Monterey resident Nick Winkler co-hosts the most popular 49ers podcast, and has a knack for getting attention.

Monterey resident Nick Winkler may not be known by many locals, but he’s beloved by many San Francisco 49ers fans. Every Wednesday, Wink (as he’s called) co-hosts the Locked On 49ers podcast with everyday hosts Brian Peacock and Eric Crocker, and it’s become the top-rated football team-specific pod in America.

The episodes featuring Winkler are called “Winky Wednesday,” and at the start of each, Peacock plays a sound byte from when Winkler was on The Price is Right in 2016: “Nicholas Winkler, come on down!” But that’s not the only game show Winkler competed on – he made a Wheel of Fortune appearance in 2001.

A CSUMB graduate with a media major and an effusively positive personality, Winkler went on to jobs in radio and television – for a time he was the weekend sports anchor on KSBW – and after, he reported on traffic in San Francisco, which was how he met Peacock, who suggested they launch a weekly sports podcast in 2015, which transitioned to five days a week in 2017 when it joined the Locked On podcast network.

When not talking football, raising kids, or taking his game show chances, Winkler manages Jardines de San Juan, a Mexican restaurant (and local institution) in San Juan Bautista.

Weekly: So you’ve been on The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune. How did that happen?

Winkler: Wheel of Fortune was back in 2001, and they were doing auditions at UC Santa Cruz. My girlfriend I was dating loved Wheel of Fortune, so she talked me into going. At the door before you go in they do a quick interview, and I love talking. I just made a joke, said I loved banking, because I was a banker at the time.

Then I spin the wheel and win. I was like, “Yeah!” and started running around the stage.

A month later I get a call, and they said, “Hey we’d like you to come for a second interview [in Carmel], do you think you can make it?” I was like, let’s go. There’s about 100 people, and they give us a test. There were about 20 word puzzles, and I only got one right.

Then they have you stand up and talk, because they want to see what you’re like in front of people. I talked about how I love disc golfing, and they had these Wheel of Fortune frisbees, and they’re like, “hit that tree over there.” Boom! Hit it. The place goes nuts. I was doing fake bows and stuff.

Then they said, “The following 15 people stick around.” I was the last, I think maybe they went in alphabetical order – that’s the story of my life. I tell my kids, “Don’t worry, you’re always going to be the last one, don’t ever give up. You’re a Winkler.”

They called me a week later and [asked], “Can you come down here in two weeks?”

The funniest part of the experience was, they knew I was a banker, and the final puzzle was “check stub.” I didn’t get it. I didn’t have any letters, but I never heard the end of that from my friends.

How did The Price is Right come about?

Back in 2016, my wife got us priority tickets to be in line, and you’re guaranteed to be in the audience. I had always joked that I should be on another game show, but obviously that’s not going to happen – who gets to be on two game shows? You’re [in line] for like six hours, and right before you go in producers are just going down the line rapid-fire: “What’s your name, what do you do?” So they get to me, and I’m like, “I report traffic.” Then they came back to me, and asked, “You report traffic, tell me more about that.” I said, “You know when you listen to the radio and hear talk about an accident on the shoulder? I wrote that!”

We get inside, they do the opening “come on downs,” and I’m the third one. It’s surreal. But then I start to get scared because I don’t get the first one, I don’t get the second one, I don’t the third one. And I looked up at my wife and I was like, “I don’t want to be here from the beginning and never get called up, that would be so embarrassing.” But then I got the fifth one. I don’t care what happens after that. I didn’t want to be stuck on contestant’s row the whole time, that was going to be like “check stub” all over again.

Why do you think you’ve become a beloved podcaster about the Niners? And what are your thoughts heading into the postseason?

The reason I think it works is because I just love the 49ers – I’m the voice of the fans. I’m the guy at home yelling at the screen… I think this is the best defense in the NFL, and that’s what wins championships.