Here is a quick follow-up to our July 1982 series. In August of 1982 Steve Dahl was attacked at the studios of WLS. Here is a quick 11 minute piece of what was broadcast less than an hour after the attack occurred. Sorry, I do not know the exact date of this aircheck. Anyone?
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!!
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.
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!!
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 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.
Over the next several posts we will look 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.
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!!
Aloha!! This is the first trip to the beautiful island of Maui for a broadcast by Steve & Garry. They took 20 listeners with them as part of a promotion. We already posted part of the 1984 Broadcast from Maui. Listen to it here.
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
Jim Belushi was a frequent visitor to the Steve Dahl Show. This aircheck was made in February of 1982 when broadcast on a “Best of” show so it may have been edited from original before airing. The original date of the broadcast would be late January 1982. There is a reference to John (Belushi) being on the cover of Rolling Stone the week before which would have been Issue #361 dated 1/21/82. John would die 6 weeks after this was recorded.
At this time, Jim was appearing at the Shubert Theatre as the Pirate King in a run of “The Pirates of Penzance” and stopped by the studio to play a little Celebrity Jeopardy!
The audio is below in two parts. In Part 2 you will hear the song: Sink the Bismarck. This song was performed by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd at Bob’s Country Bunker in the movie Blues Brothers, but the scene was cut from the movie.
Enjoy!!
Part 1
Part 2
The photo is of Jim Belushi on stage with Steve, Garry and Teenage Radiation.
So, sometimes I get into this little misguided funk that holds me back from posting what I have because I don’t think it is that good. Just your basic Steve & Garry. If you think about how much material they had to grind out day after day, 4+ hours, every day it amazes me. Comedians do the same show in each city on a tour. Comedy writers (as groups) do a once a week sit-com or maybe a monologue. (Props to writers of things like The Daily Show).
In any event, here is 20 minutes from a day in May on WLS-FM. Nothing Earth-shattering just good Steve & Garry. I think the most amazing thing is that S&G make it sound so natural and easy to do.
Highlights include (19:05):
Enjoy!!
