Garry Meier

Infobox Radio Presenter
name = Garry Meier
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country = United States
prevshow = "Steve and Garry"
"The Roe & Garry Show"
"The Garry Meier Show"
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Garry Meier is a Chicago-based radio DJ, famous in his former role as one half of the "Steve and Garry" team (with Steve Dahl).

Beginnings

Meier started out as a DJ at WFYR in 1973, then moved to WYEN in 1974. He left WYEN in 1977 and joined WLUP in 1977, broadcasting under the pseudonym "Matthew Meier", as their overnight DJ. Here, he met morning DJ Steve Dahl and the two were teamed up in the morning slot in 1979.

Steve and Garry

The team was soon billed as "Steve & Garry." During their tenure at WLUP (1979-81), the team was number one in the ratings, and they continued that success at WLS-AM and WLS-FM from 1981 through 1986 in the afternoon drive slot. [Strazewski, Len. "Radio: Baby Boomers Looking for a Great Personality." "Advertising Age" (Midwest region edition). Chicago: Aug 29, 1985. Vol.56, Iss. 67; pg. 22] In 1986, they returned to WLUP-AM 1000, and then back to WLUP-FM. [ Ingram, Bruce, and Frank Segers. "Meier, Dahl Spill the Beans about Loves (?) & Hates That Drive Them." "Variety" New York: Dec 14, 1988. Vol. 333, Iss. 8; pg. 43] They later shifted back to mornings on WLUP-FM until Garry left in 1993.

Disco Demolition Night

One of Steve & Garry's most famous events was Disco Demolition Night. Dahl, along with Meier, and both Mike Veeck (son of then Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck), and Jeff Schwartz of WLUP promotions, came up with a radio promotion and tie-in to the White Sox called Disco Demolition Night which took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979. The concept was to create an event to "end disco once and for all" in the center field of Comiskey Park that night by allowing people to get tickets at the box office if they brought $0.98US and at least one disco record. The records were collected, piled up on the field and blown up. Ultimately, this resulted in the second game of the double header being postponed due to hundreds of rowdy fans storming the field and refusing to leave. American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers. Six people reported minor injuries, and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct. [Associated Press. "Anti-Disco Rally Halts White Sox" "New York Times" July 13, 1979. pg. A16] [Campbell, Macaulay. "Shock Waves." "New York Times" September 16, 2002. pg. C.7 ] [Beaton, Rod. "No anniversary party for disco debacle." "USA TODAY" McLean, Va.: Jul 12, 2004. pg. C.03] ["WLUP Chicago Reminisces." "Billboard" New York: Apr 22, 1989. Vol. 101, Iss. 16; p. 10]

After Steve and Garry

After leaving the "Steve & Garry" show, Meier hosted his own show on WLUP for one year. In 1994, Meier left WLUP to join WGN-TV in Chicago as a feature reporter on their morning show. He left the show in 1995 to join WLS-AM with Roe Conn. The Roe & Garry Show enjoyed high ratings during their successful 8-year run. In 2004 Meier did not renew his contract.

Reunion

On Friday, August 18, 2006, during a remote broadcast by Dahl, Meier stopped by for an on-air visit on WCKG.Rosenthal, Phil. "Beach awash in strange radio waves: A funny thing happened on the way to the air and water show: Steve and Garry reunited." "Chicago Tribune" August 19, 2006 [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0608190111aug19,1,6770852.story] ] Meier was eating lunch at the Oak Street Beachstro, the site of the remote broadcast, when Dahl learned of Meier's presence there. Dahl invited Meier to appear on the air with him, and Meier accepted. Meier wound up staying for the remainder of the show. The reunion was covered widely throughout the Chicago media that evening and throughout the next week, landing front page news on both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. [Feder, Robert. "Don't hold your breath for more Steve & Garry." "Chicago Sun-Times" August 22, 2006]

Recent career

On April 2, 2007, Meier joined WCKG to host a late morning show from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM. The announcement, on March 27, 2007, was made during The Steve Dahl Show. The show lasted nearly 7 months until his final broadcast on October, 29, 2007, when WCKG eliminated its talk format. [Garry Meier page at WCKG.com [http://www.wckg.com/pages/326040.php] .] [Metsch, Steve. "Southland native Garry Meier glad to be back on the airwaves." "Daily Southtown" July 22, 2007 [http://www.dailysouthtown.com/lifestyles/476399,meier722.article] ]

On November 5, WCKG revamped its all-talk format to an adult contemporary music format.

References