Kenny Guido
Well-known member
Chuck Riley, The Voice of HOT 97 Passes
I am sad to report that Chuck Riley, the "voice" of HOT 97, and numerous other great radio stations including HOT's sister station POWER 106 in LA passed away this week. It was my great pleasure to know and work with Chuck over the years. He was an amazing talent and a very nice man. The following letter was written by Adam Goodman of VoiceHunter.com, a close friend of Chuck's as well as a business associate. It pretty much says it all.
Rest in peace Chuck.
Joel
..>
For many years the line I would use to promote Chuck was "The VO guy the other VO guys looked up to." He was, to many, one of the best that ever lived.
VoiceHunter.com truly does not exist without Chuck. In 1994 I was given the opportunity, as a program director, to use Chuck as the voice of a station I worked at in Hartford, CT. I had known and loved Chuck from many of the stations he worked with in the 80s and 90s such as Hot 97 (Hot 103) in New York, Power 106/Los Angeles and many others. I felt honored that the company I was with would invest in a talent of this caliber. Soon after his arrival on our airwaves he became as important a figure on the air as any of our air talent. He was 'Chuck the voice guy'.
The relationship for Chuck and I started on the first call we ever had when we spoke for almost an hour about our families. We had a relationship that offered both of us ways to be creative with career opportunities together and often tested each other with new ideas.
In 1997, after several years of discussing working together on projects, Chuck and I connected on working together to both manage and develop new station opportunities for him. Less than a year later when I was looking for a new career path and a business opportunity I could do on my own, I thought that the internet would be a great way to help radio stations find out more about Chuck Riley. The VoiceHunter.com model was simply a way to cast Chuck by having him available to hear with as many other voice talent as I could find to put on the service with Chuck to truly help show the industry that Chuck was THE best there was.
Thanks to Chuck, I developed a relationship with his agents Rita Vennari and Mary Ellen Lord who both shared with me the great possibilities we could have together as we worked on additional marketing and exposure for many of their talent. This relationship which Chuck himself put together, launched not only VoiceHunter.com but the life I live. A life that is all of what I would have hoped would happen to me…and I have Chuck Riley to thank for that.
I am very saddened by his passing but I want to share the work of Chuck Riley for many years to come. I want it to inspire the voice talent of the future to strive to the depth of performance and gift of delivery that Chuck himself showed me to expect.
Here is the best demo I can offer: http://www.voicehunter.com/Riley,Chuck.mp3. I can't describe how sad I am to listen to it but even more so - proud.
On behalf of VoiceHunter.com and myself we extend our deepest sympathy to Chuck's family and close friends. We want to share the legacy of Chuck's amazing life and career, so for the next few days we are removing our website. In its place will be a site of remembrance. Please share your Chuck stories with us or words of sympathy and inspiration by e-mailing to [email protected]. We believe this is what Chuck would have wanted. He is forgoing a funeral and instead asking if you can make even a slight contribution to Vitas Hospice, c/o Charitable Fund, 16830 Ventura Blvd., Suite 315, Encino, CA, 91436.
Adam Goodman - President/VoiceHunter.com
I am sad to report that Chuck Riley, the "voice" of HOT 97, and numerous other great radio stations including HOT's sister station POWER 106 in LA passed away this week. It was my great pleasure to know and work with Chuck over the years. He was an amazing talent and a very nice man. The following letter was written by Adam Goodman of VoiceHunter.com, a close friend of Chuck's as well as a business associate. It pretty much says it all.
Rest in peace Chuck.
Joel
..>
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In Loving Memory of CHUCK RILEY[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
(1940 - 2007)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]VoiceHunter.com would like to pay tribute to the true inspiration for this service CHUCK RILEY who passed away Thursday (5/10/07) at his home in Los Angeles. (1940 - 2007)[/FONT]
For many years the line I would use to promote Chuck was "The VO guy the other VO guys looked up to." He was, to many, one of the best that ever lived.
VoiceHunter.com truly does not exist without Chuck. In 1994 I was given the opportunity, as a program director, to use Chuck as the voice of a station I worked at in Hartford, CT. I had known and loved Chuck from many of the stations he worked with in the 80s and 90s such as Hot 97 (Hot 103) in New York, Power 106/Los Angeles and many others. I felt honored that the company I was with would invest in a talent of this caliber. Soon after his arrival on our airwaves he became as important a figure on the air as any of our air talent. He was 'Chuck the voice guy'.
The relationship for Chuck and I started on the first call we ever had when we spoke for almost an hour about our families. We had a relationship that offered both of us ways to be creative with career opportunities together and often tested each other with new ideas.
In 1997, after several years of discussing working together on projects, Chuck and I connected on working together to both manage and develop new station opportunities for him. Less than a year later when I was looking for a new career path and a business opportunity I could do on my own, I thought that the internet would be a great way to help radio stations find out more about Chuck Riley. The VoiceHunter.com model was simply a way to cast Chuck by having him available to hear with as many other voice talent as I could find to put on the service with Chuck to truly help show the industry that Chuck was THE best there was.
Thanks to Chuck, I developed a relationship with his agents Rita Vennari and Mary Ellen Lord who both shared with me the great possibilities we could have together as we worked on additional marketing and exposure for many of their talent. This relationship which Chuck himself put together, launched not only VoiceHunter.com but the life I live. A life that is all of what I would have hoped would happen to me…and I have Chuck Riley to thank for that.
I am very saddened by his passing but I want to share the work of Chuck Riley for many years to come. I want it to inspire the voice talent of the future to strive to the depth of performance and gift of delivery that Chuck himself showed me to expect.
Here is the best demo I can offer: http://www.voicehunter.com/Riley,Chuck.mp3. I can't describe how sad I am to listen to it but even more so - proud.
On behalf of VoiceHunter.com and myself we extend our deepest sympathy to Chuck's family and close friends. We want to share the legacy of Chuck's amazing life and career, so for the next few days we are removing our website. In its place will be a site of remembrance. Please share your Chuck stories with us or words of sympathy and inspiration by e-mailing to [email protected]. We believe this is what Chuck would have wanted. He is forgoing a funeral and instead asking if you can make even a slight contribution to Vitas Hospice, c/o Charitable Fund, 16830 Ventura Blvd., Suite 315, Encino, CA, 91436.
Adam Goodman - President/VoiceHunter.com
