(Published Tuesday, January 2, 2007 10:38:56 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
BARABOO, Wis. - Contestants stand behind podiums, hands poised at buzzers as they wrestle with questions like, "What are the three leading product lines our company sells?" or "Name the top five sales goals for 2007."
This is the corporate quiz show, a small niche business Matthew King, of Baraboo, has flourished in. His company, Game Show America, stages about 100 shows a year at parties, trade shows and company training sessions and he loves every minute of it.
"The mantra of our company is if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life and I haven't worked in 10 years," the 39-year-old former teacher and mobile DJ said.
The productions range from small events for $2,000 to shows costing up to $50,000 and featuring elaborate sets with glittering lighting.
Games include "Fantastic Face-Off," "Quest for the Best" or "Tic Tac Show!"
While teaching middle-school English and speech at Oaklawn Academy in Edgerton, King found a game-show-style buzzer system called the Quizzer, and he started using it with kids on grammar, spelling, and books.
"They loved it," King said.
He later left teaching and spent two years working as a DJ. In 1996 he created a game called Buzz!, reviving the quiz concept. He staged 36 shows that year. Eventually, he stopped DJ-ing to give game shows a try full-time.
"I said it's a harebrained idea, but it's a risk I'm willing to take," he said.
Bryan Quinn's company, The Ultimate Game Show, is in the same business and sometimes partners with King.
Although King has just 14 employees, his firm is the largest in its field, said Quinn, whose company is based in Sacramento, Calif.
"He's great," Quinn said. "He's hilarious. He's very savvy. And (he) is really growing his business in some exciting directions."
King has branched into casinos, staging a regular show at Harrah's North Kansas City.
His company co-produced and directed a show with actor Alan Thicke that played a high-end mall in Las Vegas and did a show last April at a Toledo, Ohio shopping center.
An annual show featuring players on the Texas Rangers has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the baseball club's foundation.
He plans to do more with Thicke, has an Oregon casino date planned with his idol Bob Eubanks, former host of "The Newlywed Game," and he's editing on a pilot for a possible television version of the Harrah's game.
"In order to get that pitch read, I have to give it to the right people and I know the right people," King said.
King, who has a wife and three children at home, said he's hoping for a comfortable retirement at 50 - with a home in the Florida Keys.
