Steve Dahl
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Steve Dahl (born November 20, 1954) has been an American radio personality for over thirty years. Dahl is currently on the air at WCKG Radio, in Chicago, Illinois. Before WCKG, Dahl was with Chicago stations WDAI, WLUP, WMVP and WLS.
Steve is known for his "every guy" approach to life in Chicago where he often tells bucolic stories about his life and family on the air. Dahl is also famous for his song parodies and for the many impressions that he does. He is considered a pioneer in talk radio and has been influential for many current and upcoming radio personalities.
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[edit] Early career
Dahl began his radio career in his home state of California at the age of sixteen. He then moved to Detroit, Michigan and was on the air on WWWW in Detroit in 1976. In 1978, Steve left Detroit to join WDAI in Chicago. Less than a year later, WDAI changed formats to disco and fired Steve on Christmas Eve, 1978.
[edit] Steve and Garry
In 1979, Steve was hired to do a morning show at WLUP where he met up with overnight DJ, Garry Meier (under the pseudonym of "Matthew Meier"). Shortly thereafter, Steve and Garry began a cross talk that eventually led to Garry being teamed up with Steve as both sidekick and newsman.
During the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Dahl, along with his band Teenage Radiation, recorded and released a parody of The Knack's song My Sharona, called Ayatollah. He also made phone calls to the Tehran Kentucky Fried Chicken, and ordered a few buckets for his friends in the embassy. Dahl also parodied the John Wayne Gacy murders with his song Another Kid in the Crawl (to the tune of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall).
According to "King of All Media: the Unauthroized Biography of Howard Stern," by Paul D Colford, a former writer for Long Island Newsday, Howard Stern listened to tapes of Steve and Garry sent from Chicago by a friend of the chief engineer at WCCC Hartford. Colford claims that it is possible Stern eventually developed his on-air style as a result of these tapes. In an ironic twist of fate, Stern was hired to replace Dahl at WWWW Detroit when Dahl moved to Chicago.
[edit] Disco Demolition Night
Dahl, along with both Mike Veeck (son of then Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck), and Jeff Schwartz of WLUP promotions, came up with a radio promotion and tie-in to the White Sox called Disco Demolition Night which took place on on Thursday, July 12, 1979. They decided to end disco once and for all in the center field of Comiskey Park that night. This resulted in the second game of the double header being postponed due to hundreds of rowdy fans storming the field and refusing to leave. American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers. Six people reported minor injuries, and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct. [1] [2]
Prior to Disco Demolition Night, disco had been quite popular. Steve had been 'destroying' disco records on the air, along with recording his own satire, Do You Think I'm Disco? (a parody of Rod Stewart's, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?), due to the 'fact' that he believed that 'disco sucks'. After this promotion, disco soon began to lose its popularity.[3][4]
[edit] End of Steve and Garry
Steve and Garry went to WLS, but ultimately returned to WLUP where they stayed until their split in 1993. The reason for the break-up was Steve’s on the air comments about Meier’s new wife, commercial real-estate broker, Cynthia Fircak, while the couple were on their honeymoon. Meier also blamed Dahl's alcoholism and unpredictable behavior. Dahl, for his part, blamed Fircak for the split, saying on air once "When I met her, I knew the rules had just changed."
In a column, by Robert Feder, a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times, wrote, on June 3, 2003 the following observation about this breakup:
It's the divorce that just keeps on giving: A decade after Steve Dahl and Garry Meier severed their legendary radio partnership, their breakup remains a source of bitterness and anger for them — and continuing fascination for their fans." [1]
After the team broke up, Steve was shipped off to sports talk WMVP AM and teamed with Chicago sportscaster and funny man Bruce Wolf. Various factors caused his ratings to suffer.
[edit] Current
Dahl ended up on WCKG, doing an afternoon show, on that station. [5] He is currently teamed with Buzz Kilman, who was Dahl's newsman starting in 1980 on WLUP. Dahl's show is available as a podcast at his website and live streaming on Free FM's website.
On Friday, August 18, 2006, Steve was doing a remote broadcast of his show at Oak Street Beachstro, a restaurant on Chicago's Oak Street Beach. Coincidentally, Garry Meier was eating lunch there with friends. After Steve learned of Garry's presence there, he invited Garry to appear on the air with him, which Garry accepted. Garry wound up staying for the remainder of the show. This historic event was covered widely throughout the Chicago media that evening. A portion of that broadcast can be found here.
Dahl's son, Matt, is now part of the regular WCKG lineup and hosts the show immediately following his father's.
On April 2, 2007 Meier returned to Chicago radio, doing the 8 AM-11 AM show on WCKG. He appeared briefly on Dahl's show that same day. Now that the two work in the same building, it has fueled speculation that Steve and Garry will be reunited permanently (perhaps even making a return to morning drive).
[edit] Other activities
- Steve currently writes for the Chicago Tribune in the At Play section as the resident "vice advisor".
- Steve has dabbled in acting. Steve was in the 1984 cult classic, Grandview, U.S.A. with newcomers John Cusack and Joan Cusack.
- Recently Steve was named one of the '100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts' by Talkers magazine.
- Steve is currently serving on the Board of Trustees at Columbia College Chicago.
[edit] References
- ^ "Anti-Disco Rally Halts White Sox" New York Times New York, N.Y.: July 13, 1979. pg. A16
- ^ "Shock Waves" Macaulay Campbell. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: September 16, 2002. pg. C.7
- ^ "No anniversary party for disco debacle;"[FINAL Edition] Rod Beaton. USA Today. McLean, Va.: July 12, 2004. pg. C.03
- ^ "WLUP Chicago Reminisces", Billboard. New York: April 22, 1989. Vol. 101, Iss. 16; p. 10
- ^ "'Subtler' Steve Dahl still rocks Chicago." Steve Knopper. Billboard. New York: March 7, 1998.Vol.110, Iss. 10; pg. 68
