Getting to know
Chuck Jackson
By Dolores E. Pike

"Of all the stories I had to cover I don't recall any that occupied the headlines, as well as our hearts, like that of (State Police) Corporal Ted Wolf who was murdered on Interstate 95 during a routine traffic stop in March 1990," said Chuck Jackson, well-known newscaster in Baltimore for many years but, at the time of the trooper's death public relations officer for the Maryland State Police.

 "Ted's funeral procession was 20 miles in length.  In fact as the last car left St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church's parking lot in Linthicum, where the service was held, the motorcycles at the beginning of the motorcade were on the Baltimore Beltway passing under Reisterstown Road in Pikesville.  All along the way people stood with American flags and saluted.  There were firetrucks with their ladders crossed to pay respect for him. Cars on the beltway practically came to a standstill that day," said Chuck who worked on the logistics of the funeral. 

 Just the night before the shooting Chuck had been reading the Baltimore Sun which displayed two full pages of photos of Maryland police officers of the year attending an annual luncheon in their honor.  The very last picture in the right hand corner was of Ted Wolf who had gone to the luncheon that day.  Chuck folded up the newspaper and went to bed only to be awakened at 4:30 a.m. with the phone call about the shooting of Cpl. Wolf. 

He went on to say that Eric Tirado, of Bronx, NY, who shot the trooper, and his accomplice Frederico Enriques, were caught shortly after and eventually convicted of the trooper's murder.

If this was an audio piece rather than text, there is no question that long time Baltimoreans would immediately have recognized the resonant voice of Chuck Jackson, newscaster from WBAL and WCBM as he related the tragic story of Cpl. Wolf's murder. 

So recognizable is his voice, in fact, that on a vacation trip to Florida's Disney World another vacationer came over to Chuck and struck up a conversation, "Don't I know you from somewhere?..."  And then again just the other night while Chuck was picking up take out at a local eatery, a retired 911 dispatcher from Baltimore, who had never met Chuck but knew his voice well, came over to say hello.

But this is not audio and it seemed just the right time to meet the man behind the well-known voice who since early this year is part of the OC Flooring team in West Ocean City where he is the general sales manager and moving force behind their successful advertising anti-speeding campaign "Floor it…but not on the highway.".

Chuck and his wife Robin moved to north Ocean City three years ago but he has been coming to Ocean City since he was a child.  He fondly remembers staying at the Del-Mar Hotel on North Division Street just off the busy boardwalk.  He recalls that it was one of the few hotels in town that had its own dining hall so not only could you stay there but you could also be served breakfast and dinner. It was a grand hotel which has long since met the fate that only the wrecking ball can deliver.

Though Chuck was born in Baltimore, he grew up in Linthicum.  Upon graduating from high school he seriously considered a career in radio.  He had an opportunity to speak with WBAL radio news director, John Grimes, who gave the young man the sobering news.  You have to pay your dues by starting with a small radio station, being the office "gofer" and then if you are considered for an on air time slot it will be the graveyard one. 

With this understood, Chuck signed on for a 12 week course to learn the full business of broadcasting at a school in Bel Air run by well-known newscaster Jim McMahan, Jr. Chuck worked days in a Coca Cola bottling plant and attended classes, once they started, at night.  The delayed start was due to the spellbinding trial of H. Rap Brown, charged in a series of crimes committed while a member of the Black Panthers.  The trial was granted a change of venue to Bel Air and the town was, in effect, "closed down" until the trial was over.

 Chuck started at WBOB radio and stayed there for two years.  He kept his ears tuned to the police scanner where he learned of the latest brush fires and whose cat was in a tree.  The father of his boss, Jim McMahan, Sr., was the Bel Air police chief and Chuck had an inside track into what was going down around town.  Early on he, "Garnered a lot of respect for the police," said Chuck.

In 1972 Chuck signed on with WBAL for the midnight slot and in no time found himself delivering the news at afternoon drive time, second only to the morning drive slot. Following his broadcast jobs he wound up working for various media in Washington, DC as well as Baltimore, where he established a good working relationship with the Maryland State Police.  "I have great respect for them and over the years making the rounds with them you get to know quite a few of them and understand what they do for a living." he said.

In 1985 Chuck became the civilian public information officer for the Maryland State Police.  He stayed there for seven years on the job 24/7, dealing with scores of reporters every day of the week.

And where every officer was his number one priority every day.

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