1/4 - When DJ's Attack! The Lujak Aftermath - Steve Dahl & Garry Meier - 1985

http://www.Dahl.com
http://www.Dahl.com/podcasts
http://www.Dahl.com/store (find the full audio of the first 'confrontation' and some of Larry's comments on his own show, on the Steve & Garry "A Decade of Service" album available in the store at Dahl.com!)

[This is more Lujak than Steve & Garry, but it sure was interesting at the time!]

The Steve & Garry run at WLS was tumultuous almost from the beginning, and there was never any love lost between Steve & Garry and Larry Lujak for most of their time at WLS. This particular piece of audio is the aftermath of the last Steve & Garry confrontation with "Ol' Uncle Lar'" who was in the declining years of his career (and rather bitter about it from what I recall) while Steve & Garry represented the cutting edge of comedy talk radio, this was after Steve & Garry had left the studio (the first confrontation, the audio from Larry's show, and the rest of this audio is available on the Steve & Garry "A Decade of Service" compilation, buy it @ http://www.Dahl.com/store).

WLS was in a bit of transition from their music heyday ending in the late 70's and early 80's and I think much of the staff at WLS viewed Steve & Garry as interlopers, not to mention that Steve was certainly much more edgy than anything that was on the station at the time in terms of comedy. Suffice it to say that Steve made being mean on the radio an art-form, though as a fan at that time I don't think that anything he said was unwarranted necessarily, it was just brutally honest and much of what the station represented at that time was old school compared to Steve Dahl-type radio.

It's interesting to note that Larry's playback of the incident doesn't include some of his bizarre comments (again, available on the S&G 10 year compilation) like refusing to use Steve's headphones because "Steve might have an ear disease" or threatening to break Garry's other leg (that threat may have been on Larry's show, but Garry was in a cast at the time because he slipped in a parking lot at a concert in Rockford) and some of the other rambling weirdness by Uncle Lar. I included this audio because I thought it was an interesting insight into Larry and his perception of Steve & Garry, as well as the fact that it was huge deal at the time, some even thought it was a publicity stunt. I think it's a true representation of a cultural/generational clash in radio. I think it's funny also that Larry claims Steve is 'sensitive' even though this entire incident is a result of his overreaction to Steve's comments!

Looking around on the internet I notice that even all these years later people are still arguing about the entire incident, Steve's impact, Larry's impact, and what direction radio took during this era.

Truly a big part of the Steve Dahl (and Garry Meier) time-line and history of The Steve Dahl Show. Enjoy!

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

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• 1985
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[mikeyanagita1]

is that les grobstein?

[TheOriginalShockJock]

@mikeyanagita1

Yep, that is indeed the Grobber, an extremely uncomfortable Grobstein! "Coudln't you have done this while Jim (Johnson, newsman) was in herePersonally, I always thought it was a shame since the times that Larry was on the Steve & Garry Show were very funny, but alas the usual radio/business/ego conflicts eventually culminated in all the 'soap opera' stuff. Still funny radio though! Classic!!

[jillyand40]

Larry is/was right if there was a problem lets talk about it. but, Babyface Steve Dahl couldn't handle it.......Larry if you won't let me break your legs well then I'm leaving.....if the happened to Howard, Howard would back up his words.

[TheOriginalShockJock]

@jillyand40

Larry just couldn't take the criticism. A bitter man in the twilight of his career, Steve the up-and-coming free-form 'shock' radio rebel was just more than Ol' Uncle Lar could take. I remember what was said, what lead up to it, and how uptight and weird Larry had gotten. I was a Lujak fan in the 70's, and a little of the early 80's, so it's not like I hated the guy, he just got crotchety and weird (and boring). No denying Steve could be mean but it was comedy, Lar couldn't take it!

[devtrev]

Man this guy was a douche.

[Blueracer]

Ah the memories.  Great stuff.