RADIO MAN—THE MOVIE KING OF NEW YORK

Photo: Theo Kingma

Any star who has spent time in New York knows Radio Man, the cheerful, bearded autograph hunter and celebrity seeker who can be found outside Manhattan’s major hotels and at film locations on the city’s streets.
The scruffily dressed Radio Man—so called because of the heavy transistor radio he always wears around his neck—has an encyclopedic knowledge of where stars are staying and where in the city movies are being filmed. All the stars know him and he estimates he has appeared in 100 movies including the new Batman film, in which director Chris Nolan cast him as a homeless man scurrying out of a subway station.
We caught up with him outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Central Park South, where he was waiting for an autograph and a chat with Charlize Theron, who was at the hotel promoting her latest film, Young Adult.
 He had just been watching the filming of Spiderman at 81st and Columbus, where he had chatted with the star, Andrew Garfield, he said.
 He will be seeing plenty more stars at the coming Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles where, he says, he will be going thanks to George Clooney who, he says, has hosted him there in the past.
 Brooklyn-born Radio Man—real name Craig Schwartz—has had odd jobs throughout his life and was homeless at one time although he now has a roof over his head.
He also has a website, www.craigradiomanschwartz.com on which he posts pictures of himself and with celebrities.
“Check it out,” he said.    

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