There is talk about the replacement couch that is in the studio and that is a piece of crap. The old couch is sitting in the hallway.

Enjoy!!

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.

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

Unfortunately, this post has nothing to do with any of those topics. But because it was broadcast on Wednesday, July 21, 1982, it sits right in the middle of this series so I thought I would throw it in. And hey, who doesn’t want to hear about a guy who gets his “unit” cut off in a vacuum and another wacky story? Sorry, it is a little over modulated.

The AM & FM simulcast at 7pm. At the end of this tape the AM comes in a little early much to the annoyance of Steve.

Enjoy!!

The song “E.T. and his Adventures in L.A.” is taking off. In this aircheck from Monday, July 19, 1982; Channel 2 correspondent Bob Sirrot is in the studio doing a “news” piece on the song. As always, Steve can’t help talking about the behind the scenes things at WBBM and taking shots at Walter. You will also hear news with Margaret.

Steve & Garry intro E.T. from the couch for the piece. Steve loves that couch (shameless teaser). Sirrot is off-mic for the entire piece.

So here is the 22:16 piece…

Here is a clip of the piece that ran on WBBM (Channel 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.

The Meltdown
This aircheck is from July 10, 1982. The day before (7/9) SD had a mini-meltdown on the air. Steve did not show up for work the next day. Garry is in the studio and replays the incident with commentary.

Awkward does not even come close to describing how uncomfortable this “bit” is. This is one of the most awkward radio moments I have ever experienced. Things get very (very) uncomfortable at a few points and the Steve & Garry break-up could have happened on this day.

After Garry replays the events from the day before there is a discussion, phone calls and GM continues on with the show.

It is presented in two parts. There are a couple of intermittent signal noise problems.

Part 1

Part 2

Now, for chronological perspective, the next day was July 12. The third anniversary of Disco Demolition. We previously posted the 7/12/82 show here. There is a point about 2 minutes into the segment where Steve snaps at George (the engineer) and says “Now everybody’s thinking I’m not going to show up tomorrow”.

More July 1982 fun coming soon…

Enjoy!!

Things were a little different 31 years ago. We were in the middle of the Cold War with the USSR and the USA was the worlds’ most powerful country and had its hands in many places all over the world. Revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called the USA  “The Great Satan”.

The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in support of the Iranian Revolution. (Wikipedia)

In the USA, the hostage-taking created a huge surge of patriotism that had not been seen since early in the Vietnam war and a severe backlash against Iranians developed in the United States.

In response, Steve Dahl took to the airwaves to get the Hostages released. First, by making prank calls to Iran. Then, SD gave the phone numbers out over the air and encouraged every listener to do their duty and make a call themselves. He also made the parody song “Ayatolla“.
At first, the calls were randon numbers. Then SD got the number to Islamic Fried Chicken.

Steve Dahl and WLUP were reprimanded by the State Department and told to stop because it may escalate the situation.

I am posting three airchecks.

The first is a series of 3 calls made by Steve and Garry during that time.

Prank calls to Iran

The second is 36 minutes of a Steve & Garry Show on WLUP-FM from July 3, 1980. This show includes a call to Iran (in Part 2).

Steve & Garry, July 3, 1980 (1/2)
Highlights of this aircheck include an attempt to call to Jimmy Piersol to talk about Disco Demolition that took place one year earlier. Also, News with Buzz and a failed EBS test.

Steve & Garry, July 3, 1980 (2/2)
Highlights include the EBS test/FCC talk (Steve cheated on his FCC license test). A phone call with Janet where Garry says he had “one of those dreams” about Janet the previous night. And finally, a call to Islamic Fried Chicken in Iran.

Another call to Iran that was previously posted on this site can be heard here.

You can also listen to Steve & Garry do the 10 year anniversary of their prank calls to Iran at The Original Shock Jock site on YouTube. Here.

Have a great July 4th weekend!!!

There are two airchecks. Monday, May 2 and Tuesday, May 3, 1983. Each is about 30 minutes long broadcast on WLS-FM. Both can be played from this post.

Enjoy!!

Monday, May 2

Tuesday, May 3

Highlights include (22:53):

• Steve’s Brother
• Phone calls
• Ask Anthony
• Jokes
• More Ask Anthony
• Steve’s Producer – Rick
• Montage of clips with music behind

Enjoy!!