Pat Sajak

Patrick Leonard Sajak (born October 26, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois), recognized as Pat Sajak, is best known as the current host of the popular and long-running American television game show, Wheel of Fortune.

In 1981, Merv Griffin, the designer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, asked Pat if he would be interested in taking over the duties as host of Wheel of Fortune from Chuck Woolery. Pat, who already had hosted a few game show pilots, accepted the position. From 1983 to 1989, Sajak hosted both the daytime (NBC) and nighttime (syndicated) versions of Wheel of Fortune. He still hosts the syndicated nighttime version of the show. When his late-night talk show on CBS premiered in January 1989, he left the daytime version of “Wheel,” and was replaced by former San Diego Chargers place-kicker Rolf Benirschke.

In July 1989, the daytime version moved from NBC to CBS , and production of both versions of the show moved from NBC Studios in Burbank, California to CBS Television City in Hollywood. Bob Goen replaced Benirschke as host of the daytime show at that time. The daytime show moved back to NBC in 1991 and ended several months later. Since 1995, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! have been produced at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.