Alison Steele

Alison Steele was an American radio personality, writer, television producer, correspondent, and entrepreneur who was also known by her air name, The Nightbird. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Steele was born Ceil Loman on January 26, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City. She had two sisters, Joyce and Emalie Daniel. She had wished for a career in show business at three years of age. At fourteen, she landed a job running errands for a local television station, and opted not to study at university as she was "too impatient". She married, at nineteen, to orchestra leader and radio and television host Ted Steele who was twenty years her senior. The marriage ended in divorce. The couple had a daughter, Heather, born in South Dakota.

In the 1950s, Steele had worked on her career to become an production assistant and associate producer for various New York City television and radio stations. Among them was Ted Steele's television show, The Ted Steele Show, on WWOR-TV, where she hosted interviews and performed fitness routines that encouraged viewers to take part in. Ted was still married to his second wife Doris at the time.

On July 4, 1966, Steele landed her first radio job when she became a part of the new line-up of disc jockeys for the newly launched rock station, WNEW.

Klavin & Finch introduce Alison and “The Girls” at WNEW-FM on July 4, 1966. [ LISTEN ] (1:57)

An aircheck introducing the girls: Ann Clements, Alison Steele, Arlene Kieta and Margaret Draper.

The station wished to only hire female air staff at first as part of its middle of the road format it marketed "sexpot radio", with Steele chosen as one of the final four selected out of the 800 women that applied. Steele worked the 2–7pm slot, Sunday through Friday. When WNEW abandoned the format after the eighteen-month trial to the increasingly popular progressive rock format, Steele was the only host that was asked to stay at the station.

According to Jimi Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffery, the song "Night Bird Flying", recorded by him and released posthumously on the album, The Cry Of Love, was inspired by Allison's late night Manhattan radio program.
[ LISTEN ] to Jimi and his band. (2:09)

Alison Steele, February 11, 1969 (62:08) The Nightbird, doing her flight till dawn, setting up musical moods and motifs that were suitable to late-night radio in the psychedelic sixties. Part 1 (29:14) | Part 2 (32:54)

Alison was a striking redhead

On January 1, 1968, WNEW placed Steele in the overnight "graveyard shift" which granted her more creative freedom, leading her to develop her personality and rapport with her listeners.

"I thought there must be a lot of people ... that need something to relate to in the middle of the night, and if I could create some kind of camaraderie, a relationship between myself and the rest of the night people, then it would be more than just music". She thought of a new air name, based on the gender ("bird" being slang for a girl) and her night owl hours of work, and chose The Nightbird.

Steele would begin her night show by reciting poetry over music, before introducing her show in her distinctive soft and sultry voice, aided by her preference of smoking small cigars. She often hosted with her dog, a French poodle named Genya.

Her introduction was: "The flutter of wings, the shadow across the moon, the sounds of the night, as the Nightbird spreads her wings and soars, above the earth, into another level of comprehension, where we exist only to feel. Come, fly with me, Alison Steele, the Nightbird, at WNEW-FM, until dawn."

She then made a transition to recordings of some of the more exceptional and experimental music being recorded at the time, as well as featuring the best of the familiar favorites of her audience. As well as music, Steele also recited poetry.

The wonder and beauty of WNEW-FM’s format was that the DJ’s were far more than disc jockeys. While playing music, they also spoke to the listener. They commented on current events. They read poetry. They told stories.

Vintage WNEW and Alison Steele from the prime years of commercial free form radio in New York. The first clip is from September 6 1972 and the second from July 11 1975. The music is fantastic as Alison plays King Crimson, The Nice , The Moody Blues and more.

February 17, 1974

She was a supporter and promoter of the English rock bands Yes, Genesis, and The Moody Blues. By 1974, she had over 100,000 listeners at any given average quarter hour of her show, and hosted a syndicated rock radio show to 600 stations nationwide, a radio show for women, and a cable television talk show.

According to Jimi Hendrix's manager Michael Jeffery, the song "Night Bird Flying", recorded by Hendrix and released posthumously on the album The Cry of Love (1971), was inspired by Steele's show. Steele also became known as The Grande Dame of New York Night.

By 1971, Steele had acquired approximately 78,000 nightly listeners, with the majority being men between age of 18 and 34.

Away from radio, Steele also did charity work and was a member of the board of the New York City chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation, worked for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, and was on the credit committee of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

"The Tea House" featuring Alison Steele with Lou Reed c.1973

This piece seems to be sponsored by an organization that encourages people to drink tea, although no organization or sponsor is actually mentioned. Or, perhaps Alison thought it was simply an interesting concept. In either case, this complete but very short aircheck is of Alison interviewing Lou Reed. It's unknown if this every played on WNEW-FM. [ LISTEN ] (3:02)

At one point, Steele served as the station's music director. In 1976, Steele became the first woman to receive a Billboard Award for FM Personality of the Year, and the magazine also named an award in her honour, The Alison Steele Award for Lifetime Achievement, which was awarded to Casey Kasem in 1997.

February 14, 1977.

After her departure from WNEW, Steele focused her career around television and writing. From 1982 to 1984, she was the announcer for the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow, and produced/corresponded for Limelight on CNN.

In 1984, Steele returned to radio on WNEW–AM which lasted until 1986. For a number of years, Steele was also the disc jockey for the pop/rock in-flight audio entertainment channel on board Trans World Airlines.

Here is a generous portion of another classic WNEW-FM broadcast dated October 18, 1982. Alison's popularity coninued to generate a loyal listening audience. [ LISTEN ] (49:54)

Larry Fine at Woodstock

Steele's final radio job was working overnights at WXRK from 1989 to 1995. She also did some work for VH1, as well as running the cat boutique Just Cats with her sister in Manhattan.

Steele did much voice-over work for radio and television commercials, and she provided the narration for one of Howard Stern's most popular radio bits, "Larry Fine at Woodstock", featuring impressionist Billy West.

Alison once said to explain her popularity, "I've never called in sick; I've worked hard and built my own following."

Unfortunately in June 1995, Steele was forced to leave WXRK due to a serious illness. She died from stomach cancer on September 27, 1995 in New York City. She was only 58 years old. In addition to her sister Joyce, she was survived by a daughter, Heather Steele, another sister, Emalie Daniel, and a granddaughter.

"The flutter of wings, the sounds of the night, the shadow across the moon, as the Nightbird lifts her wings and soars above the earth into another level of comprehension, where we exist only to feel. Come fly with me, Alison Steele, the Nightbird..." With these words Alison Steele began her overnight radio show on WNEW-FM in New York City.

"Flying"

Alison always ended her shows with The Beatles instrumental song, "Flying", over which she would say her goodbye message.

Some materials used on this page were originally published on the following: Woodstock Whisperer, New York Radio Archive, Paul Scelzo-Youtube.