The Steve Dahl Audio Vault

Over several posts we are looking at the Steve & Garry Show during the month of July 1982 when S&G were on WLS-FM. This series will cover several weeks and include The Steve Dahl Meltdown, E.T. and The Couch Incident. To go to the beginning of this series go here.

This is our final post in the July 1982 series. Here is 40+ minutes from the Friday, July 23 show. Steve is still home sick and the couch has been removed from the studio. It is a beautiful day in Chicago and Garry is down on Wacker Drive. Across the street there is a crew filming I Was a Mail Order Bride starring Valerie Bertinelli. Garry does talk with Steve on the phone and takes phone calls. There is also another playing of E.T. at the end of Part 2.

This audio is in 2 parts below. Enjoy!!!

Part 1

Part 2

Editorial commentary: July 1982 was obviously a weird month for the Steve & Garry Show. This all came less than 3 months after the passing of Marcus. I can’t speak for Steve, but I can say from personal experience that dealing with grief can completely consume your life. I think that dealing with the death of Marcus played a huge role in the overall demeanor of Steve and contributed greatly to these incidents.

Over several posts we are looking at the Steve & Garry Show during the month of July 1982 when S&G were on WLS-FM. This series will cover several weeks and include The Steve Dahl Meltdown, E.T. and The Couch Incident. To go to the beginning of this series go here.

The Couch Incident
When Steve & Garry moved to “LS-FM” there was a leather couch in the hallway that SD had moved into their studio. Steve would do the show from the couch. Many times reclined and hungover. But most often it was just a comfortable way to be.

I will let most of the audio speak for itself here. But this piece really shows what a bunch a Dickheads management at WLS really was. It may also be pretty easy to extrapolate that to all radio management in general. Artists and those in authority don’t usually mix well.

Part of this aircheck features Program Director, Ric Lippencott, who was inaffectionately referred to as “Lipshitz.” In his 11 year career with ABC, Lippencott went from PD to Operations Manager to GM. The other name you hear often is “Scum”, which refers to John Garren who, at the time, was the Manager of AM-FM Operations at WLS. Steve had almost continuous run-ins with management at every level. They tried to control the Steve & Garry show. And the more they tried, the more S&G resisted. As Steve would say, “they are very top-heavy around here”. And my favorite “Scums of the Earth”.

So, just a quick set-up…Steve is at home sick and management decides to remove the couch from the studio. This aircheck is in two parts and was broadcast on WLS-FM on Thursday, July 22, 1982. The audio seems to be a tad speedy.

Part 2 below begins with one version of Steve’s song E.T. and his Adventures in L.A.

Enjoy!!

Part 1

Part 2

Over several posts we are looking at the Steve & Garry Show during the month of July 1982 when S&G were on WLS-FM. This series will cover several weeks and include The Steve Dahl Meltdown, E.T. and The Couch Incident. To go to the beginning of this series go here.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a 1982 science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It was the blockbuster summer hit of 1982.

Steve wrote an original composition called “E.T. and his Adventures in L.A.”. This aircheck (21:43) is from Wednesday, July 14, 1982 (4 days after the Meltdown) and SD has just finished writing the song and wants listeners to guess that the song is about.

Also as part of this aircheck there is an old clip of Steve Dahl and Company (with characters), another set of panties that arrived in the mail and a clip from the local Emmy show where Steve & Garry won a local Emmy for “Greetings from Graceland”.

Enjoy!!!

FYI – you can hear the song E.T. in these two posts… here and here.