Niles was born in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and first gained notoriety on Los Angeles commercial jazz station
KNOB-FM in 1957. In 1965, he moved to KBCA-FM (later
KKGO). After that station switched formats, he took over the afternoon drive slot at the non-commercial, publicly supported KLON-FM (now
KKJZ) on the campus of
Cal State Long Beach. Chuck Niles was a DJ for KKJZ from 1990 until his death in
Santa Monica in 2004.
Horace Silver ("The Hippest Cat in Hollywood'),
Louie Bellson ("Niles Blues"), and
Bob Florence ("Bebop Charlie", "Nilestones"), and others have written tunes for "Carlitos Niles". He also appeared in small parts in several films. In 1958, he appeared as Ivan the Zombie in the
Jerry Warren cult film
Teenage Zombies. ==References==