Radio Legend - The Real Don Steele

Previous installments of "Radio Legends" have looked at both local and national voices.  From the Carolinas to Chicago, to California the contributions made over the decades are the baseline for most, if not all of what occurs on the air today.  

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Don Steele, born Donald Steele Revert (April 1, 1936 – August 5, 1997), was one of the most popular disc jockeys in the United States, from the middle of the 1960s until his retirement (for health reasons) in May 1997. 

He was known as "The Real Don Steele," a name given to him by his program director in Omaha, Nebraska, who hoped the moniker would click with listeners and make him stand out from other radio personalities.

Steele became nationally-known as a DJ on radio station KHJ in Los Angeles, where he helped to promote the "ultrahip" top-40 Boss Radio format which began on April 27, 1965. 

He also appeared on TV as host Boss City and The Real Don Steele TV Show, a show which ran from 1965 to 1975 on KHJ-TV channel 9 in Los Angeles. 

When the popularity of AM radio gave way to FM stereo in the 1970s, Steele continued to remain a popular personality at the station. Following the years at 93/KHJ, The Real Don Steele continued to be heard on Los Angeles radio stations, including KIQQ (K-100), 

KRLA, KCBS-FM and KRTH-FM (K-Earth 101), until his death in August 1997.

In the book Los Angeles Radio People, Steele recalled the beginnings of Boss Radio in 1965: "We were standing literally at ground zero, then (the radio format) became a huge giant. It was like a mushroom cloud that went up -- heavy on the mushroom."


Steele was never one to analyze the evolution of rock radio. In a 1995 interview, he insisted, "Look, you take the Motown sound and the British Invasion and you throw in Elvis and Roy Orbison, and you have a music mix that's hard to beat at any time or any place."
"Robert W. Morgan was the first one hired for Boss Radio," KHJ program director Bill Drake said. "He recommended Steele. He flew down from San Francisco. I was a little leery because I had heard he was kind of a crazy man, but it turned out he was very dedicated to his work."

Steel had a unique delivery that may sound out of place in today's, vanilla on-air sound.  Back then the personality was the difference. The songs may have been the same.....but what happened between the tunes was what made radio, well, entertaining.