Chuck Strinz
Writer, Director

J. Charles (Chuck) Strinz grew up on a farm near Milford, Nebraska. While supporting himself as a truck driver and radio announcer, he attended the University of Nebraska Lincoln on and off, where he studied English and creative writing .

Chuck moved to Chicago in 1975, where he received his BA cum laude from the University of Illinois Chicago. While earning his keep as a copywriter for a Michigan Avenue advertising agency, Strinz continued working as a radio announcer, and pursued a Master of Fine Arts degree in filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1979 Chuck and his wife, Kathy, moved to the Twin Cities, where he was employed as a copywriter and producer for two prominent advertising agencies before launching his own freelance copywriting business. During this period, he wrote for myriad organizations including advertising, promotion, journalism and television production firms. He also devoted some of his time to writing short stories and producing short films, including a script for Twin Cities Public Television's Minnesota Living History series, and the creation of optically-printed titles for the Energy Issues television program.

In 1983, Chuck added a new and relatively unknown category to his business and creative endeavors: online communications. Through 1994, he pioneered Internet products that predated the World Wide Web, broke new ground with a syndicated radio program about high tech and home electronics, edited and co-wrote the world's first online humor magazine (ZIP Beep, back issues available at www.strinz.com/zipbeep), and consulted with a range of small and large corporations including QWest, WCCO-TV, Minnesota Public Radio, startribune.com, and British Telecom. Chuck sold his consulting business in 1994 to devote more time to his home, his family, and his work as a creative writer and Webmaster.

In 2004, Chuck wrote and hosted Back On The Mississippi, a 60-minute program about interesting oddities along the Upper Mississippi River. The show was seen on PBS stations in over 30 markets, and received a TELLY Award for Best In Category (Cultural). Museums Of Minnesota is a co-production of Back On The Mississippi, LLC, and Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.

Chuck lives in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife and two children. He enjoys history, hiking, nature, depression-era movies, and driving on the back roads of the country.