Author Topic: Charlie Tuna Question (Read 3030 times)

Jimmy Owen · « **on:** December 09, 2003, 08:38:13 PM »

Who became famous first-the "Scrabble" announcer or the Starkist cartoon spokesman "Charlie the Tuna"?

zachhoran · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2003, 08:40:56 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 9 2003, 08:38 PM\'] Who became famous first-the "Scrabble" announcer or the Starkist cartoon spokesman "Charlie the Tuna"? [/quote]
Charlie the TUna began in 1961, as Tom Kennedy heard in a question asking him to "NAme that Tuna" on his Game Show Week II appearance on Squares last month. CHarlie Tuna was a DJ in the 60s, but probably wasn't nationally known until later. His first national TV announcing gigs were America's Top 10 starting c. 1980 and The New Battlestars in 1983.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2003, 09:20:09 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 9 2003, 08:40 PM\'] Charlie the TUna began in 1961, as Tom Kennedy heard in a question asking him to "NAme that Tuna" on his Game Show Week II appearance on Squares last month. CHarlie Tuna was a DJ in the 60s, but probably wasn't nationally known until later. His first national TV announcing gigs were America's Top 10 starting c. 1980 and The New Battlestars in 1983. [/quote]
The coincidence sounds unbelieveable, but I just ran into Charlie Tuna on Sunday night! Thankfully another poster here (SplitSecond) was with me to bear witness. It was just the fastest of "hellos" this time.

Charlie is one of the Los Angeles radio greats, and he is still doing mornings in the market, presently on Clear Channel's KBIG. He has always been one of the most disciplined radio personalities in terms of show preparation and community involvement... a real pro.

To clear the confusion, Charlie Tuna did NOT take that radio name as a reference to the spokesfish for Starkist Tuna. Charlie the DJ (whose birth name also isn't a bad radio name) was given the moniker by legendary broadcaster Mack Richmond when Charlie went to work at Mack's WMEX in Boston in the 1960s.

Mack MAY have been inspired by the then new commercial spokesfish, but he claimed many years ago that the choice of the name had more to do with Boston's predominant Roman Catholic population and the discussion at the time of lifting the "fish on friday" dietary restriction. But as the master showman that he was, Mack was known for revising history to suit his mood.

As WMEX's owner and programmer, Richmond had many "house names" for his jocks, Melvin X. Melvin and Dan Donovan being the ones portrayed by more WMEX DJs than perhaps any other. It helped to make the STATION the star, instead of the individual personalities who would come and go, and it also saved on recording new jock jingles. WMEX was a tough place to work by virtue of Richmond's legendary micro-management and low pay.

Hmmm, perhaps Mack's idea of rotating anonymous announcers was decades ahead of its time ;-p

Randy
tvrandywest.com

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2003, 09:22:21 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 9 2003, 06:40 PM\'] Charlie the TUna began in 1961, as Tom Kennedy heard in a question asking him to "NAme that Tuna" on his Game Show Week II appearance on Squares last month. CHarlie Tuna was a DJ in the 60s, but probably wasn't nationally known until later. [/quote]
Charlie the Tuna's first television appearance was indeed in 1961. The question is, was he the mascot of Starkist Tuna (or in fact did Starkist Tuna even exist) before then? I would find it hard to believe that Charlie Tuna came up with that airname out of the blue, without something to inspire him...

Fedya · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2003, 10:01:15 PM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Dec 9 2003, 09:20 PM\'] The coincidence sounds unbelieveable, but I just ran into Charlie Tuna on Sunday night! Thankfully another poster here (SplitSecond) was with me to bear witness. It was just the fastest of "hellos" this time. [/quote]
No offense, Randy, but your posts make it sound as though the world of announcing and voiceovers is so incestuous that everybody is running into everybody all the time. :-p

It's too bad that I'm what Seinfeld would call a "high talker", and I have a face for radio. Reading the news on my college radio station was about as far as I got in radio. :-)

tvrandywest · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2003, 10:07:39 PM »

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'Dec 9 2003, 10:01 PM\'] No offense, Randy, but your posts make it sound as though the world of announcing and voiceovers is so incestuous that everybody is running into everybody all the time. :-p [/quote]
No offense taken. I named a witness for this "running into" because I KNEW it would sound that way. As far as the business being incestuous, I'll have to comment on that another time - John Moshitta just called me back to bed!! ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

SplitSecond · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2003, 11:29:46 PM »

Randy did indeed run into Charlie. No announcers were harmed in this collision.

Don Howard · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2003, 11:39:31 PM »

Quote

Charlie is one of the Los Angeles radio greats, and he is still doing mornings in the market, presently on Clear Channel's KBIG. He has always been one of the most disciplined radio personalities in terms of show preparation and community involvement... a real pro.

I listen to his and Leigh Ann's show (along with midday man Joshua Escandon)
each weekday through the magic of streaming audio. Good stuff!!
The only drawback is it's THE SAME!!! commercials being heard in
the internet broadcast every break. God, Michelle Visage is annoying.