Charlie Warner

.
I was shocked this evening to stumble upon this post over at the HuffPo written by someone I knew years (and years) ago. OK, when I say I “knew” Charlie Warner I mean he was an instructor of mine back in the early 1980s at SIU Carbondale.

Charlie, or Charles as he’s now identifying himself, was a middle-aged veteran of the broadcast industry having been, among other things, general manager of WMAQ in Chicago. I believe (and I may be wrong) he was at SIU to get some sort of degree himself and taught on the side. I was lucky enough to have him for not one, but two classes while I was studying in the Communications Department.

Charlie was a fantastic presence in the classroom. I don’t know if it was the media background, his sales experience or just his vast knowledge combined with an infectious personality, but he was really good. His classes were always lively and I hung on his every word. He was interesting and really had some major broadcasting chops. I remember once getting an assignment from him on NBC note paper and nearly swooning.

One of the classes I took was broadcast sales. I’m not really sure why I took it since I had no interest whatsoever in sales but took it I did. Maybe it was because my grandfather had been in broadcast sales and I wanted to know a little more about him. Anyway, the class was great. Charlie brought all kinds of real world experiences and advice to the classroom. He once advised all us way-to-young-looking-to-be-taken-seriously guys to grow mustaches if we ever wanted to make a sale.

The other class was one on public affairs. It was an attempt to teach us the importance of acting in the public interest by providing good issue-oriented broadcasting that was, to coin a phrase, fair and balanced, to better serve the public. This was at a time when the Fairness Doctrine was still in effect. Charlie set out to divine in us the ability to take on current events and issues important to the community to fulfill the federally mandated responsibility of broadcasters (at the time) to serve the interest of the public.

In the public affairs class we, the whole class, were often divided up to “debate” issues. We got to choose which side of the issue we wanted to be on which was nice. I found this a lot of fun except for the time when abortion was the issue. I decided to go with the anti-abortion side since, given my mother’s activism in that area, I was well versed. I could have gone either way but I figured the anti side probably needed me more. Well, shit. It was just me and two other GUYS on that side. Gulp. The women in the class were burning holes through us with their glares. Suddenly, I wasn’t so enthusiastic about my choice. It didn’t help that the two GUYS on my side were total numbnuts. I’ll never forget one of them being asked by one of the young women, “What if your girlfriend got pregnant?” His response, “The Space Shuttle leaves next week”. (Point of fact: the very first space shuttle launch ever was indeed scheduled to take place that following week.) Oh well.

One of the strangest moments ever in my classroom career happened in this public affairs class. One day, Charlie, seemingly out of the blue at the end of a class, tells us we could ask him anything. A woman in the class raises her hand and asks, “What do you think of Angie Dickenson?” Huh? I’m thinking that’ll throw him, that couldn’t be what he meant. But no, Charlie took it stride and said something like “I think she’s a ‘stove’. That’s a good looking older woman.” I’m not sure if elaborated more, I think he did, but I remember thinking how bizarre this was. It was almost like it had been set up. Why would this student ask that? Why would Charlie answer seriously?

And finally the title of this post. It was Charlie’s signature catch-phrase. I heard it a hundred times: Give me a PERSONAL break!

Update: I almost forgot; Mr. Warner has his own blog called Media Curmudgeon. The blog’s masthead says:

Charles Warner, a retired ex-media executive with AOL, NBC, and CBS, writes mostly about the media from an ethical, strategic, and management perspective.