Chuck "Chaz with The Jazz" Gauger talks to The Clint Eastwood Archive about KRML and Misty country…

I can’t believe it has been over a year that I started chatting with Chuck Gauger. Chaz worked for KRML and kindly shared some of his memories and photos from his collection. I hope you all enjoy.

TCEA: Was you working for KRML when Play Misty for Me was made?
CG: No, I did not work there when the film was made; I was there 15 years later.
TCEA: Had the place changed much since Clint made Play Misty for Me?

CG: No, It looked exactly the same as it had when he filmed there.

Above Clint working in the KRML studio

Below Chuck in the very same studio

TCEA: What about any of KRML’s original crew, were any of those guys still around?

CG: Yeah, I did work with at least two guys who were there, Johnny Adams (who plays a bartender in Bird) and Sam Salerno. Clint loved jazz and he lived in Carmel, so I assume he suggested the station for the movie; usually the location manager scouts out filming sites.

Below Clint with Johnny Adams

TCEA: Did any of these guys work with Clint, for the movie

CG: Johnny is the one who taught Clint how to look like a real DJ, use the board (equipment), etc. and he stayed friends with Clint, so he got to be in the Bird movie, and as thanks he threw a private party for Clint to thank him, for which I drew the banner depicting Clint in a caricature. Most of these events/stories were told in various issues of the CEAS magazine back then (1988-89).

TCEA: So you got to meet Clint?

CG: Yes, I met Clint twice, the first time at the radio station when he came to do an interview when running for mayor, the second time at the party itself. I took my (then) very pregnant wife to meet him that night. To say that he is gracious, charming, tall, and funny are all understatements, for a lifelong superstar he treats everyone as an equal.

Above: Chuck with wife Cathy at Clint’s party

TCEA: What about KRML today, in what capacity does it operate?

CG: KRML itself has fallen on hard times, it was always a very small, locally owned station (by many owners) and they did move out of that basement location where it was filmed, and moved twice more (once into the Eastwood Building in downtown Carmel), now they do everything from the little transmitter shack in a field, no more 'studios'. It's barely surviving, still playing jazz but mainly networked from other stations, not a lot of local stuff anymore.

TCEA: Some good memories?

CG: Very good. You can check out their website at www.krml.com; the featured picture of Clint is a gift Clint gave Johnny Adams, I also have a signed one from Clint.

TCEA: Chaz, thank you for sharing these great memories with all of us.

CG: It’s a pleasure. I appreciate the interest and just want to say hello to all the Brit fans of Clint. I wish you all well...

Above: Chuck with Dave Turner of The Clint Eastwood Appreciation Society, in the original studio during one of the society’s stateside trips.

Listen to KRML here.