Chapter XXXIV (Good Time Charlie) 2/10/23 (34)

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So we created a program
called “Pillow Talk.”
which did
quite well
Now, all we needed
was an album
that maybe we could sell. 

Surprisingly, as long as I’ve been in broadcasting, I’ve only known four record guys, Doug Chappell, Al Mair, Jerry Brenner, and Charlie Minor.
Unfortunately, all of them are already gone, but if they could, they’d agree that “Good Time Charlie” was the most colorful of all.

Tragically, on March 19th, 1995, Charlie was gunned down by a jealous stripper named Suzette McClure, who lay in wait for him at his Malibu home.

When I moved to California to start a new consulting company and talked my brother Reg into joining me, we had no idea how successful our new format would become.
Before long, the “Class/Classy” format was on in over forty-six markets, but it was a dawn-to-dusk format, so trying to get ratings at night, we created a show called “Pillow Talk.”

Pillow Talk featured love songs with some requests and dedications thrown in, which Delilah took to a new level when she added relationship advice.
The show was doing great, and at some point, because “oldies” albums with radio station call letters on them were popular, we thought maybe a “Love Songs” album would be a big seller.

The plan was to package it up with the various call letters of our clients printed on it and then have places like Publix and Safeway sell it.
The radio station would assemble a package of spots and promos for the participating clients, and we’d all share in the album sales.

Now that we had a plan, all we needed was the music, and there was only one guy to talk to, Charlie Minor, V/P of A&M Records. Charlie was a good friend of mine, and he would spend the occasional weekend at my place in Coronado, and I’d return the favor by staying at his home in Beverly Hills.

The problem with doing a sleepover at Charlie’s was that he liked to socialize until the wee hours, but he’d still be the first one up every morning. 
He was what you would call a dream friend; hey, who else would always have a spare ticket with your name on it for sold-out events?

Oh, and did I mention that he hired my daughter Candis straight out of UCLA as his assistant when he became the President of Giant Records?
Charlie taught Candis everything she needed to know about the record business, which led to her becoming the Licensing Director of Warner Brothers, Electra, & Atlantic Records.

Candis loved working for Charlie, and when the company tried to accuse him of sexual harassment to get out of their contract, Candis had his back.
When the lawyers accusing charlie tried to get her involved, she threw them out of her office.

AlpertAnyway, back to the Love Songs Album, when I told Charlie about it, he set up a meeting with his boss, Herb Alpert. (Herb pictured above)
I was very stoked about meeting with Herb because A&M Records was the perfect label because they had all the love songs we needed.

I was delighted to discover when I arrived at the A&M studios for the meeting that it used to be Charlie Chaplin’s movie lot. (Being from Canada, anything Hollywood makes me “Star Flinch.”)

I’d arrived a little early, so I got to hang out in Charlie’s office and watch him work the phones.
I’d been on the other end of those calls and always thought we were having a casual conversation because he sounded like he had all the time in the world.

However, on this end, watching him was exhausting.
He was having at least seven phone conversations at the same time while yelling at one of his assistants to get him someone else on the phone. After a half-hour of it, I needed a nap.

At noon, Charlie and I walked across the lot to meet with the ‘A’ of A&M Records, and I couldn’t help but wish that my father was still alive.
He’d have been proud that his son was meeting with one of his all-time favorite artists. Barely a day went by in Transcona that the Tijuana Brass wasn’t blasting out of his stereo system.

Herb’s office was in a Quonset hut on the far side of the lot, but once inside, you felt like you’d just entered Camelot.
The floors were all stone, as were the walls with what looked like real torches hanging from them. The dark wooden furniture was massive, and an immense black steel chandelier hung from the ceiling.

When we finally got to Herb’s inner office, I couldn’t help but notice that his desk appeared to have been carved out with an ax and was so large that it could have easily accommodated the Knights Of The Round Table.

After the introductions and a little small talk, Charlie told Herb that I had an interesting concept that was worth his hearing.
Herb was not only charming and attentive, but he also
asked all the right questions.

The meeting lasted about an hour, and as we walked back to Charlie’s office, I asked him how he thought it went.
He said he could tell that Herb liked me, so the meeting went as well as it could.

When I asked him what would happen next, Charlie said, “Absolutely nothing.”
George, what you want Herb to do takes an enormous amount of work. He has to research who wrote the songs, who published them, who performed them, and then try to get them all to sign off on your project.

It’s much easier and more fun,” he continued, “For him to walk across the lot to one of our recording studios and record a new band.”
Then he said, “George, this is the only industry in the world where the owners are wrong nine times out of ten, but they’re
all still billionaires anyway.”

 

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