Originally from Dallas, Texas, Van Dyke was working in major-market Top 40 radio, at local powerhouse KLIF, by the time he was 19. Bill Drake brought Van Dyke to his stable of stations, first in morning drive at CKLW in Windsor/Detroit in 1968 and 1969, then to KFRC in San Francisco where he did morning drive in 1969 and 1970. Van Dyke later did mid-days and, eventually, mornings and was program director at Drake's "flagship", KHJ in Los Angeles.
 KIXL 1961 |
 KLIF 1964 |
Charlie is playing records at CKLW in Chicago on January 3, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (33:31), and another from later in the year... [ LISTEN ] (34:07). A few years later Charlie landed a gig at rival WLS. Here's a portion of his June 30, 1972 program. [ LISTEN ] (10:31)
Charlie Van Dyke's spoken-word record "The Flag" charted nationally, peaking at #116 in the Record World survey of June–July 1976. [ PLAY ] He appears as the narrator on Albert Brooks's second comedy album, A Star Is Bought (1975), which includes "Phone Call to Americans," a parody of patriotic spoken-word records.
Throughout most of the 1980s, he was a frequent guest host on American Top 40. He sub-hosted on 31 shows, including first regular episodes from 1983 to 1988.
Charlie Van Dyke (center with the frisbee girl), along with Bill Bailey, Chuck Knapp, Fred Winston and John Records Landecker in 1972.
CKLW c.1969.His voice has been heard by millions doing news intros and teases throughout the country. At the time of this writing (2017), Charlie lives in Arizona.
WHERE DID CHARLIE WORK? Here is the list: KIXL 1961, KVIL 1961, KLIF 1964, CKLW 1968, KFRC 1969, KGB 1971, KHJ 1972, WLS 1972, KHJ 1973, KLIF 1979, WRKO 1979, KOY 1982, KTAR 1983, KFYI 1985, KGLQ 1997, and KRTH 1998-2000.
