Vanna White born: Vanna Marie Rosich on February 18, 1957 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.Vanna White's biological father. Vanna White enjoys an enormous media following and receives a barrage of fan mail, numbering in the thousands of pieces each week, from the Wheel of Fortune's worldwide viewing audience of 100 million. Vanna also holds a world record for having displayed the greatest quantity of apparel on television – 5,500 outfits so far.
By Grant McLaren
Professional Pilot Magazine June 1996
After a successful 13 years on the Wheel of Fortune, publication of her autobiography 'Vanna Speaks,' a role in the NBC movie 'Goddess of Love' and many lucrative commercial endorsements Vanna chose to branch out into the Learjet charter business in August of 1994. Within six months of buying her first aircraft Vanna was doing so much charter time that she went out and bought a second Lear 35. Today business is so brisk that Vanna often has difficulty booking her own aircraft.
'A great deal of Vanna's charter business comes from the entertainment world,' says husband George Santo Pietro, a pilot who flies the Lears on occasion. 'What she brings to the table in this deal are a couple of aircraft and some great connections.'
'Several of my friends had given me rides on their private jets and I felt it would be nice to have my own,' recalls Vanna. 'I knew the reputation of Learjets, and of Clay Lacy Aviation's aircraft management, and felt this would be a good investment.' Now, when Vanna needs to do a show in Las Vegas, make a personal appearance in Seattle or do a product endorsement up in Fresno she goes directly where she wants to go without having to check luggage or linger in airport terminals.
Clay Lacy of Clay Lacy Aviation at Van Nuys CA, who advised Vanna on Lears as charter vehicles, also provides a turnkey aircraft management package.
Vanna turned her Learjets (approximately $2.1 million apiece) over to Lacy, who provides everything including pilots, maintenance, record-keeping and the air taxi certificate. The aircraft are chartered out at $1350 an hour with the owner paid $675 per hour on a dry lease basis. Out of this $675 the owner is responsible for MSP costs of $220/hour, general maintenance of $75/hour, hangerage of $1600/month and insurance at $1500/month.
Based on a projected 60 hours of charter time a month an owner would gross $40,500 per month with a net income (after costs of $347/hour in maintenance, insurance and hangerage) of $19,680 a month or $236,160 per year. In this 60 hour per month charter example the net return on capital works out to a little over 11%.
Vannamania
Vanna White enjoys an enormous media following and receives a barrage of fan mail, numbering in the thousands of pieces each week, from the Wheel of Fortune's worldwide viewing audience of 100 million. Vanna also holds a world record for having displayed the greatest quantity of apparel on television – 5,500 outfits so far. The answer to her most frequently asked question – 'Does she get to keep the dresses?' – is a definite 'no' according to Vanna.
Apart from Wheel of Fortune activities and both her publishing, and made-for-TV movie, debuts Vanna is involved in a number of commercial endorsements including a nutritional video, her own line of dresses, photo layouts and more.
Over the years psychologists have attempted to understand what inner forces drive 100 million weekly US viewers to watch Pat Sajak and Vanna White spin a big wheel and flip letters every day.
Muckleshoot bingo hall. According to New York-based psychologist Dr Joyce Brothers, 'You can play it mindlessly, you can play it competitively… and you can fantasize about having this stuff fall into your lap.'
Dr James Fletcher, a professor at the University of Georgia, postulates, 'After people have been through stressful days, and have misfortunes and haven't achieved anything, they can come home, watch this, and see how easy life could be.'
Despite elusive psychological motivations which snare viewers in droves the 'Wheel of Fortune' is an unqualified commercial success and Vanna's white-on-white Learjets represent some of the fruits of her labors in logging an estimated 443.18 miles since 1982 turning letters at the puzzle board.
Charters prove profitable
A profitable charter busines depends on being able to charge out the aircraft the necessary number of hours to cover fixed and direct operating costs each month, usually 60 to 70. In Vanna's case her pipeline into the entertainment and business community is the kicker to a slightly profitable charter business.
The contacts who inspired Vanna to invest in Learjets have now turned out to be some of her best sources of business, making up between 30% and 40% of her total Learjet bookings.
Vanna White Retiring In 2019
With charter hours up to 650 hours per year per aircraft Vanna's Lears pay for themselves and have added the benefit of giving her some 40 to 50 hours a year of Learjet time for personal travel needs. 'I don't have to be there everyday but I do stay on top of things. Since I own the company I like to know where my aircraft are and what they're doing,' says Vanna.
Vanna's jets cover North America on everything from half day hops to Aspen and Las Vegas to longer trips into Mexico and the Bahamas. One recent contract had Vanna's #2 Lear (N136JP) flying back and forth to Dallas every day for four days while one regular charter client takes Vanna's #1 Lear (N456CL) for weeks at a time in support of a program of nationwide seminars.
'Nobody has put anything on the market that will compete with the Lear 35. Nothing goes as fast and as far as efficiently,' says Santo Pietro. 'It's a relatively low maintenance, stage three, eight-passenger aircraft. It was revolutionary at the time it came out and it's still just as fabulous.'
Selecting the Lear 35
No aircraft, other than the Lear 35, was seriously considered by Vanna when she went out shopping for aircraft last year. 'The great thing about a Lear 35 is that it works for short hops yet will also fly to Van Nuys to New York nonstop.' Learjet Tucson stripped, painted and refurbed Vanna's #1 Learjet in August of 1994 and the client was delighted with the end result.
'I chose a beige interior with light burl woods, a one-piece headliner and sand beige carpets,' recalls Vanna. 'For the exterior I didn't know there would be so many whites to choose from – they had twenty shades of white – I ended up selecting a white-on-white with stripes.'
While Vanna has a need to fly her jets from time to time, and this was a motivation for buying a Learjet in the first place, she also appreciates the costs of keeping a Lear and had planned right from the start to make her aircraft available for charter.
'I've used my jets mostly on short trips of maybe one or two days in duration,' says Vanna. 'If I fly to the East Cost for a week I'll go airline – I don't want to take my aircraft off charter for too long.'
'The more I fly the more I want to fly…'
Inspired by her 18 month old son Nicholas, Vanna is preparing to launch into the singing of children's songs and expects to produce her first music CD in late 1996. Vanna's Lears will no doubt come in handy here for multi-stop promotional tours, and anticipated singing engagements, throughout the country. A few years ago, before her Lears arrived on the scene, Vanna conducted a 22 city nationwide tour in just 21 days to promote her book 'Vanna Speaks' and this experience gave her a real appreciation for the rigors and difficulties of airline travel.
'I was always standing in check-in lines, waiting in airport terminals and dealing with inconvenient schedules,' recalls Vanna. 'Now, I'll just take one of my jets.'
Mervyn Griffin created the TV game show Wheel of Fortune which made it to the screen for the first time in 1975. But, for a great majority of the fans of the show, one of its co-hosts, Vanna White, may as well be its sole owner, all for the effervescence and unique vigor she tends to bring to every episode. She is also noted especially for her consistency in the program all these years (although you'd hardly ever hear her speak) and considering the number of years she has been seen on the show, side-by-side with her youthful looks and airs that never seem to subside, Vanna White's age has actually been a subject of many discussions.
Vanna White born: Vanna Marie Rosich on February 18, 1957 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is an American television personality and film actress best known as the hostess of Wheel of Fortune since 1982.Vanna White's biological father. Vanna White enjoys an enormous media following and receives a barrage of fan mail, numbering in the thousands of pieces each week, from the Wheel of Fortune's worldwide viewing audience of 100 million. Vanna also holds a world record for having displayed the greatest quantity of apparel on television – 5,500 outfits so far.
By Grant McLaren
Professional Pilot Magazine June 1996
After a successful 13 years on the Wheel of Fortune, publication of her autobiography 'Vanna Speaks,' a role in the NBC movie 'Goddess of Love' and many lucrative commercial endorsements Vanna chose to branch out into the Learjet charter business in August of 1994. Within six months of buying her first aircraft Vanna was doing so much charter time that she went out and bought a second Lear 35. Today business is so brisk that Vanna often has difficulty booking her own aircraft.
'A great deal of Vanna's charter business comes from the entertainment world,' says husband George Santo Pietro, a pilot who flies the Lears on occasion. 'What she brings to the table in this deal are a couple of aircraft and some great connections.'
'Several of my friends had given me rides on their private jets and I felt it would be nice to have my own,' recalls Vanna. 'I knew the reputation of Learjets, and of Clay Lacy Aviation's aircraft management, and felt this would be a good investment.' Now, when Vanna needs to do a show in Las Vegas, make a personal appearance in Seattle or do a product endorsement up in Fresno she goes directly where she wants to go without having to check luggage or linger in airport terminals.
Clay Lacy of Clay Lacy Aviation at Van Nuys CA, who advised Vanna on Lears as charter vehicles, also provides a turnkey aircraft management package.
Vanna turned her Learjets (approximately $2.1 million apiece) over to Lacy, who provides everything including pilots, maintenance, record-keeping and the air taxi certificate. The aircraft are chartered out at $1350 an hour with the owner paid $675 per hour on a dry lease basis. Out of this $675 the owner is responsible for MSP costs of $220/hour, general maintenance of $75/hour, hangerage of $1600/month and insurance at $1500/month.
Based on a projected 60 hours of charter time a month an owner would gross $40,500 per month with a net income (after costs of $347/hour in maintenance, insurance and hangerage) of $19,680 a month or $236,160 per year. In this 60 hour per month charter example the net return on capital works out to a little over 11%.
Vannamania
Vanna White enjoys an enormous media following and receives a barrage of fan mail, numbering in the thousands of pieces each week, from the Wheel of Fortune's worldwide viewing audience of 100 million. Vanna also holds a world record for having displayed the greatest quantity of apparel on television – 5,500 outfits so far. The answer to her most frequently asked question – 'Does she get to keep the dresses?' – is a definite 'no' according to Vanna.
Apart from Wheel of Fortune activities and both her publishing, and made-for-TV movie, debuts Vanna is involved in a number of commercial endorsements including a nutritional video, her own line of dresses, photo layouts and more.
Over the years psychologists have attempted to understand what inner forces drive 100 million weekly US viewers to watch Pat Sajak and Vanna White spin a big wheel and flip letters every day.
Muckleshoot bingo hall. According to New York-based psychologist Dr Joyce Brothers, 'You can play it mindlessly, you can play it competitively… and you can fantasize about having this stuff fall into your lap.'
Dr James Fletcher, a professor at the University of Georgia, postulates, 'After people have been through stressful days, and have misfortunes and haven't achieved anything, they can come home, watch this, and see how easy life could be.'
Despite elusive psychological motivations which snare viewers in droves the 'Wheel of Fortune' is an unqualified commercial success and Vanna's white-on-white Learjets represent some of the fruits of her labors in logging an estimated 443.18 miles since 1982 turning letters at the puzzle board.
Charters prove profitable
A profitable charter busines depends on being able to charge out the aircraft the necessary number of hours to cover fixed and direct operating costs each month, usually 60 to 70. In Vanna's case her pipeline into the entertainment and business community is the kicker to a slightly profitable charter business.
The contacts who inspired Vanna to invest in Learjets have now turned out to be some of her best sources of business, making up between 30% and 40% of her total Learjet bookings.
Vanna White Retiring In 2019
With charter hours up to 650 hours per year per aircraft Vanna's Lears pay for themselves and have added the benefit of giving her some 40 to 50 hours a year of Learjet time for personal travel needs. 'I don't have to be there everyday but I do stay on top of things. Since I own the company I like to know where my aircraft are and what they're doing,' says Vanna.
Vanna's jets cover North America on everything from half day hops to Aspen and Las Vegas to longer trips into Mexico and the Bahamas. One recent contract had Vanna's #2 Lear (N136JP) flying back and forth to Dallas every day for four days while one regular charter client takes Vanna's #1 Lear (N456CL) for weeks at a time in support of a program of nationwide seminars.
'Nobody has put anything on the market that will compete with the Lear 35. Nothing goes as fast and as far as efficiently,' says Santo Pietro. 'It's a relatively low maintenance, stage three, eight-passenger aircraft. It was revolutionary at the time it came out and it's still just as fabulous.'
Selecting the Lear 35
No aircraft, other than the Lear 35, was seriously considered by Vanna when she went out shopping for aircraft last year. 'The great thing about a Lear 35 is that it works for short hops yet will also fly to Van Nuys to New York nonstop.' Learjet Tucson stripped, painted and refurbed Vanna's #1 Learjet in August of 1994 and the client was delighted with the end result.
'I chose a beige interior with light burl woods, a one-piece headliner and sand beige carpets,' recalls Vanna. 'For the exterior I didn't know there would be so many whites to choose from – they had twenty shades of white – I ended up selecting a white-on-white with stripes.'
While Vanna has a need to fly her jets from time to time, and this was a motivation for buying a Learjet in the first place, she also appreciates the costs of keeping a Lear and had planned right from the start to make her aircraft available for charter.
'I've used my jets mostly on short trips of maybe one or two days in duration,' says Vanna. 'If I fly to the East Cost for a week I'll go airline – I don't want to take my aircraft off charter for too long.'
'The more I fly the more I want to fly…'
Inspired by her 18 month old son Nicholas, Vanna is preparing to launch into the singing of children's songs and expects to produce her first music CD in late 1996. Vanna's Lears will no doubt come in handy here for multi-stop promotional tours, and anticipated singing engagements, throughout the country. A few years ago, before her Lears arrived on the scene, Vanna conducted a 22 city nationwide tour in just 21 days to promote her book 'Vanna Speaks' and this experience gave her a real appreciation for the rigors and difficulties of airline travel.
'I was always standing in check-in lines, waiting in airport terminals and dealing with inconvenient schedules,' recalls Vanna. 'Now, I'll just take one of my jets.'
Mervyn Griffin created the TV game show Wheel of Fortune which made it to the screen for the first time in 1975. But, for a great majority of the fans of the show, one of its co-hosts, Vanna White, may as well be its sole owner, all for the effervescence and unique vigor she tends to bring to every episode. She is also noted especially for her consistency in the program all these years (although you'd hardly ever hear her speak) and considering the number of years she has been seen on the show, side-by-side with her youthful looks and airs that never seem to subside, Vanna White's age has actually been a subject of many discussions.
Vanna White Reddit Photos
How old is the TV star really and for how long has she been on Wheel of Fortune? These and similar questions have been asked about Vanna in recent times. Here are the facts you need to know.
How Old Is Vanna White?
The TV star was born as Vanna Marie Rosich on February 18, 1957. Her birthplace is Conway Horry County in South Carolina, USA. The current coastal tourist city of North Myrtle Beach is where most of the stunner's upbringing took place. Although Vanna White's parents (Joan and Miguel Rosich) divorced when the future TV star was still less than 3 years of age, she is grateful to have had a caring stepfather in Herbert Stackley White Jr, who worked as a realtor in North Myrtle Beach. Eventually, Vanna would be taking her step-father's surname.
While growing up, Vanna never expected to work on TV. Instead, after high school, she trained to become a fashion designer at the Atlanta School of Fashion. Then, her exquisite beauty attracted modeling opportunities to her which she didn't hesitate to exploit. She also received a couple of minor roles in both films and TV before she finally got her Wheel of Fortune job.
At the age of 33, in 1990, Vanna White recorded another major mileage in her life when she married George San Pietro, a restaurant owner. The couple welcomed a son named Nicholas, two years into their marriage (1992) and a daughter named Giovanna who came along 5 years later on (1997). Then, they divorced in another 5 years in 2002.
How Old Was Vanna White When She Started On Wheel of Fortune?
Vanna White got her Wheel of Fortune job in 1982 at the age of 25. Although she said in a recent interview that she never expected to get the job, it seems as though the job sought her out instead.
Vanna White Retiring From Wheel Of Fortune
In what may seem rhythmic, Vanna White was a contestant on the then CBS game show The Price Is Right, two years before she landed her job on Wheel of Fortune. That was in June 1980. Although she was not a winner in that episode on The Price Is Right, she left a lasting impression that has remained a reference point since then, especially once she began to get prominent via Wheel of Fortune. Not only was she among the first four contestants that day, but she manifested her signature energy when she ran briskly to take her position in the front row behind bidding podiums. Her demeanor was so spontaneous, passionate, and unforgettable that a clip of the scene would be featuring in a documentary in commemoration of the silver anniversary of The Price Is Right in 1996.
How Long Has She Been On Wheel Of Fortune?
Vanna White Retired
In October 1982, the original hostess of Wheel of Fortune Susan Stafford left the show to pursue her academic career, creating a need for an adequate replacement. Out of over 200 ladies who applied for the job, only three (including Vanna White) were taken eventually to fill in the position temporarily. Three months later, Vanna became the only regular hostess of Wheel of Fortune out of the three ladies earlier chosen. So far, she has been doing the job for over 35 years!
Vanna White Reddit
Vanna began to serve on the game show when it aired on NBC and she has remained with them through its days on the CBS Channel and now in its syndication. She has since earned a number of recognitions. Of particular significance was when she entered the Guinness Book of World Record's as ‘television's most frequent clapper' in 1992 with an average of 720 claps per episode. Her current contract on the show will expire in 2022 with a hope for renewal.
