Jim Peck Biography
Jim Peck (full name: James Edward Peck) is an American television and radio personality based in Milwaukee. He is best known for his time as a game show host.
Peck was a substitute host on The Joker’s Wild and the full-time host on other game shows prior. He also hosted the venerable courtroom show Divorce Court in the mid-1980s.
He played the courtroom reporter and announcer on the William B. Keene version of Divorce Court from 1985 to 1989, often whispering through the proceedings of the case. One of his last jobs before leaving national television was as host of the annual Drum Corps International (DCI) competitions, which was seen on PBS.
Jim Peck Age
James Edward Peck was born on 5 June 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is 75 years old as of 2018.
Jim Peck Education
Peck attended Marquette University where he graduated with a double major in English and Psychology, he worked as an admissions counselor for Marquette.
Jim Peck Career
He hosted the unusual Hot Seat, a Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley production that featured an oversized lie detector to measure a spouse’s responses to personal questions. It started airing on July 12, 1976, along with Family Feud, but was gone after 15 weeks and aired its final episode on October 22 of that year.
He began developing a late-night special for ABC called After Hours: The Jim Peck Special which he hosted and produced. It was taped n the fall of 1977 but his contract with the network expired and the special never aired. He was called on in the fall of 1978 to host a second revival of the 1960s classic word game You Don’t Say! that Tom Kennedy had hosted. The show recorded low ratings and lacked major market clearances. It did not last a full season and its final episode aired in March 1979.
He became the host of the controversial Chuck Barris game show Three’s a Crowd, which asked the question, “Who knows a man better, his wife or his secretary?” The show aired from September 17, 1979, to February 1, 1980.
Peck hosted two game show pilots during the early 1980s that never made it to the air: “Everything’s Relative” for ABC in 1980 and “The TV Game” in 1982. He also hosted occasional infomercials. Peck returned as a frequent substitute for Jack Barry on the syndicated quiz The Joker’s Wild beginning in 1981. He gradually began appearing as often as Barry, who was in his mid-sixties at the time, was beginning to ease himself into retirement.
Jack Barry suddenly died of cardiac arrest in New York City on May 2, 1984, shortly after filming for the seventh season of The Joker’s Wild had concluded. His partner Dan Enright took control of the production company and over Peck, hired Bill Cullen, who was finishing up his run as the host of another Barry & Enright-produced program, NBC’s Hot Potato.
Peck moved away from game shows except for several weeks of subbing for Cullen on The Joker’s Wild during its final season (1985–86), and the unsold pilots The Buck Stops Here (taped in 1985 for Procter & Gamble Productions) and the 1990 Marty Pasetta pilot Suit Yourself.
Jim Peck Showdown
Television game show producer Ron Greenberg was developing the game show Showdown for ABC and hired Peck to host the pilot. Although ABC did not pick up the show, in 1974 Greenberg taped a second pilot, and then the show was re-titled The Big Showdown. ABC picked up the series and the show ran from December 23, 1974, to July 4, 1975.
He continued hosting Take It From Here in Washington, D.C. during this time and commuted to New York City every three weeks to tape episodes for The Big Showdown.
Jim Peck Now
Peck moved to Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1993 where he rented a large farm and spent the next year in retirement. He then began working in public relations for his alma mater, Marquette University, as a fundraiser in 1994.
In February 1995, he began hosting I Remember (formerly called I Remember Milwaukee) on PBS station WMVS (Channel 10), a series revolving around the history of Wisconsin’s largest city, as well as the Saturday edition of Wisconsin’s Morning News on WTMJ-AM (620). The show I Remember aired its last episode on June 27, 2016, but Peck continues to be heard each Saturday on WTMJ-AM.
Jim Peck Divorce Court
Peck has served as the court reporter and announcer for a revival of Divorce Court from 1985 to 1989 when he was replaced by actress Martha Smith.
