From: Robert Frankel

Hi, Charlie

I lived in Los Angeles from 1977 through the end of 1980. When I arrived in town, you were doing mornings at KHJ, just before John Sebastian told you all to shut up and play the hits. I was happy to hear you resurface at Ten-Q, which was the last truly great Top 40 station I have heard to this day. There was a lot of great morning radio in those days, from Whittinghill at KMPC, Whittington on KGIL, Fraser Smith on KLOS, Lohman and Barkley on KFI, etc. Yet you were home base for me in morning radio. Yours was the show I kept gravitating back to. I followed you to KHTZ (and still have the tape I recorded of the Ten-Q / K-Hits simulcast in 1979…it has been widely circulated among aircheck collectors). While I wasn’t thrilled with the soft AC direction that the station soon took, I continued to listen to and enjoy your morning show until I moved back to New York in December, 1980.

A couple of days before I moved out of town, I called you about a cassette that someone had sent me called “The History Of Charlie Tuna”. The cassette had airchecks of you on every station you had worked at up to that time. I recall making a trip to KHTZ to meet you after your show that day, to give you a copy of the tape. You couldn’t have been nicer when you came out to meet me. Although I’m in the business (currently as Senior Producer for the ABC Radio Networks, and producer of WABC’s annual Rewound special), I’m also a fan of great personality radio. You are one of the best I’ve ever heard…and I’ve listened to and worked with some of the best in the business.

When I heard that you were doing your last show on KBIG, I went straight to the web stream to check it out. It was the first opportunity I’ve had to listen to you in many years, and I have to say you sounded as good as ever, if not better. I wish we could have you here in NY at WCBS-FM…you’d be a perfect fit. On the other hand, I think L.A. needs you more. I believe that you and Jim Ladd may be the last links to the golden age of L.A. rock ‘n’ roll radio. Anyway, I’ve been in radio too long to be rambling on like a “fanboy”. I just want to wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

Rob Frankel
Senior Producer
ABC Radio Networks