Steve Dahl

Steven Robert Dahl (born November 20, 1954) is an American radio personality.

He is the owner and operator of the Steve Dahl Network, a subscription-based podcasting network.

Dahl gained a measure of national attention after organizing and hosting Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park.

Originally, Dahl broadcast with Detroit stations WABX and WWWW and later with Chicago stations WCKG, WDAI, WLUP, WMVP and WLS.

In 1976, Dahl's ex-wife told him about an opening for a morning show in Detroit, Michigan on WABX.

He managed to secure the job, despite the fact that he did not think he was good enough for it (he later learned that the station was owned by the same company his ex-wife worked for).

At WABX, Dahl learned as much as he could about what constituted "good radio" and also began experimenting with his content.

His popularity increased to the point that he achieved a 7.2 market share.

During his time at WABX, Dahl was introduced to Janet Joliat, a junior high school English and drama teacher in a Detroit suburb, who was casually dating a friend of his and was also a listener of his show.

The two hit it off after Dahl invited her to a "hump day" broadcast he was doing from the camel area of the Detroit Zoo.

WDAI executives in Chicago, attracted by Dahl's 7.1 share, approached him and offered to double his salary to $50,000 a year.

However, Janet did not want to leave her family in Detroit and he did not want to leave her.

This prompted Dahl to ask his bosses for $35,000 a year to stay in Detroit, which they refused.

In 1978, after Janet accepted his marriage proposal, Dahl left Detroit for WDAI in Chicago.

Dahl began at WDAI Chicago on February 23, 1978, with his solo Steve Dahl's Rude Awakening show, but it never achieved solid ratings despite media attention.

Ten months later, on Christmas Eve, 1978, WDAI changed formats from rock to disco and fired Dahl.

In March 1979, after a few months without a job, Dahl was hired to do a morning show at WLUP where he met overnight DJ Garry Meier (who was then broadcasting under the pseudonym of "Matthew Meier").

Shortly thereafter, the two began a cross talk that eventually led to Meier being teamed up with Dahl as both sidekick and newsman.

Dahl effectively forced Meier to use his actual name by calling him "Garry" on-air accidentally.

After openly discussing the subject, again, on-air, Meier officially dropped his pseudonym.

In response to Dahl's firing from WDAI, Dahl and Meier mocked and heaped scorn on disco records and WDAI (calling it "Disco-D.I.E." mocking the station's slogan, "Disco-D.A.I.") on the air.

Dahl pronounced the word disco with 'a contemptuous lisp', in mockery of its homosexual associations.

His band, Teenage Radiation, recorded and performed a number of song parodies (which he often played on his show throughout the 1980s) and since 1990 he has performed and recorded as Steve Dahl and the Dahlfins.

Dahl is also an occasional actor, and has appeared in films such as Grandview, U.S.A., Outing Riley and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With.

Dahl grew up in La Cañada, California.

He is the son of Roger and Carol Dahl, an electronics parts manufacturer's representative and a homemaker.

In the 9th grade, Dahl began hanging around a local underground radio station, KPPC, in his home state of California.

At the age of sixteen, after he started working at the radio station full-time, he unofficially dropped out of high school.

Dahl later explained, "I convinced my parents and the school that I would do an independent work-study thing. I never got around to it."

At the age of eighteen, he obtained his GED and briefly married a woman he met after she called him on-air to request "Suzanne", a song by Leonard Cohen which told a tale of a troubled relationship.

Dahl later explained his short-lived marriage by commenting, "I should have paid more attention to that song."

Dahl was told by radio executives that he'd never make it in radio because his voice was too high.

At one point, Dahl was so discouraged that he quit for about six months and attempted to pursue a career as a recording engineer.

However, this never amounted to anything more than making mix tapes of popular songs for play on airplanes.

Throughout this time period, he was making efforts to reconcile with his ex-wife, who by then was dating the program director at the Los Angeles radio station where she worked.

He later admitted to stalking her by sleeping in his Subaru outside her house.

He served as a columnist for the Chicago Tribune in their Live section as the resident "vice advisor" until November 2010.

He is also known in Chicago for his longstanding former role as one half of the Steve & Garry team (with Garry Meier), and the two are members of the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Dahl is considered an influential shock jock in talk radio.

In addition to his radio career, Dahl is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist.