Chicagoist: The Friday Flashback: Steve Dahl's "Greetings From Graceland"

ophmarketing

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:03:56 -0600

He was someone that people across the country copied. And that includes Howard Stern, who used to listen to tapes of Steve's shows when he (Steve) was on the air in Detroit. Dahl basically invented the whole 'shock jock' concept. Unlike the others who would follow him, though, he knew when to move on and become something more. As for the observation that we seem to only praise Dahl's past glories, there may be some truth to that. But only because he did a different kind of show then. It was more "bit" driven, so more things stand out in retrospect. Today, the show is more of a conversation among friends who have been together longer than we care to admit, if only because it makes us realize how freakin' old we're all getting. (His Drew Peterson riffs are modern classics, though.)

Ward Up

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:34:58 -0600

If any of you heard recordings of Steve Dahl's show from 1978, you would realize that he was like nobody else on the air at that time. He was fast-talking and funny. Way faster than he is now. He was someone that people across the country copied.

Albanyparkour

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:31:35 -0600

@jawsofjosh: I'll agree with you on Buzz, he's a non-factor at best. Dahl NEEDS someone in the box with him. There's a great line in the movie "Talk Radio" when Eric Begosian's producer sees him going off the deep end he says "He's all alone in there". Buzz Killman is that dirty old hippie uncle who everyone kind of smiles and shakes their head at. If you see footage from the studio, he's this stooped old man, slumped in his chair looking like 10 miles of bad road. But since he moved to Jack (I feel dirty listening to that station at all) the show's been tightened up a great deal. He needed a bit of structure, having a regular sports guy (though they really should just get Pat Boyle in the damn studio and dump Killman's bony old ass) has done wonders. I'm in my 20's and I guess I'd rather hear Steve carp about his back and weight than a guy the same age ogling strippers or interviewing tween pop-stars.

Chuck Sudo

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:30:38 -0600

Jawsofjosh: That's why we call this the "Flashback," so we can take a look back and reflect. It's nice to reminisce once in a while, but not live in the past. I totally forgot that Ebert was the Ghost of Christmas Past in that "Christmas Carol" broadcast, though.

ophmarketing

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:03:01 -0600

Steve used to say that his show was basically a radio show about a guy doing a radio show. You almost need to have the 30 years of backstory to fully appreciate where he is today. I've literally grown up listening to him. (I was 11 when he started here in 1978.) And the wonderful thing about him is exactly what Albany noted: Steve grew up too. Yeah, I have fond memories of the older stuff. In a box somewhere, I have my "Pet Fishsticks" vinyl and my "Ayatollah" 45. I have cassette tapes of stuff like him and Garry lowering a live lobster out of their window at WLS in the early '80s. I'm pretty sure I even have a tape of that "Christmas Carol" broadcast--with Roger Ebert as the Ghost of Christmas Past. But I don't want to keep hearing that same stuff now. I'm in my 40s, not my teens. He isn't doing the same things today that he did decades ago. He's not still calling Iran. He's not still getting chewed out on the phone by Janet. He's not still showing up for work hungover and barely coherent. But if he kept doing all the same stuff in all the same ways, he wouldn't be Steve Dahl. He'd be Johnny B.

JawsOfJosh

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:54:09 -0600

It seems most of the praise heaped on Dahl in these comments is for past achievements instead of his current work. Yes, he's evolved and mellowed. However, his present show is a whole lotta humdrum. Dahl has joined the talk-radio bandwagon of assisting middle-aged America reconcile their age as baby boomers continue to suffer through that whole I'm-getting-old-Oh-God-I'm-going-to-die thing. Counting carbs and comparing cholesterol. Zzzzzzzzzz. Buzz Kilman is an awful sidekick to Dahl. Kilman is a great personality, but was better off as a counter-point to Johnny B. when Johnny looked like one of the Village People.

Albanyparkour

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:23:25 -0600

It's funny, I didn't grow up on Dahl, I started listening in 98/99 with the "daves rave" era. A friend of mine took me to his "20 yeas in the can" show and I got the mega-dose of history. I love personality-driven radio. WLS used to have Jay Marvin (during his first run in the 90's before he went insane...er) doing his midnight shoot-out and guys like Art Bell, Chuck Shaden and hell, Roe Conn before the good folks at WLS decided to run news every 8 seconds. I don't go in for political talk radio, I just like the funny and the weird and the oddly clever talkers. There's precious little of that out there these days. Nick Digilio is holding on by the skin of his teeth on WGN. I think they even let him in the building to broadcast now. Radio is such a sad little whorehouse in Chicago.

kristinalese

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:50:29 -0600

Any Dahl fan would know that Steve was banned from purchasing a home on the north shore, it's how he ended up in Bolingbrook. It's an entirely different type of whining. Examples: why the heck did they close Old Chicago, and where did Prairie Mountain go?

Chuck Sudo

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:35:28 -0600

Yup, 86. Dahl and Meier used to do some wonderful comedy bits, characters and frequent guests. Two of my favorites from the Steve and Garry era were when they staged an on-air reading of "A Christmas Carol" at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in '87, with Steve reading the part of Ebenezer Scrooge as a foul-mouthed and randy Irv Kupcinet. Kevin Matthews voiced Tiny Tim as Eddie Schwartz. The second was in Spring 1988 when the AM 1000 staff was supposed to broadcast from Mexico for Cinco de Mayo but couldn't get the necessary technical arrangements. So they got drunk and broadcast from the beach in San Diego, instead.

Albanyparkour

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:31:20 -0600

@eightysix: Get over yourself. The first person to point out what a rich jerk he can be is Steve himself. The guy's biggest target is himself. The thing I like about Dahl is exactly what Chuck pointed out, he's literally grown up on the radio. He's evolved from the archetype of the shock jock into a guy in his 50's with grown kids (who are my age) and a hell of a history. Would you rather he be like Stern, a guy the same age pretending he's 25? Or like Mancow (thank god he's off the air here) who rants about "the gubbernmint" like the X-files are still popular. Entertainers evolve, and that can be very cool. I hate pro-sports, but listening to Steve talk about them always makes me laugh. He's brilliant at finding the funny angles.

eightysix

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:34:07 -0600

Wow he actually used to do comedy bits. Now, it seems like the Steve Dahl show is just composed of segments about him complaining about the things he gets for free. If I wanted to listen to rich people getting whiney I could just go to the North Shore, thank you.