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Radio's Charlie Tuna, Sic Transit


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(Feb. 29, 2016) -- A voice heard on Los Angeles-Long Beach-OC radio airwaves through five decades, Charlie Tuna, has been stilled. His Feb. 19 passing at age 71 was announced today (Feb. 29.)

The list of his many market stations is eclipsed by his arrival in 1967 -- at age 23 -- at 93/KHJ ("Boss Radio"), an AM station so dominant that it continued to brand his radio presence decades after the station faded away. In the years that followed, he survived and persevered on multiple outlets in multiple formats, a testament to his love of the radio medium and his genuine enjoyment in communicating with his audience.

People reading our words now likely recall hearing him nearly a half century ago on six-transistor AM radios on the sand in Long Beach and later on FM radios; in recent years, he used the internet to amplify his connections with his listeners.

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At its height, 93/KHJ had a "more music" format that required its "Boss Jocks" to adhere to very specific rules and communicate mainly using a few words over the few seconds of song intros (timing their words to stop just before the singer/group started.) In a format that some found difficult if not impossible to master, Tuna had the ability to perform seemingly effortlessly...and still communicate with warmth and wit.

He was a natural, raised on radio from an early age; working at his hometown station in Kearney, Nebraska while in high school at age 16, moving to Wichita, then to powerhouse KOMA in Oklahoma City where his boss told him his air name would be "Charlie Tuna" because a fill-in DJ a week earlier had used the name. A few months later, a Boston-bound DJ picked up the signal and recommended him for Boston's WMEX.

When Boston's WRKO switched to the KHJ-style "more music" format, its programmers wanted Tuna off cross-town WMEX and brought him to KHJ. For several years, Tuna did middays, and when Robert W. Morgan left for Chicago (WIND) in 1970, Tuna moved into mornings. When Morgan returned to L.A. in 1972, Tuna didn't want to give up the high profile (and lucrative) AM drive shift...and he exited The Big 93.

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What followed was a decades-long grueling and frequently cruel radio journey that few outside the industry can appreciate.

A contractual non-compete clause from KHJ kept him out of the L.A. market for six months...so Tuna commuted to KCBQ, San Diego to do mornings. When the six months expired, new owners of a Burbank station indicated they'd switch the station (1500 AM, poor signal barely audible in Long Beach) to Top 40 and Tuna joined up; the station imploded in about a year. He then joined 102.7 FM (at the time called KKDJ) doing mornings and later handling program director duties as the owners renamed it KIIS-FM and subsequently hired another morning man. Tuna then went back to KHJ-AM (by then a shadow of its former self, ultimately switched to country and western), then KTNQ (a Top 40 outlet that eventually disappeared), KHTZ (later KBZT), KRLA (1110 AM, now gone), KODJ (later KCBS-FM), KMPC, KIKF and KLAC.

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At KIKF, Tuna played country and western music...and continued to display enthusiasm and professionalism even when it must have been hard to muster. KIKF at 94.3 FM (with its transmitter in Garden Grove) was well-programmed and had some fine talent but its signal reached only to about Long Beach and not much further. (For part of this time, the station simulcast with another station transmitting on 94.3 in the San Fernando Valley, which was less than optimal for areas in-between.) Every time we heard him, Tuna was consistently upbeat and professional.

Charlie resurfaced on KBIG (104.3) and more recently did weekends on KRTH (101.1). When doing weekends, Charlie continued rigorously preparing for his air shift, coming equipped with audio clips, recorded interviews and other material...until station management began targeting a younger demographic and let Charlie Tuna go in August 2015.

Charlie did other work, including radio and TV announcing, voice-over and syndication products...but at his core he was a radio man, for which he earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Despite "show biz" and Hollywood pressures, Charlie Tuna was as straight-laced as he sounded. He enjoyed MC'ing an annual July 4th event at Warner Park in Woodland Hills and raised over $2 million over the years with his annual "Tunathon" for Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Charlie's website (www.charlietuna.com) says memorial donations may be made to Children's Hospital Los Angeles at this link.



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