The ChuckieMonster(tm) FAQ - Version 1.0 (LONG!)
Mike Ward
Revision 1.0
5/18/03
By: Mike Ward (mw...@iname.remove-this-part.com) (remove middle part
to reply)
1. WHO IS “THE CHUCKIEMONSTER™”?
The ChuckieMonster(tm), or “Chuckie”, or any variation, is a term
applied to a young man known generally to the online community as
Charles E. Newman. (Note: There has been some question as of late,
about the veracity of that identity itself.)
Mr. Newman is generally accepted to be either a current or former
student at California State University-Sacramento (“Sacramento
State”).
His “main” E-Mail address is currently charles...@attbi.com,
though for years he used the address new...@netcom.com. To the best
of my knowledge, Chuckie has never munged his addresses to prevent
spam.
2. HOW CAN ONE SPOT A “CHUCKIE” MESSAGE?
Whoever is behind the keyboard of the “Charles Newman” persona spends
a lot of time dealing with anonymous remailers. Under personas such
as “Nick Nitro” and “Joe Gunchey”, he fancies himself a writer for an
Australian (or other international) “ezine” on figure skating and
other such topics. These electronic newsletters are purportedly
written from far off locations, usually places where figure skating
tournaments are being held. But like disgraced New York Times
reporter Jayson Blair, Chuckie more than likely never leaves his
Sacramento area home when filing these dispatches from all over the
world.
In a message I posted on Usenet in January, 1996, I laid out the signs
of a possible ChuckiePost.
===================
From: Mike Ward (mw...@crl.com)
Subject: Re: Do not travel to Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany, BOYCOTT
GERMANY!!!!
Newsgroups: alt.politics.datahighway, alt.censorship, sac.general
Date: 1996/01/14
(snip)
If you see a message that purports to publish an online newsletter
from Tasmania, that says the author is headed for Sacramento to visit
the California State Fair, that claims radio stations are operating at
10 times the legal maximum power, that somehow mentions female figure
skaters, (did I miss anything?), it's more than likely from one
Charles E. Newman, a Sacramento State student with more anon accounts
than most of us will ever encounter.
===================
Chuckie also spends inordinate amounts of time talking about flying
back to Sacramento to take exams at Sac State, and partaking of the
best mundane U.S. fast food restaurants have to offer. He’s often
sung the praises of Boston Market, Sbarro, and other fast food chains
that aren’t exactly in the pantheon of the culinary arts. One time,
one of his personas claimed to eat at the Sbarro location at Kuala
Lumpur International Airport.
The California State Fair, which most Sacramentans usually take for
granted each year, is a primary ChuckieObsession, as are those female
figure skaters. They’re so much of an obsession that Chuckie has
created newsgroups to honor them – alt.california.state-fair is his
creation, and many newsgroups dedicated to female figure skaters were
created by Chuckie. He usually spells their names incorrectly.
3. WHAT IS THE “EXTENDED NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RADIO/TV LIST”? HOW
DOES HE COMPILE IT?
With eyes fully shut, is my best guess.
You can blame my old buddy Duncan Shaw for this one. Duncan, who
worked at KFTY-TV 50 in Santa Rosa before becoming an editor at my
former home station of KFBK, came up with a list of San Francisco Bay
Area radio stations and their formats, call letters, frequency and
other such information. (Duncan is now a newscast producer at a
Denver TV station.)
Somehow…Chuckie felt the need to broaden Duncan’s list to cover not
only the Sacramento area, but other parts of Northern California.
Somewhere along the way, he lost all touch with reality. Radio
stations are frequently listed on his “Extended List” with power
levels 3 times their legal limit. Call letters are messed up.
Stations are listed with incorrect city of license – sometimes to
cities that do not even exist, or to their studio location city. TV
stations swap networks and call letters. And that’s just the
highlights.
Despite being corrected by many, including licensed operators and
engineers for the stations in question, Chuckie refuses to fix or even
acknowledge the errors.
Chuckie uses many sources of information for his lists, but apparently
FCC records (found rather easily online in the Media Bureau section of
www.fcc.gov) are not among those sources. He relies on such stalwarts
as the VolcanoVision cable guide – found at the Jackson Rancheria
Indian Casino in Jackson, CA – and the Prevue Guide on his local cable
TV system (now known as the “TV Guide Channel”).
One of Chuckie’s most universally loved errors – aside from licensing
Stockton area stations to “Tracy/Banta” – is the creation of a new Top
40 radio station in the Bay Area. “Power 102”, on Chuckie’s list,
supplanted long-time area classic music stalwart KDFC. Of course,
this format change was very much news to the legal occupants of 102.1
FM in San Francisco. They continued to play classical music, Chuckie
be damned.
The “Power 102” fallacy stemmed from the creation of a short-lived
Internet radio station by that name, which purported to serve the Bay
Area with Top 40 music served up from a hard drive in Vallejo.
However, “Power 102” did NOT ever broadcast over 102.1 FM…except
perhaps in Chuckie’s fertile imagination.
As a rule – Chuckie has an obsession with Top 40/hit radio. He’s
often given unsolicited advice to radio stations to change formats to
Top 40 “Contemporary Hit Radio”. Many times, he’s advised popular
Sacramento adult contemporary station KGBY “Y92” to change format to
CHR…and advised them to simulcast on KFBK/1530 AM, a popular news/talk
radio station which employed me for 7 years.
From a message in May 2002, where he was speculating about a rumored
change at a popular Bay Area station:
===================
From: "Charles Newman" <charles...@attbi.com>
Newsgroups: ba.broadcast
Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 19:37:25 GMT
Subject: Re: KISS 94.9 & Froggy 98 in SF??
Well, I am thinking that a change to KISSFM 94.9 could come quite
soon. In Los Angeles, KIIS is also simulcast on AM 1220. There are
rumors that CC may change the format or C/Net radio, as early as the
end of June. This indicates that when KISSFM 94.9 comes on, they might
simulcast the format on AM 910. If anything should ever happen to The
End, in Sacramento, I think that CC could bring the KISSFM type of CHR
format to Sacramento. Could my dream of seeing 92.5/1530 becoming CHR
really come true someday? I see that now more of a possibility than I
have in the past. If I had 92.5, 1530, and 650, like Clear Channel
does, I would move KFBK over to 650, and then flip 92.5 and 1530 to
CHR, and do away with "Talk 650" altogether, replacing it with KFBK on
that channel.
===================
Needless to say, that’s not ever going to happen…except perhaps in
Chuckie’s fertile imagination.
4. HOW OLD IS “CHUCKIE”?
Speculation on “Chuckie’s” actual age varies. It’s probably a good
guess that he’s somewhere in his early to mid-30’s by now. If he’s
still going to Sacramento State, he’s apparently a lifetime student.
In the archives of Google Groups (http://groups.google.com), the first
appearance of “our” Charles Newman in a message is from 1990, quoted
here in a reply:
===================
From: sc...@max.u.washington.edu (sc...@max.u.washington.edu)
Subject: Re: 80 column terminal program for the CBM
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Date: 1990-09-17 01:18:37 PST
In article <38...@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US>, c...@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US (Charles E.
Newman) writes:
> Does anyone know of an 80 column terminal program for the
> Commodore 128 that will suppoer pulse dialing. I have an older
> Hayes compatible modem for the Commodore but it can only dial pulse
> dialing, It can not touch tone dial. It also must support 300 baud
> and the following terminal types:
>
> ANSI (With Color Decoding)
>
> VT52 OR VT100 terminal emulation
>
> One I need to interface my Commdore to my AT&T , and the other I
> need to interface it to the UNIX system I will be on.
>
> -Charles Newman
>
> c...@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US
===================
An advanced Google Groups search for “Charles Newman”, limited by date
no later than 1991, will find this message.
5. IS CHUCKIE REALLY CHARLES NEWMAN?
Until recently, most regulars in the Usenet groups he inhabits were
generally of that opinion. There’s a growing sentiment among some,
however, that “Charles Newman” may be yet another persona of whoever
is behind that keyboard.
The message in the section immediately before this would tend to
disprove that. Here, Mr. Newman seems to be asking for sincere
technical advice, and doesn’t appear to be setting up any personas or
fake figure skating journalists. But with the ChuckieMonster(tm),
don’t rule anything out.
6. WHAT ARE “APPLE-FRIED RABBIT EARS”?
This is based on Chuckie’s long-time assertion that amplified rabbit
ear antennas are the best tool to pick up TV stations. (For radio, he
apparently uses a random long-wire for both AM and FM.)
From a message posted to ba.broadcast…
===================
From: Charles Newman (charles...@attbi.com)
Subject: Re: KQED/88.5 Signs On KQEI/89.3 North Highlands/Sacramento
Newsgroups: ba.broadcast
Date: 2003-05-18 05:47:59 PST
(snip)
Well, now that Entercom has purchased 106.5, they should move their
CHR/Top 40 operation to 106.5 because 106.5 can reach parts of the Bay
Area, where they could pick up a few listenders now that there is no
Top 40/CHR in the Bay Area. When I lived in Marin, and KFRC quit
playing Top 40, I found 106.5 in Sacramento, when they were a top 40
station. I used to be able to pick up 96.9 and 106.5 from my where I
lived in Marin. Those amplified rabbit ears are worth every penney,
and I STILL say they are just as good as any outdoor antenna made. I
would like to see 96.9 go back to being a dance station someday.
===================
In addition to spelling out his antenna preference, this one also
revisits his obsession with Top 40 radio.
7. WHAT DOES “THE CHUCKIEMONSTER(tm)” MEAN?
I actually first used this term in 1996 on Usenet, and for some
reason, it stuck. I don’t have an actual trademark, of course. But
many regulars in ba.broadcast and sac.general picked up on it, and
even Chuckie himself used it under one of his anon addresses…
===================
From: Pluto Nash (na...@nym.alias.net)
Subject: FAQ for California State Fair REPOST
Newsgroups: ba.broadcast, sac.general, alt.california.state-fair,
alt.fan.cristi.yamaguchi,
alt.skate.figure.cuban-american.michelle-kwan
Date: 2002-08-17 10:05:16 PST
===================
Oh, wait! First, the introduction about the Fair:
===================
INTRODUCTION
This years California State Fair, the largest in the United
States, and
the most well-attended of any state fair in the United States from
16th
August through 2nd September in Sacramento California. This FAQ is
posted
to give some general information about the fair
===================
OK, now the references:
===================
Security
I have just been informed by the ChuckieMonster(tm) that security
will
be much tighter at the fair this year. This is becuase of the 9/11
terror
attacks last year, and the fact that the California State Fair also
has the
most international visitors of any State Fair in the United States.
TV and radio.
The major television stations in Sacramento are 3 (NBC) 10 (ABC)
13(CBS)
and 40 (FOX). With the permission of the ChuckieMonster(tm), a portion
of
his radio list, covering stations that can be received from Sacramento
is included here.
===================
This, of course, is the same list that puts San Francisco’s KCBS/740
at 200,000 watts, and my former home of KFBK at 150,000 watts daytime
power. A tip of the hat to Chuckie for using the (tm) part!
This FAQ is a work in progress, and I welcome submissions, or
corrections, or pointers to actual ChuckieMessages.
-- Mike
Charles Newman
"Mike Ward" <mw...@iname.remove-this-part.com> wrote in message
news:5u6gcvcahr4jbd09l...@4ax.com...
> The ChuckieMonster(tm) FAQ
> Revision 1.0
> 5/18/03
> By: Mike Ward (mw...@iname.remove-this-part.com) (remove middle part
> to reply)
>
>
> The ChuckieMonster(tm), or "Chuckie", or any variation, is a term
> applied to a young man known generally to the online community as
> Charles E. Newman. (Note: There has been some question as of late,
> about the veracity of that identity itself.)
>
> Mr. Newman is generally accepted to be either a current or former
> student at California State University-Sacramento ("Sacramento
> State").
>
> His "main" E-Mail address is currently charles...@attbi.com,
> though for years he used the address new...@netcom.com. To the best
> of my knowledge, Chuckie has never munged his addresses to prevent
> spam.
>
I am not the Anonymous Australian poster you confuse me with,
however, you should not that charles...@attbi.com will no
longer be valid after June 30, when we get converted over to
comcast.net addresses. My address will be charles...@comcast.net
unless that address is already taken, at which time Comcast will assign me
a new comcast.net address if charles...@comcast.net is already
taken.
Screwey Squirrel
> Revision 1.0
> 5/18/03
> By: Mike Ward (mw...@iname.remove-this-part.com) (remove middle part
> to reply)
>
I AM *NOT* CHUCKIE!!!!
I had another response I trid to post, but the mail2news demon at nym.alias.
net got overloaded again by spam. That server gets so much spam they are
constantly getting crashed. That response may show up or it may not. As a
result, I am using my backup Screwey Squirrel account to post this message.
Also, I do not munge my addresses to provent spam, because the various
services I use to post anonymously do not allow it anymore. This was done to
discourage spam and forged Email addresses on their services. When NewsRanger
existed, I used to munge my Nick Nitro address to something like
nnit...@nospam.hotmail.com, but the servies typically do not allow that anymore.
Ted Langdell
> Organization: http://groups.google.com/
> Newsgroups: ba.broadcast
> Date: 23 May 2003 12:17:43 -0700
> Subject: Re: The ChuckieMonster(tm) FAQ - Version 1.0 (LONG!)
Gosh, sounds like a lot of work for you to try to post anonymously.
Why don't you just do it in the open with your real name like most
participants on the list do?
Ted.
Mike Ward
wrote:
>Gosh, sounds like a lot of work for you to try to post anonymously.
>
>Why don't you just do it in the open with your real name like most
>participants on the list do?
Chuckie does...he just does it to talk to himself. (Look back in the
Google archives...he's actually answered himself. That's a feat I
don't think even Ras has accomplished.)
Mike
Ted Langdell
> Organization: MindSpring Enterprises
> Newsgroups: ba.broadcast
> Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 19:51:07 -0400
> Subject: Re: The ChuckieMonster(tm) FAQ - Version 1.0 (LONG!)
>
I think that Ras has answered himself.
Ted.
Screwey Squirrel
Well, my anonymous E-mail addresses are gertting flooded by Asian spam
like you would not believe. An increasing amount of the spam I get, particularly
to my anonymous E-mail addresses is Asian spam from Korea, Japan, and China.
Right now, I am getting tons of spam that apparently has back on on the'
servers at nym.alias.net and Blackhole.riot.eu.org. I have already received
over 100 Spam emails, mostly Asian spam, to my nym.ailas.net and
blackhole.riot.eu.org addresses in the past couple of hours. Asian spam is much
harder to filter out. Spam filters and killfiles cannot currently handle Asian
spam.
KimmiKat40
taste of it.
Kim
The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer
He just says everything twice. Maybe its the multiple
personalities...
Phil Kane
>I never had Asian Spam, just good ole American Spam, and I
>didn't care for the taste of it.
Heinz Ketchup (a.k.a. "Correction Sauce") will take care of
that problem.
--
Phil Kane
Karyn Pettersson
>>Karyn
"Phil Kane" <Phil...@nov.shmovz.ka.pop> wrote in message news:<cuvyxnansvbet....@netnews.attbi.com>...
Mike Ward
wrote:
>Does Chuckie Chese have a girlfriend to keep him off the puter?
As near as I can tell, the ChuckieMonster(tm) only pines for female
television news anchors from afar, and occasionally claims to have
dated them.
Mike