Bio

Richard Hartley's first appearance on network television was as a child guest on the Art Linkletter show. When asked, "How did your parents meet?" Richard's comedic side peeked out when he replied, "I don't know, I wasn't in my mother's womb yet!"

As a teen, Richard spent his summers working in an aerospace factory building components for Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, and NASA. Writing software as a "hobby," listening to shortwave radio stations from around the world using home made antennas built from coat hangers and aluminum window frames, creating fake airchecks using home stereo equipment and cassette tapes, writing science fiction stories, a high school play, cartoons and poetry.

At 16 Richard began his radio career voicing spots and PSA's heard on KWIN in Lodi, California then spent the next several years working as on-air talent/board op for KSJC-FM, KUOP, KFMR in Stockton, California as well as KMJQ in Houston, Texas. All formats, including TOP40, AOR, Jazz, Classical, Country, News and Sports News. While at KFMR, Richard helped write some of the code that ran the stations's CETEC 7000 automation system.

In High School Richard completed coursework related to TV and Radio production, subsequently attending San Joaquin Delta College with a major in Radio Broadcasting.

Also during his teenage years Richard built an 8086-based computer from a kit (remember component level soldering on the motherboard?), ran for a seat on the Lodi Unified School District Board of Trustees in Lodi, California, and managed two different Radio Shack stores.

In 1982 Richard's radio career took a bit of a detour when he was hired as a 9-1-1 dispatcher by the Stockton, California Police Department.

While at Stockton PD, Richard continued working part time as a broadcaster, and performed promotional TV voice overs for the Police Department's "Pig Bowl" charity football game.

An internationally ranked chess player and former national chess champion, Richard also taught chess/gave simultaneous exhibitions for the Stockton Police Department's School Resource Program and competed by invitation in the preliminary rounds of three World Correspondence Chess Championship cycles. Many of Richard's chess games have been published, including a draw vs. chess Grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky.

In 2003, Richard collaborated with a Hollywood screenwriter on the script of "Still Small Voices," a Lifetime TV movie starring Catherine Bell in the role of a 9-1-1 Dispatcher haunted by nightmares from her childhood.

After serving 27 years behind a different sort of radio microphone in public safety including nearly 3 years on the State of Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training Telecommunications Advisory Committee, it was time for a u-turn.

In recent years, Richard has performed or auditioned for voice over roles for Radio, TV, Film, plus the occasional website from his home studio near Stockton, California.

In his spare time, Richard enjoys working various IT gigs as an independent contractor, including but not limited to building/repairing computers (not necessarily in that order), wired/wireless network set up and penetration, hard drive data recovery, bicycling, and playing basketball. Although he doesn't travel all over creation to participate in chess tournaments anymore, Richard still plays chess online.

Richard has worked as a parent volunteer teacher at the elementary school level, teaching chess, astronomy, and ham radio to gifted children. Richard is a former member of the Livermore Amateur Radio Klub and Amateur Radio Emergency Service.