About
A combat-decorated veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, Chas served in the U. S. Marine Corps – rising in rank from private to captain. Graduated with honors from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts – where his coursework focused on documentary filmmaking – he went on to study transnational security issues and financial markets at the University of Oxford, and earned a master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
In Washington, D. C., Chas has worked as a television reporter with NewsChannel 8 and ABC7; radio news anchor with WTOP, WNEW and the Westwood One News network; and host of Eye on Veterans programs broadcast nationally by CBS News Radio. Journalistic assignments have over the years taken him to more than 30 nations on five continents. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar; and was selected for national security related fellowships by the Council on Foreign Relations, the Radio Television Digital News Foundation, and the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism.
Chas’ reporting has been recognized with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association – and selected for numerous tributes by the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, and The New York Festivals. In 2017 he was elected to the board directing the group Military Reporters and Editors; in 2015 he was inducted into the Marine Corps Marathon Hall of Fame — for his work over 20 years broadcasting from the event; and in 2002 he was presented “Best News Reporter” honors in Washington, D.C.’s Achievement in Radio Awards.
From 2008-2012, Chas directed corporate communications for non-profit think tanks – first the U. S. Naval Institute, then the Institute for Defense Analyses.
Chas and his wife live in suburban Washington, D.C.
Milestones
Military educational benefits provided him the wherewithal to attend college. As a young Marine, when not deployed, he studied during nights and weekends – earning credits at Chaminade University of Honolulu, East Carolina University and California State University, Los Angeles. Eventually, the Marine Corps sent him for two years to the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Cinema-Television Production.
Upon completing his military career, Chas studied at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, earning a Master of Arts degree in Security Studies.
A semester of those graduate studies was undertaken at the University of Oxford. Staying in rooms at Balliol College, he studied next door at Trinity College, where his tutor was Michael Hindley, at the time a Member of the European Parliament.
He earned 11 ranks during 20 years of service: private; private first class; lance corporal; corporal; sergeant; staff sergeant; warrant officer; chief warrant officer 2, 3 and 4; and captain. The last promotion, to the rank at which he retired, was made after the 1991 Gulf War, in which Chas was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with V device for "heroic achievement" in videotaping the First Marine Division's ground attack into Kuwait.
His assignments as an officer of Marines included a tour as deputy director of the Marine Corps’ motion picture industry liaison office in Hollywood, and as producer – in Washington – of the Navy Department’s weekly television news program.
[1971] KTAO, Los Gatos, California
[1972] KFMR, Fremont, California
[1973] KSND, Gilroy, California
[1974] KSJO, San Jose, California
[1977] KLEI, Kailua, Hawaii
[1978 & 1981] KKUA, Honolulu, Hawaii
[1979-1980] KORL, Honolulu, Hawaii
[1981] WXQR, Jacksonville, North Carolina
[1996] WBQB, Fredericksburg, Virginia
[1996] WASH, Washington, DC
[1997-2005] WTOP, Washington, DC
[2006-2008] NewsChannel 8 / ABC7, Washington, DC
[2012-2015] WNEW, Washington, DC
[2015-2017] Westwood One News Network,
Washington, DC
[2017-2019] CBS Radio/Entercom, Washington, DC
In 1987, with the encouragement and help of many producers, performers and others he had met in the course of his work as a Marine in Hollywood, Chas applied to study at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. After he successfully completed a first semester, the Marine Corps allowed him 18 months of full-time undergraduate study. His culminating production project was a music video featuring a team of Marines being quickly extracted from a reconnaissance site, hanging onto a rope dropped by a helicopter that pulls the Marines up and away without landing. The large-scale production included help from Chas’ USC classmates, cameras donated by Panavision, and ground-based photography by cinematographer Douglas Ryan, who Chas had met on the set of Heartbreak Ridge. Before his career in motion picture production, Ryan had served in combat as a Marine infantry officer, earning a Bronze Star in Vietnam. Marine Corps pilots flew the helicopter seen on-screen; a helicopter photographing the action in flight was flown by renowned production pilot James Gavin, with aerial cinematographer Frank Holgate capturing the action. You can watch the finished work by clicking the second YouTube icon below.
Just prior to retiring from active duty in 1996, Chas wrote and produced a half-hour documentary commissioned by then-Marine Corps commandant General Carl E. Mundy, Jr. The production, titled Eagle, Globe and Anchor, detailed Marine Corps history and traditions. Returning to Hollywood, Chas directed actor Charlton Heston in the production’s on-camera narration.
Check out the Toys For Tots History Video and Marine Corps music video here:
2020
- New York Festivals: Silver Medal, Best Radio News Documentary or Special
2015
- Inducted into Marine Corps Marathon Hall of Fame
- Military Reporters and Editors Award: Honorable Mention, Large Market Broadcast Reporting
2008
- Military Reporters and Editors Award: First Place, Network or Large Market Television Reporting
- Selected as Radio-Television News Directors Association Fellow in International Journalism; met with senior government, corporate, labor and media leaders in Germany, Czech Republic, and Belgium
2005
- Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Awards: Outstanding Effort by an Individual Reporter, and Douglas Southall Freeman Award for Public Service through Journalism
- Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Awards: Outstanding Specialty Reporting, and Outstanding Enterprise Reporting
2004
- Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Awards: Best Investigative Reporting, and Best In-Depth Documentary
- Selected as Fellow of the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at University of California, Berkeley
- Maryland, D. C., Delaware Broadcasters Association Award for Best Public Affairs News Feature
2003
- Radio Television Digital News Association Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best News Series
- Society of Professional Journalists Award: First Place, General Radio News Reporting
2002
- Selected by Council on Foreign Relations as New York Times Fellow in Homeland Security Reporting
- Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association Award for Best News Series
- Washington, D.C. Achievement in Radio Award: Best News Reporter
1999
- Selected as National Security Reporting Fellow, Radio-Television News Directors Foundation
1995
- Telly Award for writing, producing, and directing a video history of the U. S. Marine Corps. Project was personally commissioned by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and narrated by actor Charlton Heston.
- National Association of Government Communicators Gold Screen Award for Marine Corps historical documentary
1991
- Navy Commendation Medal with “V” device for valor, awarded for videotaping the U. S. Marines' Gulf War ground attack into Kuwait
1980-1983
- Two Department of Defense Thomas Jefferson Awards for excellence in creation of motion media productions
- Seven Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association Awards for Best Television News Reports and Features
In early 2007, with his kidneys near the point of failure, he underwent transplant surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks to the gracious generosity of a deceased donor, surgeons at the clinic were able to replace Chas’ cyst-filled kidneys and liver with healthy organs. Very fit now, he volunteers in efforts to show the life-changing value of organ and tissue donation.
Afghanistan, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba (Guantánamo Bay), Czech Republic, Diego Garcia, Djibouti, England, France, Germany, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan (Honshu and Okinawa), Kenya, Kuwait, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Fujairah)