09/28/2007 @ 6:22am PST
Friday Morning, September 28th! Today, a do it yourself radio show!

In reading all your emails, one of the most popular features from my shows besides the "Actors Studio" that you seem to miss is "Amazing Facts". I've been doing these little conversation starters for years, and then even David Letterman a year or so ago started doing "Fun Facts" as one of his bits!

So here, in lieu of me being on the air somewhere, your own edition of "Amazing Facts"!

* A little arthropod most likely lives in the follicles of your eyelashes, eating, mating, breeding, and rarely leaving - except perhaps for a sporadic nighttime walk around your face. (Sleep well tonight)

* French toast is not French. It comes from a Roman cookbook title "Apicius on Cooking", dating back to between 1000 and 2000 B.C. (And French kissing is.....)

* Cockroaches can go without food for a month. (not unlike a Supermodel)

* Bulova sponsored the first TV commercial in 1941. That commercial cost nine dollars. (The SuperBowl hadn't been invented yet)

* According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first ever speeding ticket was issued to cab driver Jacob German in New York City in 1899. He was cited by a policeman for going 12 miles per hour. (Now, you can't even go 12 mph in Manhattan with the traffic jams)

* 90% of us will do whatever it takes to keep our skin from making contact with anything in a public bathroom, according to a Dyson (expensive vacuum cleaners) poll. 60% of us use our feet to flush the toilet, 40% have used their elbow to turn on a hand dryer, 38% use a paper towel to turn on the water before they wash their hands, and 63% do use the toilet seat paper covers or toilet paper itself before they sit down. (Are you still in there?)

* 85% of lightning strike victims are male. (When the sky darkens guys, put down the putter.)

* Twice as many men as women have tried to sabotage a co-worker. And 18% of men think it's okay to misrepresent corporate finances. (Enron, anyone?)

* In London, a couple has given their baby girl, Autumn, a total of 25 middle names...all of them, the names of famous boxers. (she's a knockout by the way!)

* The ATM is 40 years old. The first ATM opened outside a Barclays bank branch in North London. On June 27th, 1967, an actor named Reg Varney made the first withdrawal, $20. (more likely than not to tide him over while he was out of work)

* Dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, but you don't need a lot. Just two Hershey Kisses can help. (Put the Godiva box down)

One final note, so many of you commented via email about "The Dash" video yesterday, so if you missed it or didn't take a look yet, just scroll down and click on the link.

Thank you for another week of your emails and calls. I love you all! New clips, emails and new links coming Monday!

Charlie

09/27/2007 @ 8:22am PST
Thursday Morning, September 27th! So what's your dash like so far?

The emails continue to pour in, and by tonight I should be caught up answering the 2000+ that were backlogged from the last 10 days. I'm averaging 200 to 300 a day responses a day, and my 11th grade typing teacher would be proud of me. I'm almost knocking these out at court reporter speed.

One email that caught my eye yesterday was from listener Kathy Nickelson. It had a link to a website with a beautifully produced piece that will make you stop and think about your life. 9 years ago when I was doing the morning show on then Adult Standards Music 570/KLAC, I read a poem called "The Dash" by Linda Ellis. The calls, emails, and (back then) letters response was huge. Everybody wanted a copy of the poem and to please read it again. It definitely struck a chord with all the listeners. It's was deja vu for me when I clicked on this new link. It's the same poem, now as a video! Kathy wrote.....

"Hi Charlie,

It sure is not the same without you on the radio... In fact I don't even have the alarm on anymore that used to wake me up with your happy and joyful voice each morning. It is nice to be able to read your daily e-mails on what you're doing....

I am sure you've probably seen this before but in case you have not.....Click on this link.

http://www.simpletruths.com/dash/index.html

You will have NOTHING to worry about with your "dash"....

You are a wonderful man, and your family is so lucky to hear your voice and see that caring smile each day. Your loyal radio audience will patiently wait for your return into our daily lives with your stories, laughter and music.

Bless you...

Kathy N."

Thank You Kathy for the kind words, but I'm not perfect by any means. Far from it! What seeing this did do though, was remind me, and hopefully you the listener, that we should all do everything that we can do, to work on making our own "dash" the best we can...... everyday!

09/26/2007 @ 5:59am PST
Wednesday Morning, September 26th! I'm feeling a little guilty this morning!

My son Bryan, who designed and built this website has been home sick the last 2 days from his regular job, and I have this little voice inside me saying "it's because he gave up his last 2 weekends to work on updating and redesigning charlietuna.com, and didn't have any down time to relax and have fun". Bryan, and my oldest son Daniel, are graphic artists who are under constant deadlines putting out magazines, with dates, times & changes on the fly that have to be met, no excuses, no margin for error, and very long hours in front of the computer.

Daniel is my IT guy who designed and built my home studio years ago, with a childhood friend of his who does it for a living for large studios. Daniel's worked on syndicated projects with me, troubleshoots technical studio and computer problems and answers questions from me more times than I can ever count. He's the one who told me over a decade ago to get charlietuna.com as a website because that's where everything in media was going...the internet. He also finds time to mix and master in his home studio, my son Bryan's band "Last Falling" CD's.

My daughters, Michelle and Christy, are as busy as my sons, with both of them winning all sorts of accolades in work and school. Yes, they both have gone back to school over the years, taking University studies at night to pursue even more degrees, so they couldn't find the time to help out dad, even if I asked. The four of them are why I'm a very proud father if you hadn't figured it out by now.

Back to Bryan for a second and this website. He added the first series of Tuna audio clips to get things started and was going to do more, until he got sick. He will get some new ones up by tomorrow because it's a technical process that he is also trying to write the tutorial steps for, to make it as simple as possible for dad to maintain, so I can take over and add new clips on my own.

And there you have an example of "The Circle of Life". That little guy I once played catch with, taught how to a put a swerve on a soccer ball, and ran along side that first solo bike ride in case he lost his balance, is now teaching dad how to add material to his computer website that he built for me. Yes, I'm smiling now, and have that feeling in my heart that you get when it's one of those real good days that comes along.

09/25/2007 @ 6:43am PST
Tuesday Morning, September 25th! For anyone who wonders how radio works, here's the secret!

I've been in radio a long time, longer than any of my bosses, and most of my contemporaries. I've learned a lot more from my listeners than any seminar, research study, or focus group that has ever been presented to me. And today's new email excerpts in Tuna Talkback are a pretty good example why people listen to, not necessarily just me, but to radio.

There's an emotional connection theme that runs through all of your emails that is the reason radio will always have a place in our everyday lives, no matter what new technology comes along for entertainment delivery. Even after all my years behind a microphone speaking to an unseen person (you) listening out there somewhere, I'm still surprised by what an impact a radio personality has on your life.

Thinking back though, I shouldn't be! It was a morning radio personality in my hometown of Kearney, Nebraska that connected with me when I was just 5 years old. His name was Jack Lewis or "Honest John" as he was sometimes referred to, and my mom and dad always had his show on when I was getting up. I can still hear his laughter with the newsman and farm reporter in the studio each morning as they talked about the day's events.

He had a dressing race every morning for the kids getting ready for school, where he said he had this "magic scope" that could see us and who was lagging behind, and would mention specific names and streets (no doubt supplied by the parents who were having a tough time getting their child up), and each morning would declare either the boys or the girls as the winning group. Lord knows, I tried everyday to do my best for the boys' side to help us win. And he would tell wonderful UFO stories (or Flying Saucers as they were called back then), plus he was the man who gave me the good news in the winter that I didn't have to go to school, because an overnight blizzard had shut everything down. This man, who I had never seen, ruled my life in the morning, and I wanted to grow up to be just like him.

My mom and dad recognized this and paid $8 to my Uncle Bud for a record player. I used to sit in my room from that moment on, announcing songs and reading bits and pieces out of the newspaper and pretending I had my own radio station that I was broadcasting on. I shut the door to my room though, so my coverage area wasn't that widespread.

As it turned out, when I was 11 years old I got the house of Jack Lewis as part of my newspaper delivery route, and I'll never forget the first time I went to get the regular monthly payment for the paper from him and he answered the door. I couldn't even make eye contact with him, I was literally frozen with excitement seeing my hero standing right there in front of me. I vaguely remember mumbling a quiet "Thank You" as I gave him a receipt and it must have taken me a half hour to be able to breathe normally again after that. I was in a complete daze!

Later at 16, after a 2 year stint spinning records as the DJ for the local youth center (my big break into the business), I wound up doing the very morning radio show Jack Lewis had hosted until he had moved to Colorado a few years earlier. My one huge regret in life, is I never got to thank him for being the inspiration for my career in this business that I so dearly love, because he died while only in his 40's and I never had gotten the courage to even contact him because I still held him in such regard that it was too overwhelming.

So that's why I value your emails so much. You and I can talk about things we might not have the courage or opportunity to say otherwise, and we can both learn.....with no regrets later.

09/24/2007 @ 8:20am PST
It's Monday, September 24! Today, two brand new features have been added to my website.

Wow, it was just a week ago I was doing my final KBIG morning show on the radio, but I've been as busy as ever, mainly with answering your emails. If you haven't received a reply personally from me yet, it's because of 2 things, one is I'm pretty anal about answering my own email, a lot of radio personalities have a staff person to do that for them, but I want to see for myself what's on your mind and reply accordingly. And reason two that you may not have received a reply yet, 2000+ emails since last Monday, and they continue to pour in, but I will get to them all, I promise.

Oh, just a note, those of you who work for the Los Angeles Unified School District and sent me an email from the LAUSD computers, I can't reply. A bunch of those replies have been kicked back to me, unable to deliver. If you can send me a note from a personal computer, I will get back to you.

Now to the new features today, thanks to my youngest son Bryan, who updated and redesigned my new website . Thank you for the comments too about what a terrific job he did with how it looks and functions, he actually does this as a side business to his real occupation as a graphic artist.

First, there's the Tuna Talkback. So many of you wanted to either share your emails with everyone or wanted to see what other listeners were feeling, like the editorial page in a newspaper, so now I've started today with 10 that I picked at random out of the thousands, and I will continue to add more on a daily basis. There will eventually be pages of them over the next couple of days, and they'll be posted in the order they were received. Just click on Talkback and you can scroll through the entries with the links at the bottom of each page.

The other new feature is Tuna Clips! I'll be going through some of my favorite archived moments from the last 40 years of L.A. radio and posting the audio clips on that link. Just click on the mp3 file to play. It'll be updated on a regular basis with new audio for you to get your "Tuna Fix", as so many of you have called it.

Still to come, by next week, a photo gallery and a video collection in the Tubes section, plus Tuna Hollywood Scoop with the gossip you love.

And yes, you'll be the first to know if there's anything going on with me and the radio if you check back in day to day. As I've mentioned, sometimes with these things, it takes longer than I'd like, but I want to make sure it's the right thing and something where I'm going to be around awhile. I don't like you having to look for me.

Thank you again for understanding and your love and support! I am overwhelmed.....still!

Charlie

09/21/2007 @ 4:33am PST
Who needs Dr. Phil when I've got listeners like you! The tone of your emails has a new emotion the last couple of days!

I feel more and more like I'm writing to a very close family member everyday. Your emails the last day or so have an air of concern about me, in addition to your own feelings of the loss of a morning friend you started your day with and then rode with to work or school. You've sensed how much I loved my job and enjoyed the 4, or as it once was 5 hours every morning as the best part of my whole day, and are worried if I'm doing OK emotionally and psychologically.

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) I've been through this kind of thing a few other times in my career, so by now I know how to deal with it. Being fired the first time happened to me back in 1978. I had gone back to 93/KHJ in 1977 for a second time after I had started KIIS AM & FM in 1975. I was both Program Director and Morning Man for KIIS and after 2 years of success was really burned out with the long days, so I accepted the offer to come home to KHJ to just do the morning show.

It was great until......a new Program Director came in just a few months down the road and didn't want me to do anything except shut up and play the music. The General Manager of KHJ at the time knew I was very unhappy, so we mutually agreed he would fire me and I could move on. It was still a shock to be let go by the station where I had the most success I've ever had to this day in L.A. (KHJ had 1 out of every 5 persons in Southern California listening to it during my first 5 years there, a 20+ share of the audience which is nearly 4 times what anyone has today). But as it turned out I wound up eventually across the street at KHJ's competitor 10Q and we buried KHJ in the ratings and within 2 years had put them out of business.

Everything does happen for a reason is a time honored saying that more than a few of you have suggested to me, and it's something I've always believed, (pardon my quoting the Bard again, but he did have a tremendous insight into the human conditon)..."All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages."

I'm ready for my next act.....this intermission may be a little while, but I do plan to take the stage again and hopefully you'll be there in the audience for me. In the meantime, by the first of next week, I'll start sharing your emails as many of you have requested, to give you that sense of community with all my other listeners.

Thank you again for caring so much. I never imagined......

Charlie

09/20/2007 @ 6:29am PST
This past Monday, this website had almost a quarter of a million hits!

Your emails continue to pour in with some of the most eloquent, thoughtful and heartfelt feelings I've ever seen. You never know who's out there listening, or sometimes if they're even paying attention to what you're saying or doing. After all, it is radio and it's always on somewhere around you, but it doesn't demand that you listen intently if you're busy doing other things.

After over 1700 emails and countless calls so far, I now know just how closely you did listen. To me, that means whenever I get the opportunity to return to the air, I'll appreciate you that much more. Ironically enough, the latest monthly ratings for KBIG came in just hours after my last show and were the best in almost 2 years, putting me in the top 5 English language Morning Shows in Los Angeles.

Just keep checking back every few days. My son Bryan and I will be launching some more of my new website features by Monday, including some "Best Of" audio moments of my career. And remember, sometimes radio changes that seemingly happened so suddenly, had actually been thought about and planned months in advance. That means that even if something is talked about today, It could take till the end of the year before it would actually happen. That's one of the things I've learned in all my years in L.A. radio, patience! Good things really do come to those who wait!

So many of you have commented that this week has been like "a bad dream" waking up without me on the radio, while I've been comparing it to a Shakespearean play. Shakespeare would so often make use of various types of weather to bring about certain events, "Macbeth" in particular with the thunder and lightning storms, to heighten the drama of evil deeds being formulated or carried out. And with the cloudy, cooler conditions with even rain in the forecast the next couple of days, it just seemed to match the mood I feel of not being on the radio.

But there's another Shakespeare play that I've always thought fit my career, the comedy "All's Well That Ends Well", or to put it in the more current language of an Arnold movie "I'll Be Back"!

Charlie

09/18/2007 @ 10:21pm PST
It's days like this that I wish I could talk to you on the radio again soon! Hundreds and hundreds of emails keep pouring in every couple of hours!

I'll be honest with you, I kinda thought your emails expressing sadness, loss, disappointment, frustration, heartbreak, tears, anger, and confusion about me no longer being on KBIG in the mornings would start to taper off today, but your emails are still coming in every hour at a constant rate that has now easily topped over 1000 received by this afternoon.

I've always felt a closeness with all of you, even you who have never called or written me until now, but the affection and appreciation you've expressed to me over the last 2 days is the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen in all of my 40 years in Los Angeles radio. All of you I hope at sometime in your life will feel as loved as I do right now reading all your emails and your hope to hear me back on the radio in Southern California soon!

I've decided not only to personally answer your emails over the next few weeks one by one, but also to archive your email addresses, so that when I find out exactly where I'll be and what I'll be doing, you'll be the first to know with a mass emailing from me. Please be patient, sometimes these things take time to develop in our business, since my end at KBIG came rather suddenly.

In the meantime, feel free to check in here everyday to see what's new with me, and know that I am thinking of you and working toward that day we'll enjoy our time together again through the radio.

Love and sincere thanks to each and everyone of you who's taken the time to write so far. I am reading and loving all your emails:-)

Charlie

09/18/2007 @ 12:21am PST
Thank You for all your calls and emails! I am overwhelmed by your thoughts and kind comments!

Here it is, Monday night-September 17th, when I would normally be getting things together for my Tuesday Morning show, but I'm kinda like a "fish out of water" with no morning shift to prepare for tonight!

As I said this morning, I actually live for getting up at 2 a.m. to start putting together the final details of my 5 a.m. Morning Show. Nothing gets me more excited than opening the microphone to talk to you listeners like I've had the privilege of doing for the last 40 years. I hope that will be one of the things in the months to come that I have an opportunity to do again.

Every 10 minutes today, my email updates have continued to deliver dozens of new emails from you, and the caring and kindness of your thoughts and comments leave me at a loss for words. You are "family" to me too! So far, over 500 of you have written in the first 12 hours since I left the air this morning. I will reply to each and every one of you in the weeks to come, it means that much to me.

I will keep you advised of any new or pending developments as to what's next for me. Just check in every few days and you can see what's going on with me right here. My son Bryan, who designed this new website for me, will have the other links to photos, videos, and audio up by the first of next week. He does have a real job that requires a lot of work from him first before taking care of dad's website:)

My love and best wishes to you all again, and Thank You for all your calls and emails. It means the world to me!

Charlie!

09/17/2007 @ 5:00am PST
Today, Monday Morning-September 17th, is my last day and last show on KBIG (No April Fool joke this time)!

Clear Channel management has new plans for this dial position at 104.3FM and I’m not part of that plan. What I have been told is that Clear Channel wants to talk to me about the future with them and explore a number of new ideas they are still in the process of developing. As a result, I’m still maintaining my office, key card, parking space and coffee cup that I’ve had the past 7 years at KBIG. I just won’t be on the air at KBIG anymore.

I do want to take this opportunity, in case you missed my last show on KBIG, to personally Thank You for being one of my many listeners that perhaps I’ve never met, but you’ve always been out there for me, not only for these 7 years on KBIG, but the last 40 years in Los Angeles radio. I’m still as excited to be on the radio today as I was starting out as a 16 year old kid in Kearney, Nebraska. I look forward to the opportunity to talk with you again soon.

In the meantime, you can always check this website (that my youngest son Bryan designed for me), because I’ll be loading it up in the days to come with Tuna Updates on what I’m doing, audio clips (in case you need that daily Tuna “fix”), photos, Tuna Tubes (my version of YouTube), Tuna Talkback (your emails), and even Showbiz stuff.

For now, I’ll leave you with my favorite quote. It’s from Horace Greeley, a journalist and politician in the 1800’s. REMEMBER, FAME IS A VAPOR, POPULARITY AN ACCIDENT, RICHES TAKE WINGS. ONLY ONE THING ENDURES, AND THAT IS CHARACTER!

CHARLIE