The Real Don Steele Collection
In Memory of The Real Don Steele
Boss Radio Legend The Real Don Steele passed away in his sleep Tuesday morning, August 5th, 1997, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, after a short bout with lung cancer. Steele had given up smoking in 1979. He was 61.
Donald S. Revert was born April 1, 1936 in Hollywood. He graduated from Hollywood High School, served in the Air Force and then studied at a local radio school before working at stations around L.A. He worked in Kennewick, Yakima and Spokane, Washington; Omaha, Nebraska; Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco before returning to Los Angeles to work at the All-New KHJ in April of 1965. He is survived by his wife, Shaune. Steele did his last show on KRTH on May 16th of this year. He was one of the first to deliver the phrase "Boss Radio in Boss Angeles" on the air. "He had never been ill until this came along," Shaune Steele said. "I grew up as a fan, listening to him on the radio. We ran across each other at KRLA, where he was working. We knew each other about five years before we got married five years ago," she said. In the book Los Angeles Radio People, Mr. Steele recalled the beginnings of Boss Radio in May, 1965: "We were standing literally at ground zero, then (his radio format) became a huge giant. It was like a mushroom cloud that went up — heavy on the mushroom."
Mr. 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." In 1990, several major record companies honored Mr. Steele, Robert W. Morgan and format creator Bill Drake at a Boss Radio Reunion Dinner. It was an immediate sellout. "Morgan was the first one hired for Boss Radio," 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."
Mr. Steele stayed at KHJ until 1973, then moved on to KIQQ, KTNQ, KRLA, KODJ, KCBS and arrived at KRTH in July 1992. He made his acting debut in ABC-TV's Bewitched, had his own weekly TV dance-party show and appeared in such movies as Death Race 2000, Grand Theft Auto and Eating Raoul. He starred as "Screamin' Steve Stevens" in Rock 'n' Roll High School, "Rockin' Ricky Rialto" in Gremlins, and in 1996, he played a driver in Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood. He recorded commercials, and at one time had a successful, nationally syndicated radio show. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995 — it's at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.
Who she was is a mystery he took with him. Not even his wife knew. "He never told me and I never asked," Shaune Steele said. "I felt if I had asked him that when we were dating, we never would have gotten married. He didn't like people to get too close. We had only a very small circle of intimate friends."
A poll seeking the top 10 disc jockeys in Los Angeles from 1957 to 1997 rated Steele second among the 232 personalities nominated. The ballot was printed by Barrett in his 1994 book, and results are published in the second volume of his book. Rick Dees said of Steele in Barrett's book, "Pure, raw energy and focus. And he still has it every day. That's amazing!.
In 1993, from KRTH, Steele told the Los Angeles Times:
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The Real Don Steele (inset) with the original KHJ Boss Jocks and their Boss elephant.
Boyd R. Britton, who worked with Steele in the late 1970's at KTNQ said, "He educated me in star quality, in energy and focus. He epitomized energy on the air." Reflecting on Steele's habit of using very high headphone levels, Britton said, "Very early on he was extremely hearing damaged. It was very difficult for him to hear in a group. That made his natural speaking voice almost as loud as his on-air voice."
 THE REAL DON STEELE MEMORIAL TRUST FUND has been established at Don's alma mater, Hollywood High School. A gift will be awarded annually to a deserving senior for college expenses. The student will be a member of the Hollywood High School Band.Contributions are tax deductible and donors will receive written acknowledgment. Checks should be made payable to Hollywood High School. The address for the fund is:
Thank you for your help in honoring Don's memory.-Shaune Steele |
Showin’ no mercy, baby! Everything except Real Don himself got a little trim in this one, so only a few of the commercial announcements are complete. This exhibit covers 3PM until a few minutes after 4PM, so there was no news.
16 ounces of Coca-Cola? No problem, just get a Bonus Bottle. There are a couple of musical surprises, and some wonderful 1969 standards, too. It’s a particularly enjoyable hour for those who came of age in the magic Summer of 1969.
Showin’ no mercy, baby! Everything except Real Don himself got a little trim in this one, so only a few of the commercial announcements are complete. This exhibit covers 3PM until a few minutes after 4PM, so there was no news.
16 ounces of Coca-Cola? No problem, just get a Bonus Bottle. There are a couple of musical surprises, and some wonderful 1969 standards, too. It’s a particularly enjoyable hour for those who came of age in the magic Summer of 1969.
As are almost all of the exhbits in this collection, this is a KHJ studio recording. The great ‘scoped version of this exhibit was provided by official RDS archivist Ray Randolph. Thank You, Ray! The full-length version is the first half of a two-part exhibit, with music restoration by Uncle Ricky.
It’s the day after Christmas, and with only one reference to his holiday activities, Steele is straight-ahead on format, tight, funny and perfect as always. And there’s a promo for the Big 93 of 1968, voiced by Robert W. Morgan.
It also should be noted here that this is the first exhibit on the site processed with our new (as of December 2013) Orban Optimod PC-1101. I’m sure The Real Don Steele would be excited by their patented psycho-acoustic limiter.
As are almost all of the exhbits in this collection, this is a KHJ studio recording. The great ‘scoped version of this exhibit was provided by official RDS archivist Ray Randolph. Thank You, Ray! The full-length version is the first half of a two-part exhibit, with music restoration by Uncle Ricky.
It’s the day after Christmas, and with only one reference to his holiday activities, Steele is straight-ahead on format, tight, funny and perfect as always. And there’s a promo for the Big 93 of 1968, voiced by Robert W. Morgan.
It also should be noted here that this is the first exhibit on the site processed with our new (as of December 2013) Orban Optimod PC-1101. I’m sure The Real Don Steele would be excited by their patented psycho-acoustic limiter.
The Real Don Steele has his sparklers ON for July 4th, 1968  Independence Day with some musical surprises via restored music from a smartly edited ‘scoped recording. Some of the commercial sets have been edited, there are no newscasts, and in the few spaces where we don’t know what happened, REELRADIO filled with a jingle and got back to the music. There are small revisions, but the ‘scoped version includes exactly what was provided by official RDS archivist Ray Randolph. Thank You, Ray!
July 4, 1968 was a THURSDAY, just like the debut week for this exhibit in July, 2013! What goes around comes around and this mega-exhibit, clocking in at just over two hours restored, is a wonderful memory of a Holiday afternoon in Boss Angeles.
The Real Don Steele has his sparklers ON for July 4th, 1968  Independence Day with some musical surprises via restored music from a smartly edited ‘scoped recording. Some of the commercial sets have been edited, there are no newscasts, and in the few spaces where we don’t know what happened, REELRADIO filled with a jingle and got back to the music. There are small revisions, but the ‘scoped version includes exactly what was provided by official RDS archivist Ray Randolph. Thank You, Ray!
July 4, 1968 was a THURSDAY, just like the debut week for this exhibit in July, 2013! What goes around comes around and this mega-exhibit, clocking in at just over two hours restored, is a wonderful memory of a Holiday afternoon in Boss Angeles.
This is the third and final part of our archive from May 25, 1968, as promised for the week of April 1, 2013, in observance of The Real Don Steele’s birthday. His response to one of the few recorded KHJ technical errors is truly classic! “it’s just a theory”, he says.
And here we are, streaming an incomplete record of his last hour on May 25th, 1968. And why? Someone left the recorder running for one song, and the tape ran out. But there’s another remarkable political advertisement for Robert Kennedy.
Special thanks to Ray Randolph for his help with that last song, and so much of The Real Don Steele Collection.
This is the third and final part of our archive from May 25, 1968, as promised for the week of April 1, 2013, in observance of The Real Don Steele’s birthday. His response to one of the few recorded KHJ technical errors is truly classic! “it’s just a theory”, he says.
And here we are, streaming an incomplete record of his last hour on May 25th, 1968. And why? Someone left the recorder running for one song, and the tape ran out. But there’s another remarkable political advertisement for Robert Kennedy.
Special thanks to Ray Randolph for his help with that last song, and so much of The Real Don Steele Collection.