The Roloff Company. The umbrella company oversees his and Audrey’s ambitious business ventures, which includes publishing books, marriage and finance journals, and even a podcast.

Jeremy also sells lightroom presets packages for mobile and desktop use. These presets packages are often used by influencers or business owners to make their social media posts look more polished and professional on a budget.

Zach Roloff – $700,000

Reputable sources confirm that Zach Roloff’s net worth is $700,000. The bulk of the reality TV personality’s income comes from “Little People, Big World”, as he is said to earn over $7,000 per episode. Despite his complicated relationship with Matt, Zach has almost always worked on the family farm as well.

With a million Instagram followers and thousands of likes on every social media post he launches, Zach has also found a new income stream in paid partnerships and sponsorships. Although he has plenty on his plate as a father of three, Zach occasionally works with small online businesses to promote their products in exchange for an undisclosed fee.

Nevertheless, Zach will probably be taking time off from work for the next few months, as in February 2023 he underwent brain surgery. Shortly after the procedure, he explained to his fans: “I had a shunt revision surgery after getting really sick. The shunt has always been something I’ve had, but became very real this past week for our family.”

Amy Roloff – $5 million

The Roloff family matriarch is a formidable businesswoman in her own right, with a well-deserved seven-figure net worth. Apart from her role as a permanent cast member of “Little People, Big World”, Amy is a baker, author, entrepreneur, and public speaker.

Highlights in Amy’s career include being invited to give a keynote speech at the prestigious Empowering Women in Business Conference in 2015. We don’t have a definite figure for how much Amy charges per public speaking gig, but she’s done several over the years, and is also a regular in the Get Motivated business seminar speaking series.

Amy also earned herself a nice sum of money by selling her portion of Roloff Farms to her ex-husband, Matt. The reality TV powerhouse used the cash to move into her own place with her then-fiancé, Christopher Marek. Despite divorcing, Matt and Amy were tied together by their business ventures, such as their salsa line, for many years; the companies have since been liquidated.

Matt Roloff – $6 million

It’s perhaps unsurprising that Matt Roloff hasn’t been on speaking terms with most of the family for months. Since his controversial move to sell part of the famous Roloff Farms – a decision which was partly encouraged by his fiancé Caryn Chandler – Matt has faced an increasing backlash both on and offline.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5Ay1dLkYc/

However, Matt is a businessman at heart and has essentially built a small empire from the ground up. Despite his criminal record and failed business endeavors, Matt has proven himself to be a true entrepreneur. His revenue streams include reality TV checks, online partnerships and product promotion, and book sales.

Lately, Matt has been working on several new projects which he will reveal in due course. He has an active YouTube channel on which he regularly uploads videos, making him a prolific content creator. Like his ex-wife, Matt is also known to do the odd public speaking gig as well.

Although Matt and Caryn recently announced their engagement, it’s unclear if they will monetize this new development in their relationship. Caryn, who was a trusted family friend and one of the Roloff family’s employees before dating Matt, is a low-key woman who rarely uses social media, and prefers to stay out of the limelight. In fact, she left the show in November 2022 due to the growing tension between herself and Matt’s family. Although a wedding special could earn Matt and Caryn a lot of money, it’s looking unlikely for the time being.

The 24^th season of “Little People, Big World” premiered on TLC in January 2023. It’ll be many months until a new season is confirmed, but as the Roloffs signed a multi-year contract with the network, we’ll probably be seeing them on screen in a few months.

Celebrities

Sonya Curry: The Matriarch of the NBA’s Most Famous Family

Published

5 days ago

May 12, 2024

Daniel Wanburg

Contents

1 Who is Sonya Curry?
2 Education and early life
3 Sonya’s career
4 Love life and husband
5 Interesting facts and hobbies
6 Age, height and net worth
7 About her son Stephen
8 About her son Seth

Who is Sonya Curry?

American educator Sonya Alicia Curry (nee Adams) was born in Radford, Virginia USA, on 30 May 1966, making Gemini her zodiac sign. She’s probably only known for being the mother of Seth Adham Curry and Wardell Stephen Curry II, both of whom are today professional basketball players.

Image source

Education and early life

Sonya was raised in Radford by her parents Candy and Cleive Adams; she rarely speaks about them in public, but it’s known that she was raised in extreme poverty, and that the family had bad experiences with the Ku Klux Klan.

Sonya was physically highly active while attending a local high school in Radford, as she played basketball and volleyball, and also ran track. Upon matriculating in 1984, she enrolled at Virginia Tech on a sports scholarship, and played volleyball during all her four years there; she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in education in 1988.

Sonya’s career

Not a lot has been disclosed about Sonya’s career, but it’s known that she founded the Christian Montessori School of Lake Norman in 1995, and that she’s since been working as its president; all of Sonya’s three children studied at the school.

Love life and husband

Sonya met her future husband, American former professional basketball player Wardell Stephen Curry Sr. while they were both attending Virginia Tech; the two married in 1988, and Sonya gave birth to their first son Stephen on 14 March 1988, while their second son Seth followed on 23 August 1990. On 20 October 1994, Sonya gave birth to their daughter Sydel Curry, who played volleyball while attending Elon University.

Sonya and Wardell separated in 2020, after 32 years of marriage, and she revealed on 23 August 2021 that she’d filed for divorce, but it’s yet to be finalized.

Sonya hasn’t talked about other men whom she’s maybe dated, she’s married to Wardell Stephen Curry Sr. as of April 2023 (filed for divorce), and they have three children together.

Interesting facts and hobbies

Sonya’s highly popular on Instagram; she’s amassed close to 250,000 followers on the network and has posted over 100 pictures – her sons can be seen featured in many of these.

She’s a fan of tattoos, and has several small ones inked onto her arms and legs.

Sonya’s been all around the US, mostly to watch her sons play basketball; she’s also vacationed in several European countries, with Paris, France being her favorite travel destination.

She’s interested in fashion and has attended a number of fashion shows, while some of Sonya’s favorite fashion magazines are “Vanity Fair”, “Glamour” and “Vogue”.

Some of Sonya’s favorite actresses and actors are Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter and Denzel Washington, and her favorite movies include “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Fight Club” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”.

Age, height and net worth

Sonya’s age is 56. She has blue eyes and brown hair, is 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, and weighs around 120lbs (55kgs).

Sonya’s net worth’s been estimated at over $6 million as of April 2023, her son Wardell’s at more than $160 million, and second son Seth’s at over $16 million.

About her son Stephen

Stephen mostly became interested in basketball thanks to his father Dell who often took him and Seth to watch basketball games; the family lived in Charlotte, North Carolina as Dell played for the Charlotte Hornets, then to Toronto, Ontario, Canada after he began playing for the Toronto Raptors.

Stephen attended the Queensway Christian College and played for their basketball’s team, then transferred to Charlotte Christian School after the family moved back to Charlotte. Upon matriculating in 2006, he enrolled at Davidson College, and became one of the best college basketball players in the US.

Stephen Curry, who suffered an injury during last night’s game in Indiana, underwent an MRI today.

The MRI confirmed that Stephen experienced a left shoulder subluxation. A timeline for his return will be provided in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/mzE0kDP2G2

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 15, 2022

He graduated in 2009 and was then picked by the Golden State Warriors in the 2009 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft. Stephen began attracting attention in 2012, after he signed a new four-year contract with the Warriors, worth $44 million; he was named Western Conference Player of the Month in April of the same year, and was also named to the All-NBA Second Team.

Stephen was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2014-2015 season, and the Warriors went on to win the NBA Championship by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals. He was named MVP again in the following season, while the Warriors won the NBA Championships again, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder; they were losing 1-3, but managed to turn the situation around and win 4-3.

The Warriors won the NBA Championship again in 2018 and 2022, while Stephen was named the NBA Finals MVP in 2022.

He married his long-term girlfriend, Canadian-American actress, cook and author Ayesha Alexander on 30 July 2011, and she gave birth to their daughters in 2012 and 2015, and to their son in 2018.

About her son Seth

Seth began playing basketball while attending Charlotte Christian School, from which he matriculated in 2008; he played as a starter for the Charlotte Christian Knights for three years, and their record was 105-24.

Upon matriculating, Seth enrolled at Liberty University on a basketball scholarship, and was allowed to wear the jersey number 30, the same number which his father and brother wore. Following a year at Liberty, Seth transferred to Duke University and had to skip the 2009-2010 season because of transfer rules; he scored a career-high of 31 points on 29 December 2012, in a game against the Santa Clara Broncos.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CUXcrN5F7Pg/

Seth graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2013, but wasn’t selected in the 2013 NBA Draft; he signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Golden State Warriors on 23 August of the same year, but was waived three months later. He signed with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League on 1 November 2013, and on 24 December with the Memphis Grizzlies of NBA; he played his first NBA game on 3 February 2014, but was then waived by the Grizzlies.

He then signed once again with the Santa Cruz Warriors, and in the same year a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but returned to the Warriors after those 10 days.

Seth signed a contract with the Orlando Magic on 29 September 2014, and was then traded to the Erie BayHawks; he signed a 10-day contract with the Phoenix Suns on 11 March 2015, but then returned to the Erie BayHawks.

Seth began attracting attention only in 2015, when he signed a two-year $2 million contract with the Sacramento Kings of NBA, while he then played for the Dallas Mavericks from 2016 through 2018. He signed a two-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA on 6 July 2018, then returned to the Mavericks on 10 July 2019.

From 2020 through 2022, Seth played for the Philadelphia 76ers, and has since 10 February 2022 been playing for the Brooklyn Nets.

He married American professional volleyball player Callie Rivers on 14 September 2019; she had previously given birth to their daughter in May 2018, and their son followed in November 2021.

Celebrities

Naked Truth Of Sofia Franklyn – Age, Arrested, Net Worth, Wiki

Published

2 weeks ago

May 5, 2024

Olivia Clarke

Contents

1 Who is Sofia Franklyn?
2 How rich is she, as of now? Sofia Franklyn Net Worth
3 Early Life, Nationality, Ethnicity, Education
4 Career Beginnings
5 Podcast “Call Her Daddy”
6 YouTube Channel, Instagram, and Twitter of the Podcast
7 Social Media Presence
8 Sofia Franklyn Arrested
9 Appearance and Vital Statistics
10 Personal Life: Is She Single Or Not?

Who is Sofia Franklyn?

Sofia Franklyn was born on 21 July 1992 under the sign of Cancer, in Salt Lake City, Utah USA, and is a 27-year-old radio host, probably best recognized for co-hosting the podcast “Call Her Daddy”, along with Alexandra Cooper. Sofia is also known for being a blogger for Barstool Sports. Moreover, she is a social media sensation, known for running her official Instagram account on which she has amassed over 700,000 subscribers, as well as her official Twitter account, having more than 160,000 followers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-Of_9B2HD/

How rich is she, as of now? Sofia Franklyn Net Worth

As of early 2020, Sofia Franklyn’s net worth is estimated at over $1 million, acquired largely from her successful career as a host of her own podcast. She has also increased her wealth through writing articles for a blog.

Early Life, Nationality, Ethnicity, Education

Sofia Franklyn spent her early years in her hometown of Salt Lake City, where she was raised alongside her siblings by her parents. However, she is quite secretive regarding their identities and professions, even through they could be frequently seen in her photos shared on her official account on Instagram.

Sofia holds American nationality, and belongs to white ethnicity. Upon matriculation, Sofia enrolled into the University of Utah, to obtain her degree in the field of Economics.

Career Beginnings

Prior to becoming known as a blogger and podcaster, Sofia spent some time working for a finance company. However, she soon quit the job, as with her creative nature as she wanted to become engaged in something more interesting. So she moved to New York City and joined the Barstool Sports blog in 2018, which made her an active member of the entertainment industry.

Sofia Franklyn

It is the enormously popular sports and pop culture blog, established by David Portnoy in Milton, Massachusetts, but currently based in New York City. Her first article was about exploring her own sexual adventures during her upbringing in Utah; she also wrote about the stereotypical view of sexuality in Utah in a funny way, drawing attention to herself.

Podcast “Call Her Daddy”

While she was working as a writer for the blog, Sofia shared a room with her friend Alexandra Cooper. One time, while the girls were together on vacation at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, they engaged in a conversation on the topic of sex.

Their conversation was quite interesting since it began to attract audience at the bar. At some point, one man said that this chat would be a great show, which inspired girls to make a sex and dating podcast together. Sofia soon made the first episode of the podcast, along with Alexandra, and it didn’t take long until Barstool Sports made the decision to produce it, entitled “Call Her Daddy”. It is focused on explicit and taboo topics, since Sofia and Alexandra frequently discusses relationships, sexuality, embarrassing moments, and much more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6yh9D2EmKQ

The podcast premiered on 3 October 2018, and soon debut in the Top 10 mainstay on the iTunes comedy chart.

YouTube Channel, Instagram, and Twitter of the Podcast

In January 2019, Sofia and Alexandra decided to use their popularity to enlarge the fan base of the podcast, and expand their influence across various social media platforms. They launched the official YouTube channel of the podcast, on which they uploaded the episodes, and garnered more than 180,000 subscribers within a year, and their videos over 11 million views to date.

Some of their most viewed videos are “Daddy Girls Rate Dick Size in the Office”, “The Daddy Girls Degrade Logan Paul”, and “LOGAN PAUL IS OUR NEW INTERN”. Furthermore, the girls launched their official Instagram account under the username ‘callherdaddy’, now having over 1.2 million followers, as well as their official Twitter account under the username ‘@callherdaddy’, with almost 200,000 followers.

Social Media Presence

In addition, Sofia runs her official Instagram account under the username ‘sofiafranklyn’, which she uses to posts selfies and other photos from her private life.

https://twitter.com/callherdaddy/status/1047489783386320900

Moreover, she is active on Twitter under the username ‘@sofiafranklyn’, on which you can follow her as well.

Sofia Franklyn Arrested

In one of the episode of the podcast “Call Her Daddy”, Sofia Franklyn described her experience with the police back in 2011 – at the time she was 20 years old. She was arrested for consumption of alcohol by a minor and public intoxication. Moreover, Sofia obstructed a police officer during the arrest, so she was also charged with interference with the arresting officer.

Appearance and Vital Statistics

The attractive radio host has long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She stands at a height of 5ft 5ins (1.65m), and her body type is slim.

Personal Life: Is She Single Or Not?

Sofia Franklyn was romantically involved in a relationship with a man whose identity has not been revealed. However, she once said that her boyfriend was a Harvard graduate. Moreover, she even shared details of their dating in an episode of the podcast. However, Sofia is currently single and completely focused on her career.