Charles Laquidara (born November 24, 1938) is an American radio disc jockey whose show, The Big Mattress, was broadcast in the Boston, Massachusetts, area for nearly 30 years (1969–1996) on WBCN. He then spent four years doing The Charles Laquidara Radio Hour on WZLX. He hosted Charles Laquidara radio, an internet radio station from his home on Maui for several years and left Hawai'i in February 2020 to be closer to his family, including his three grandchildren. Throughout his career in broadcasting, Laquidara has been known for playing a wide variety of musical styles alongside rock music, including classical, jazz, disco, soul and funk, and for being an outspoken critic of corporate governance and American right-wing politics. Biography Early career Born in Milford, Massachusetts, Laquidara attended Milford High School, where he was voted "most artistic" in his class. Upon graduation, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design for two years, and then in 1961 moved to Pasadena, California, where he received a bachelor's degree in theater arts at the Pasadena Playhouse. He spent the next eight years in the Los Angeles area, trying to get work as an actor in television and films. His successes in the acting field were limited to several stage roles and one appearance as a contestant on The Dating Game. He lost, but was awarded a tape recorder as a consolation prize. He was also considered for the lead in the film, The Boston Strangler, along with Alan Bates and Tony Curtis, but Curtis was ultimately awarded the lead role as Albert DeSalvo. Broadcasting career While seeking acting work, Laquidara worked part time in the 1960s as a classical music announcer at KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California. After several moves back and forth to his home state of Massachusetts, he eventually ended up working at KPPC full time. A columnist for the Pasadena Star-News called attention to Laquidara's unusual style in 1965. The writer described Laquidara as an aspiring actor doing radio in a then-radical way, including using long, dramatic pauses in his descriptions of the opera La bohème and often playing passages of music he admired two or more times in a row, both practices strongly discouraged by accepted radio hosting standards of the time. California freeform In October 1967, KPPC was purchased by the owner of San Francisco station KMPX. KPPC soon followed KMPX in adopting the new "Underground Radio" rock format known