| 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.
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 talent@voicehunter.com. 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
|