Pink Slip for WJMK-FM Shock Jock Steve Dahl

Chicago FM radio icon, Steve Dahl, has been given a pink slip by WJML-FM, a CBS Radio outlet in the Windy City. Dahl made the announcement that he was leaving during his morning radio program, confirming speculation that he was to be the newest victim of a depressed industry and a lousy economy.

Dahl, 54, has entertained a Chicago listening audience for over 30 years with his unique brand of talk radio. He has been credited for influencing Howard Stern and other "shock jock" radio personalities over the years. His unique brand of broadcasting served as a model for taking radio programming out of the time-temperature-song format to a hipper, bolder form of radio entertainment. Chicago Tribune columnist, Phil Rosenthal, characterized it as "theater of the mind," saying that Dahl brought a certain "reality" to the airwaves, and pulling his listeners into "his head and behind the scenes of the stations where he worked."

Show producer Mary Van Daele was said to be in tears while he made the announcement, according to Dahl. True to character, he refused to candy-coat the announcement of his departure or the circumstances surrounding the decision, disclosing that station management wanted him to continue his broadcasts for two weeks before signing off. That didn't sit well.

"They were saying, 'Well, do a couple of weeks, a farewell.'" Dahl told his listeners. "I said, 'It's not a farewell. You guys are taking me off the air. I'm not retiring.'

Dahl's contract with WJMK-FM reportedly extends out to mid-2011, guaranteeing a salary in excess of $1 million annually. "I still have 2 ½ years left on my deal so, quite frankly, I'm not letting them out of it, "he said, "This is our last show here,"

Dahl has been on the Chicago airwaves for over 30 years. He is perhaps best known for hosting "Disco Demolition Night" at the old Comiskey Park back in 1979. His hatred of disco music, which he blamed for costing him his spot on WDAI-FM, is legion. The station dumped his show in favor of a dance-music format in the late '70's. In his new gig at WLUP-FM, he carried on a longtime on-air vendetta by pretending to blow up disco records and promoting his Insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army rallies. Dahl's bad blood toward disco culminated in a 1979 "Disco Demolition" night at Chicago's Comiskey Park. The gag was to actually explode disco records in the outfield between games of a Chicago White Sox doubleheader. His promotion of the stunt sparked an overflow crowd, with his fans storming the field and destroying the grass. The White Sox were forced to forfeit when they were unable to take the field for the second game. The incident drew national attention to Dahl and his outrageous brand of broadcasting.

Radio advertising has been declining in recent years in lock-step with others media outlets like newspapers as a result of advancing digital technologies taking listeners and readers to computers, iPods, and other on-demand providers of news and entertainment. The recent economic crisis has only added fuel to the fire of financial woes in those industries. Declining revenues and shrinking audiences are driving the decisions to cut programming with high-cost "celebrity" hosts like Steve Dahl.

The writing was on the wall for Dahl back in 2006 when CBS radio abandoned the FM talk format on what was WCKG-FM (a station virtually built around Dahl's popularity) choosing, instead, a predominantly female-oriented music format. Dahl rejected a buy-out at the time and made an unsuccessful move from his afternoon program slot to mornings as the only non-music program on the station. It was a bad fit. Lower show ratings, lower ad revenues, and Dahl's lofty salary all, undoubtedly, factored into the network decision to give Dahl his walking papers.

What's next for Steve Dahl? Some speculate that the irrepressible jock may follow Howard Stern and other notables into the realm of Sirius satellite radio when his contract expires with WJML-FM in 2011. For the immediate future, Dahl says he'll probably write the occasional article for the Chicago Tribune and "do some TV things," but stated he is prepared to stay off the radio for the remainder of his contract.

At the conclusion of today's show, Steve Dahl bid his listeners his final "Aloha" and played his hand-picked swan song - Jimmy Webb's "If You See Me Getting Smaller, I'm Leaving."

Your fans are going to miss you, Steve. Hurry back.