6/24 Wink Martindale

Martindale was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and started his career as a disc jockey at age 17 at WPLI in Jackson, earning $25 a week.

He was hired away by WTJS for double the salary by Jackson's only other station, WDXI. He next hosted mornings at WHBQ in Memphis while a college student at Memphis State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1957. While there Martindale became a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Martindale's rendition of the spoken-word song "Deck of Cards" went to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over a million copies in 1959. It also peaked at No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1963, one of four visits to that chart. It was followed by "Black Land Farmer". In 1959, he became morning man at KHJ in Los Angeles, California, moving a year later to the morning show at KRLA and finally to KFWB in 1962. He also had lengthy stays at KGIL, KKGO/KJQI and Gene Autry's KMPC. In 1967, Martindale narrated a futuristic documentary which predicted Internet commerce.

Television

Martindale's first break into television was at WHBQ-TV in Memphis, as the host of Mars Patrol, a science-fiction themed children's television program. It was at his tenure with WHBQ that Martindale became the host of the TV show Teenage Dance Party where his friend Elvis Presley made an appearance. Following Presley's death in 1977, Martindale aired a nationwide tribute radio special in his honor.
Martindale hosted numerous game shows, including Gambit, High Rollers, Debt, and Tic-Tac-Dough, among others. In addition, Martindale also created the USA Network original game show Bumper Stumpers. Martindale is second in the most number of game shows hosted at 15, behind fellow veteran game show host, Bill Cullen, who hosted 23 shows.

Later career

On June 2, 2006, Martindale received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, Martindale became a member of the nominating committee of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On October 13, 2007, Martindale was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Martindale appeared in various TV commercials and was also the spokesman for Orbitz. Until 2007, Martindale had a daily three-hour show on the syndicated Music Of Your Life format, which is heard on around 200 radio stations. On June 2, 2009, Martindale signed with the syndicated Hit Parade Radio format. The format began operation on February 7, 2010, with Martindale as afternoon drive personality. The syndicator stopped operating on June 6, 2010.

In 2008, Wink appeared on GSN Live, an interstitial program during the afternoon block of classic game show reruns. Several times during 2008, Martindale filled in for Fred Roggin on GSN Live while Roggin was on vacation. Martindale's last show was the GSN show Instant Recall, which premiered on March 4, 2010. Instant Recall would be the first show Martindale has hosted since Debt aired on Lifetime from 1996 to 1998.

en.wikipedia.org

Be sure to check out Wink's new Rocket Fizz Soda Pop!

The Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shops are one stop shops for all of your soda pop and candy cravings. There are thousands of bottled soda pops and candies from all over America, including some from other galaxies. The gigantic selection will launch you back in time to when you were a kid—even if you are over a hundred light years old. And if you are a kid, don't plan on growing up when you are inside of a Rocket Fizz store. Rocket Fizz is a lot of fun and nostalgic. There are hundreds of retro and gag gifts, and concert posters and movie posters, and tin signs too. The inventory is always expanding, just like outer-space. So if you want to have fun then fly on over in your space ship and cruise around a Rocket Fizz universe. Just be careful of those two alien Rocket Fizz founders and company owners—Robert (Rob) Powells and Ryan Morgan. No human ever knows what they are up to. They are always full of galactic surprises and a close encounter with either one of them can be very unpredictable. Rob tends to give away free candy whenever he is inside of a corporate store. And Ryan tends to give away a universe of soda pop knowledge. If his mouth is moving he is either chewing on candy or talking soda pop.

www.rocketfizz.com


Recipes of the Week

Chocolate-dipped cannoli with orange ricotta filling

Ingredients
8 store-bought cannoli shells
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips

Cannoli filling:
1 quart good-quality ricotta cheese
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1/4 cup chopped citron (candied orange peel)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
For the chocolate:
Melt chocolate over a double boiler and dip half of each cannoli shell in the chocolate. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off then lay shells out on a silpat or waxed paper-lined tray to set while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:
Line a colander with cheesecloth, add the ricotta and let drain until very dry. Squeeze out any excess moisture in cheesecloth. Place the ricotta into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high for 5 to 7 minutes until light and fluffy. Add sugar, orange zest, chopped citron and vanilla extract, then mix on medium until just combined. Place the filling into a piping bag and fill chocolate dipped cannoli with the mixture. Serve as soon as possible.

Recipe from www.foodnetworktv.com


Pignoli Cookies

Ingredients
One 15-ounce can gluten-free almond paste, finely crumbled
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch ground cinnamon
Pinch fine salt
2 large egg whites
1 lemon, zested
1/2 to 3/4 cups pine nuts
Special Equipment: disposable pastry bag
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste on high speed until it is really broken up. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix on slow speed until well combined.

Add the honey, cinnamon, salt, egg whites and lemon zest and beat on medium speed until the mixture is well combined and very thick, about 5 minutes.

Fill a disposable pastry bag with the dough. Push the dough towards the tip and cut the tip off the bag. Pipe 1-inch balls onto the prepared sheet trays. Top with the pine nuts, pressing them into the dough to secure. Bake until the cookies are golden, 12 to 14 minutes.

Recipe from www.foodnetwork.com

ENJOY!