Wall of Fame
for Distinguished Alumni & Educators

Excellence in Broadcast Journalism

Charles D‘Imperio 1967

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Chuck grew up in Sidney in a family that included 10 Sidney alums. After graduating from Albany Business College in 1969, he managed the D'Imperio business in Sidney until 1973 when he moved to Los Angeles where he sang in night clubs, and even won on NBC's Gong Show singing "Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown" naked in a shower!! The D'Imperio family and village of Sidney celebrated his victory. Chuck then moved to Houston Texas in 1979 and worked for a major courier service until 1982. He returned to Oneonta later that year where he owned and operated his own corporate courier service called, "Otsego Area Transportation Service" which contracted with local government agencies for client transportation within the county.

He then began his broadcasting career in 1989 and has been the voice of morning radio WDOS in the Oneonta area since. His program is a mixture of country music, talk, news and interviews - community service at its best. From 1992-2004 Chuck reported from every national political convention both Republican, and Democrat to give his listeners an up close, and personal look at major national events, and political figures. Chuck's audience is devoted to him and he has served them well donating over 2000 hours promoting flu shot clinics, filling food pantries and communicating life saving information during emergencies. His program has been the top rated morning show in the area for many years.

In 2000 he was inducted into the NYS Country Music Hall of Fame as New York State Broadcaster of the Year and in 2006 was the recipient of Oneonta's highest community accolade, the Bill and Sylvia Bouton Community Service Award.

According to Maggie Barnes, Community Liaison for Fox Hospital in Oneonta, Chuck "is fiercely proud of his upbringing in Sidney. He speaks of it often on his show and in his books, and I think it sits at the core of his popularity. Sidney, his father's store, the school, local events, all of this gave Chuck a firm moral grounding that he has never forgotten."

Chuck's writing career includes published memoirs: "Sidney as I Remember It", published in 1997, "Lucky In Time, Lucky in place" (1998), and "My Town Is A Cathedral" (2008), each one extremely popular in the Sidney area. Works in progress include "Great Graves of Upstate New York" (the final resting place of 70 true American Legends), and " Upstate New York, History Happened Here", a look at historical events in the local region.

Since 1989, he has written more than 50 entertainment business articles for Gannett News, Inc. as well as for other local and national magazines. His passion for Sidney, Oneonta and New York State make him an outstanding and well-acclaimed advocate for the area.

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