Comments on: Composite: KOMA 1520 Oklahoma City | 1966

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:02:22 +0000

I First heard KOMA in 1961 while traveling From Kansas to Colorado. was addicted until they went off the air in the late 90’s. nothing was better than KOMA in the 60’s Flat out nothing the best music great personalities/\. Nothing has been as Good since. Notice Please, All who thrive on FM now, Something called ‘THE NEWS’ every 20 minutes extended at the top of the hour. EVERY HOUR 24 HOURS A DAY EVERYDAY!!. Notice on this small sample, they announced someone having puppies to give away. NO!! how common! thats right itwas common & accesible to everyone. The market exists for this type of broadcasting today. the advertising dollars are there, Because WE ARE STILL HERE!! Think about that next time you have a meeting wondering where those hidden (?) markets are & how can we possibly increase our advertising revenue. Your sitting on & stiffleing a gold mine. & remember what history has taught you. Someone will be bold enough to take that step. Will It Be You? It’s not the past, It’s the untapped right now.

By: Hugh Whaley

Hugh Whaley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:37:02 +0000

Charlie Tuna (same one) is currently doing weekends on KRTH (K-Earth) in Los Angeles.

Sadly, Chuck Hanks passed away in May 2007 in Los Angeles after a terrific career as a voice over professional. His younger brother, Michael, is still in LA doing voice overs.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:07:23 +0000

Nauseating! Horrible!

10 years ago, when I moved my vinyl & reel-to-reel collection to CDs, I could think of no reason to keep the ~30 7″ reels of airchecks I’d collected over the previous 40 years or so. Collected from my employers’ trash cans in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle (ok…ok: KSWO 1310, KRLD 1310, KOCO TV5, KGNC TV4). Some from AFRTS (CSB-218 Lajes Field … Wiesbaden … Hofn … etc.) So I chucked the reels in a Dumpster. How very, very, very stupid of me. Lots of names I don’t remember, but some on this site’s “Featured Jocks”.

Hint: NEVER DISCARD ANYTHING! You people with 2″ quadraplex airchecks of newsreaders and weatherchicks … put it on blu-ray, etc. But don’t throw it away!

I don’t, any more.

By: Bruce Beckman

Bruce Beckman — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:22:28 +0000

The way I understand it, the name “Charlie Tuna” was first used by Chuck Hanks (Chuck Dann – Chuck Riley) who was the News Director at KOMA but upon occasion pulled a relief shift at the station and so he used this “non de plume”. When Art Ferguson came to KOMA, he adopted the name.

By the way, Chuck Dann went on to the west coast to do VO’s.

By: Paul Bottoms

Paul Bottoms — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:45:23 +0000

Charlie certainly didn’t start on KOMA. He started on the night shift. I remember hearing him his first night on the air. I lived near Ft. Smith Arkansas and KOMO didn’t come in very well but I could pick it up from time to time.

Then Tuna went to mornings, was heard by Larry Lujack who was on his way from Seattle to Boston at WMEX and Tuna went there then KHJ.

Paul Bottoms

By: Terry Wolfe

Terry Wolfe — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 13:29:18 +0000

Charile Tuna was the best DJ I ever heard – period. Those days the DJ was an entertainer. We would get KOMA after dark where I was – Alpine, Texas.

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:12:15 +0000

Charlie Tuna’s first radio job was in Wichita, Kansas. He was “Billy O’Day” at KLEO 1480 AM. He then went on to KOMA.

Trust me.

By: JJ Hunsecker

JJ Hunsecker — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:16:46 +0000

That is the real Charlie Tuna (whose real name is Art Ferguson — but of course you knew that). He started in radio at 19 years old, and he started at KOMA in OKC. And that is his voice. You could always contact him through his website (charlietuna.com) and ask him to confirm it. But it’shim. (Excellent site, incidentally — thanks for the airchecks.)

By: Steve West

Steve West — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:31:26 +0000

AM radio seemed to hit the high-water mark around 1975, a year before most stations even thought of throwing in the towell and responded to FM competition by tightening up and streamligning their formats, in most cases leaving the talent and creativity intact. You were certainly fortunate to remember AM radio like that. I also grew up with 70s AM (mid-late 70s), and sometimes I’m astounded by what I hear from the 60s.

In many ways, today’s radio mimics the best of the way radio was presented in the 70s, only with most of the talent’s freedom to speak taken away (where there is ‘talent’). One thing is certain by listening to this aircheck… the 60s were further away from the 70s than the 2000s are from the 70s… at least in the way radio has matured. And I find that to be a very strange observation.

By: Stephen MacLeod

Stephen MacLeod — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 00:47:31 +0000

According to 440 Satisfaction,KOMA was Charlies first radio station job.