The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Currently an entertainment and features writer specializing in casinos and theater for the Philadelphia Daily News, Chuck Darrow has been covering the Philadelphia/Atlantic City entertainment scene for almost 40 years.

Chuck’s award-winning career began at the Temple News, the student-run newspaper at Temple University. His first byline ever there was atop his own weekly rock music column. By the time he left the News, he’d served as entertainment editor, features editor and editor-in-chief.

In March, 1980, at age 23, Chuck began his professional career as the music columnist/entertainment writer-critic for the Philadelphia Journal. When the Journal folded in December, 1981, Chuck left journalism, but returned in 1985, when he began a 23-year-run at the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, N.J.

During his time at the Courier-Post, Chuck published thousands of articles on everything from the legendary Live Aid concert at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium to the last interview ever granted by comedy icon Milton Berle to feature stories filed from the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. At one time or another, he held the positions of pop music critic, movie critic, theater critic, television critic, casual dining critic and radio columnist (often wearing multiple hats simultaneously).

Among the hundreds of celebrities Chuck interviewed for the Courier-Post are Sir Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Cher, Lucille Ball, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Dick Clark.

It was also at the Courier-Post that he began writing a weekly column about the entertainment, dining and gaming in Atlantic City. And in 2004, he created “Chuck Darrow’s Phillies Blog,” the paper’s first-ever blog.

While at the Courier-Post, Chuck was the recipient of two New Jersey Press Association awards (for critical writing and as part of the reporting team that covered the collapse of an Atlantic City casino parking garage).

In 2008, Chuck realized his long-time dream of working for the Daily News when he was hired by to be the paper’s first full-time casino beat writer. In that capacity, he covers entertainment, gaming and business topics, as well as contributing non-casino lifestyle and entertainment stories. In January 2013, he was named the paper’s theater columnist/critic.

But Chuck’s show business experience extends well beyond writing about it. For more than 20 years, he has been the creative partner of entertainer and former “Saturday Night Live” star Joe Piscopo. Together, the two have written TV and film scripts, as well as material for Joe’s acclaimed nightclub act.

In the early 1980s, Chuck was road manager for the late RCA recording artist, Robert Hazard, composer of Cyndi Lauper’s smash hit, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

Chuck is also a performer himself. He has played bass guitar in a variety of original and “cover” bands in the Philadelphia region since the 1970s. For more than a decade, he has played bass for NASTY HABITS, a fixture on the South Jersey live music scene. He is also bassist/co-composer for the “progressive pop” band, NYTROUS.

Additionally, Chuck is a stand-up comic, having performed at a variety of venues, including Catch A Rising Star in Atlantic City, and Sarcasm in Cherry Hill, NJ.

And he is well-known to radio listeners in the Philadelphia market, having been a part-time talk show host on several of the city’s leading outlets including WWDB-FM, WPHT-AM and sports-talk outlets WIP-AM and ESPN 950, where, in 2006, he hosted a weekly program devoted to poker.

Chuck, a Philadelphia native, and his wife of 30 years, Robin, have been South Jersey residents since 1985. They have two adult daughters, Alexa and Jolie, and one young son..

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com