Tag: Steve Dahl
Media: July 2024 • 45th Anniversary of Disco Demolition: A Loop Insider’s Story
In the heyday of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Loop (WLUP, 97.9 FM) was owned by Congressman Cecil Heftel of Heftel Broadcasting. The president of Heftel Broadcasting was Tom Hoyt. A few photos of Hoyt appear in my book The Loop Files, as do a few stories told by him during his Heftel […]
Media: November 2023: The Loop Files: An Oral History
I’ve written a new book called The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever. The book comes out officially at the end of this month, but this month’s media column is a free preview.  All the biggest stars who helped make the Loop (FM 98) so memorable tell the […]
Media: June 2023 • Powering WGN AM 720
Mary Boyle is the first female general manager in WGN Radio’s history. The rest of the industry has taken note. This past month she was once again named one of the Most Influential Women in Radio by **Radio Ink Magazine. Her journey up the ladder, to the top job at the most iconic Chicago […]
Media: March 2023 • Sky Daniels Remembers The Loop FM98
Sky Daniels was one of the biggest stars at the Loop in their first heyday (1979-1981), and although he has gone on to an incredibly successful career in the record and radio business and is now retired and living in California, he still has very fond memories of his time in Chicago. But […]
Media: September 2022 • Garry Meier • Hall of Famer
Garry Meier’s podcast is now in its seventh season, and it’s fair to say it has found an audience. According to the podcast, monitoring/rating service, Listen Notes, the Garry Meier show is in the top 1.5% of podcasts worldwide. So what does he talk about on the show? “I’m going to quote a listener who […]
Media: November 2021 • “When Harry Met Rehab”
Harry Teinowitz and Spike Manton have teamed up to write a new play called When Harry Met Rehab, based upon the true story of Harry’s journey toward sobriety. It’s not the first time Harry and Spike have worked together. Their collaboration on the radio goes back thirty years. “When Spike and I started out,” Harry […]
Media: May 2021 • “Call Him Dash”
First of all, let’s get an explanation of the name. The night jock at WTMX is named Dash. “All my life, when I told people my name,” he explains, “I would say Jordan Gabriel Orman-Weiss. The dash was part of my last name. That’s where the name Dash comes from.” Secondly, Dash is a […]
Media – December 2019
The Chicago media community lost several greats this year. Among them, WLS Channel 7’s long-time reporter Russ Ewing, WLS disc jockey Jim Dunbar, and WGN-TV’s Marshall Brodine. All of them were giants in this town that left lasting legacies, but two others passed away in 2019 that were personal friends of mine, and I wanted […]
Media: July 2019
On July 12th the Chicago White Sox will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of one of the most famous stunts in radio history. On that day in 1979, WLUP radio morning personalities Steve Dahl & Garry Meier went onto the field of Comiskey Park between games of a White Sox doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers […]
Media: May 2019
Jim O’Donnell has been off and on the media beat for Chicago area newspapers for four decades. As of a few months ago, he’s back on, and he’s landed at a familiar place, The Daily Herald. “That’s where my career started,” he says, “and now I’m doing a sports and media column thanks to a […]
Media: April 2019
If you listen to the veterans of the radio world, you begin to hear a few common themes. One is that there is a dearth of young talent. Another is that the young talent that has emerged doesn’t know and appreciate radio history, and are therefore unappreciative of what radio was and what it can […]
Media: April 2018
I was 23 years old the day I walked into the Loop offices for the first time. After getting rejections from the other rock stations in Chicago (and there were quite a few at the time), I had thrown a Hail Mary pass to the biggest of them all, The Loop. I wrote a letter […]
Live Review: The Eagles at United Center
Eagles/ JD & The Straight Shot United Center, Chicago Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Rather than making some grand entrance or busting out the big lights (those would come a bit later), core Eagles members Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, alongside Deacon Frey and Vince Gill, quietly got into position at the United […]
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