Chuck started doing jazz shows on WORT 89.9FM in Madison, Wisconsin the first month the station was on the air from the Winnebago St. studio, December 1975. He began as a co-host with Eliza Hobson who had a huge collection of 1930s and 1940s jazz. When Eliza moved into news and public affairs broadcasting, Chuck drew his shows from an expanding WORT jazz library. He continued doing jazz shows for 5 years until his work life as a cinematographer/editor made it impossible to juggle weekly shows with editing The War at Home, producing his film Jazz in Exile and working on magazine shows and documentaries for Wisconsin Public Television.
In his second stint as a jazz host on WORT, filmmaker Chuck France programs creative music from artists who were in their prime in the 1950s and 1960s while celebrating the birthdays of a wide range of contemporary jazz artists. His film Jazz in Exile documented the flight of creative artists to Europe to live and work, such as Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Phil Woods, Randy Weston, Art Farmer and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.