Why Me?

Born and raised in cosmopolitan Toronto Canada,  I am a die-hard dedicated Toronto Maple Leaf hockey fan, a Buffalo Bills and Nascar supporter and an accomplished chef. Canada is considered by many a democracy with a tradition of Liberalism. With over 40 million people, Canada represents about one tenth of America’s population. Today Canadians entertain; five national political parties, universal health care, restrictive gun control, national women’s choice in reproductive rights, government assisted suicide, and soft forms of socialism.

With that said,… I grew up heavily influenced by American news, television, and movies. Toronto’s close proximity to America allowed me to grow up watching US network TV shows and news on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. We in Toronto were extremely fortunate to have a much wider US TV channel selection from Buffalo NY “before cable” than many Americans.

News had a lasting impression on me, as my immigrant parents from Switzerland religiously watched US news daily, read newspapers and had energetic inclusive political discussions. Growing up in our apartment complex we had several “draft dodger” families living beside us. As a young child, I had no concept of what a “draft dodger” was. To me they were just great people who lived beside us. My parents had many passionate discussions and dinners with our newly arrived neighbours as I sat and listened intently soaking it all up as a sponge. Fascinated with television I was glued to dynamic news reports. I watched daily reports filled with visceral footage of the violence and shocking images of the Viet Nam war. I realized what casualty numbers meant and saw bombing runs and soldiers die, while protests and demonstrations showed me Americans wanted change culturally and socially.

Then later in life in stark contrast I was fortunate to taste the American Hollywood dream as the sole Canadian winner of a talent contest to appear in the original movie “Grease”. I flew to LA, appeared in two scenes in the movie, met Travolta and the complete cast as months later, I was invited to NY to audition for a TV series by Allan Carr for NBC. This lit my entertainment fuse and embedded the reality in me that the American dream is attainable with hard work. As a result, I dove into broadcast television with this work ethic to become a multi award-winning Live producer of a variety of Live sports, produced and creating original broadcast series, reality television and the executive producer of a specialty channel. All this allowed me to travel and experience the world. 

Then my career path embraced the passion of making feature films, as I realized I could combine my keen ability to put a deal together and mix in my proven production and creative talents for success. To date I have executive produced and sold three International award-winning Allen Kool feature films, and today have many exciting projects in development with my partners at AKoolFilm.

These media accomplishments created the seasoned media professional I have become, but one aspiration remained unfulfilled, to host and discuss my passion, the ever-evolving American Political landscape.

As North Americas we are so very similar, but regarding politics, government, and constitutional freedoms and rights,… our differences are wide. I agree with much in conservative America, while still holding some of my Canadian Liberalism beliefs. Self-realization revealed to me that I was a political hybrid with a “unique take”. Then Cable News channels evolved feeding a distinctively American phenomena, a publics insatiable addiction for a daily barrage of headline-grabbing controversial political news stories. A media machine where some dispense rhetoric, or spin facts from polarized perspectives. Sadly, I believe the days of Walter Cronkite’s unbiased pure reporting of a News story are gone. Today some news is manipulated to become opinion, favouring a tilted political outcome. As I intently watch both sides of the American discussion I aggregate international news broadcasts for perspective and quickly realize that some US media reporting is just wrong.
I have witnessed American history unfurl Live on TV all my life. I watched the entire day Waco burned, saw the horrible sorrow of school shootings, digested images of BLM riots excused as just social revolt while destroying inner cities for ever. I cried at 911’s horror’s live and stayed up all night as the gulf war unfolded in real time on TV. America has been through much.

So, in 2019 I created “Below The 49th”, and then rebranded my efforts into today’s “The Charbon Report”. Positive growth saw my advancement hosting multiple Live interview series and creating formats for multiple political debates as the moderator. In 2021, I had the great fortune to become the Canadian correspondent for Newsmax Media, an American Cable news channel where I am privileged to appear on the network Live regularly. My passion and focus to discuss American politics remains irrepressible as I work every day toward achieving my dream, host a daily national program to speak with America, listen and learn from Americans, and make a positive contribution to America with thought provoking discussion and debate.