Stephen Linsky (born 12 April 1959) better known as Charlie Wolf, is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-based American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

host,

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

and political commentator, and formerly the Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK. Wolf previously presented a late-night phone-in show he hosted on the radio station Talksport.

Broadcasting career

Wolf moved to the UK in 1984 to DJ for the pirate radio station

Laser 558 Laser 558 was an offshore pirate radio station launched in May 1984 using disc jockeys from the US. It broadcast from the Panama-registered ship MV Communicator in international waters in the North Sea. Within months the station had a large audi ...

. Laser 558 was broadcasting from MV Communicator, based in international waters. In 1989, he became one of the launch presenters at

Atlantic 252 Atlantic 252 was an Irish longwave radio station broadcasting across Ireland and Great Britain on 252 kHz (1190 metres) from its 1988 purpose-built transmission site at Clarkstown radio transmitter, County Meath, which provided service to Atlan ...

and was soon presenting the breakfast show, doing so until around 1993. He also presented the network evening show on the three

GWR FM GWR FM was a network of three radio stations in the south west of England broadcasting to Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire and surrounding areas. All three stations were rebranded and joined the Heart Network on 23 March 2009. The stations in the network ...

stations in the west of England. In 2002 Wolf moved to Cork in Ireland to host RedFM's ''Cork Talks Back'' show and subsequently presented RedFM's breakfast show until his departure in June 2004. For a short period Wolf broadcast on both Red FM and talkSPORT, and flew from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and back on

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

. On a number of occasions, he presented his talkSPORT show remotely from a studio at RedFM. He was also a stand-in presenter on the

Frinton-on-Sea Frinton-on-Sea is a seaside town and (as just Frinton) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 4,837. In 1931 the parish had a populati ...

based radio station

Big L 1395 Big L was the name of a short-lived broadcasting company registered by the British licensing authority Ofcom fro11 June 2002 to 10 June 2003for a satellite radio service known as Big L. The license stated that the station ''"… will provide an ...

. Since leaving TalkSport radio Wolf worked mainly as a radio and television pundit and commentator, mainly debating or speaking on American politics and news stories for a variety of broadcasters including the BBC (World Service, News Channel and radio including R4 Today, Any Questions and Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2). On 12 October 2007, he appeared on

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

programme ''

Frost Over The World ''Frost Over the World'' was a television interview and news talk show, with Sir David Frost as host. The show was broadcast on Al Jazeera English. Frost, a famed English television presenter, interviewed well-known politicians, diplomats, wri ...

'', debating

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

with

Bianca Jagger Bianca Jagger (born Blanca Pérez-Mora Macías; 2 May 1945)

. He was a regular guest especially during US presidential elections until Sir David's death. Wolf made a memorable appearance on

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Today'' programme in December 2010, where he joked "with apologies to Clausewitz, politics is sport pursued by other means." For much of the 2010s, he has appeared every Sunday night (occasionally they have been switched to Friday night) on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

's ''Nolan'' show, with

Stephen Nolan Stephen Raymond Nolan (born 20 August 1973) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 ''Live'', and is the highest earning broadcaster that the BBC employ in the Province. Early life Born in ...

and Stephen Lowe (Bishop of Hulme). During the 2010s, he also appeared a regular guest on the News panel on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

with former talkSPORT presenter Ian Collins.

Writing

Whilst in Cork he also wrote a weekly column in the local ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a broa ...

'' newspaper for a time. Wolf continues to air his views in a weekly column in London-based community newspaper.

Controversies

During his talkSPORT show on 4 December 2005, Wolf described

Rachel Corrie Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American activist and diarist. A member of the pro-Palestinian group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), she was crushed to death by an armored bulldozer of the Israel ...

, an American activist who had been killed by an Israeli military bulldozer, as "scum." Wolf claimed later in the broadcast that he was sorry for Corrie's death, "even if by her own stupidity" but his comments were in relation to her burning a facsimile of an American flag while in Gaza. In its bulletin dated 23 January 2006,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

ruled this comment to be in breach of the "Generally Accepted Standards" section of the Broadcasting Code and stated it was "seriously ill-judged".

Personal life

Wolf married London-based journalist and art critic Estelle Lovatt in August 2004. They have a son Freddie, born on 16 June 2005. Wolf is a Jewish man who converted to Mormonism. Whilst working at Atlantic 252 Radio he informed colleagues that he had been called to be a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

and was a local church elder. During the 2000s, he returned to the Jewish faith. In June 2007, Wolf announced that he has

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include spr ...

,Discovering I had the Big C
TotallyJewish.com, 28 June 2007 the same disease that afflicted his former talkSPORT colleague

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fran ...

. Wolf suffers from Parkinson's disease and has now retired from public life.

References

External links

The Charlie Wolf BlogArchived shows
CharlieWolf.com (unofficial)
Republicans Abroad UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Charlie 1959 births American expatriates in the United Kingdom American expatriates in the Republic of Ireland American male journalists American radio DJs Living people Offshore radio broadcasters Radio personalities from Boston 20th-century American Jews Massachusetts Republicans 21st-century American Jews