Steve Dahl: Chicago's Most Famous Disc Jockey Out of a Job

Steve Dahl is the Howard Stern of Chicago radio. Actually that is an insult because Dahl was doing his thing in Chicago a few years before Stern became known in New York and several years before the rest of the country caught wind of him. And today Steve Dahl finds himself out of work according to breaking news on the website for the Chicago Sun-Times. WJMK, JACK-FM 104.3 announced that Dahl is off the air, the victim of budget cuts.

Dahl is as synonymous to Chicago radio as Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack or anyone else whose name you may want to throw into the ring. No one over the age of thirty wouldn't site Dahl as Chicago's top radio influence whether they were a fan or not.

For over a decade Dahl, along with sidekick Garry Meier, shocked and entertained fans day in and day out. Dahl was outrageous while Meier seemed to be the calmer, more mannered but equally as perverted sidekick. A clip from the opening of their show stated, "I wouldn't let you or your sidekick date my daughters after listening to your show today buddy" from an exasperated father to the highly amused pair.

Whether Steve Dahl was blowing up disco records in a stunt that caused the forfeit of a Chicago White Sox baseball game to prank calling every Chicago political figure, Dahl had no shame. He was able to secure many famous stars to appear on the show and spoke his mind without a care as to who thought what of him. This was most evident in the mid 1990's when Dahl began a week-long rant about partner Meier's new wife (while Meier was away on his honeymoon) which would lead to their bitter breakup. Neither has been the same since and, sadly, neither has a radio job as of today.

I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Dahl once and it was back in 1987. I was the assistant manager of a movie theater in Northern Indiana fairly close to the Michigan border where many local celebrities (Oprah among them) have summer homes. One Sunday night (I remember this because I normally worked during the day but this day my boss, a HUGE Steve Dahl fan, needed to switch) Dahl and his wife Janet came in to see

Maid To Order, a forgettable comedy starring Ally Sheedy. I sold Steve Dahl the tickets and immediately rain upstairs to call my boss (and good friend) who first accused me of messing with his mind and then advised me to take pictures of him from a disposable camera he owned.

When the film ended and the small crowd was coming out I, along with an usher, stopped Steve Dahl and asked for his autograph which he happily obliged us with. After explaining how big a fan my boss was I asked if we could take a few pictures. He agreed on the condition we move off to the side so that others didn't stop and try to do the same thing. So we moved away from the lobby and I took the first picture of Steve with my usher. I was about to take another when his wife Janet suggested I get in the picture with them and that she would take the photos. I ran and put my arm around Steve who did the same and we waited as Janet struggled with this cheap camera.

"Be careful with that expensive camera, honey," quipped Steve which made us all laugh. She kept struggling and Steve started to show he was getting a little antsy. Finally she got it going and took the whole roll of pictures. We thanked him and he left me with a lifetime memory of his kindness.

Naturally that cheap camera didn't produce one usable picture.