Alison Steele

Infobox Radio presenter
name = Alison Steele


imagesize = 200px
caption = "The Nightbird"
Alison Steele of WNEW-FM
birthname = Ceil Lomancite web| url = http://www.grubstreet.ca/articles/bio/alisonsteele.htm| title = Brief Bio: Alison Steele, WNEW-FM "Nightbird"| accessdate = 2008-10-11| author = JR Hafer| work = Grubstreet.ca Online Magazine]
birthdate = birth date|1937|1|26
birthplace = Brooklyn, New York, USA
deathdate = death date and age|1995|9|27|1937|1|26
deathplace = New York, New York, USA
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station = WNEW-FM, WBBR, WXRK
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style = Disk Jockey
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parents =
spouse(s) = Ted Steele
children = Heather Steele
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Alison Steele (January 26, 1937 – September 27, 1995) was a pioneering American disc jockey in Manhattan at what would become the archetypal, successful and influential "progressive rock" radio station in the United States, WNEW-FM. She also became a writer, producer, correspondent, and an entrepreneur.

Born in Brooklyn, Alison Steele achieved her greatest following as a disc jockey on WNEW-FM, where she hosted the night shift in a new format when contemporary rock music began to be featured on FM radio. FM stations broadcast in high fidelity and typically, had featured classical or instrumental music in the New York market. This all changed in the 1960s when this station led the switch to FM stations for the musical preferences of the " counter culture" of the 1960s and 1970s. After a major change in station programming from a briefly-instituted all-female middle of the road {MOR) music format to what was becoming known as "progressive rock" occurred at WNEW-FM, she took the new late night position. Alison acknowledged that she didn't know much about progressive rock when she started the program, and apparently, neither did the management of the station, but the new programming was being extended to the growing market. Steele was given complete freedom to plan and present her program. In the process, she developed her persona as, The Nightbird, and acquired a massive, loyal audience. Her listenership was estimated in 1971 at approximately 78,000 nightly, with the majority of listeners being men between the ages of 18 and 34. [cite news
title = In the World of Radio, She's a Rare Bird
url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D12FB3D5A137A93CBA91789D95F458785F9&scp=2&sq=alison%20steele&st=cse
work = The New York Times
page = 60
date = 1971-12-09
accessdate = 2008-10-11
quote = ]

She began her show by reciting poetry over Andean flute music, before introducing her show in her well-known sultry, smoky voice with,

:“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.

Some of the groups she featured were, Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Hawkwind, Lothar and the Hand People, Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, Moody Blues, Ramases, Renaissance, Curved Air, and many other groups of that genre as well as the Chambers Brothers, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and many others. Frequently the recordings of these groups were long and extended, sometimes without any singles on the album. Her programing often included seamless transitions to the next music featured, with minimal identifications at the end of a related session that could last most of an hour. The required station identification at half-past-the-hour provided the opportunity for credits.

If it was raining on a Monday night, she always would play The Doors classic, "Riders on the Storm" as her first song, setting the mood for that night's show. She always ended her shows with The Beatles instrumental song, "Flying", over which she would say her goodbye message.

According to his manager, Michael Jeffery, the song, "Night Bird Flying", recorded by Jimi Hendrix and released posthumously on the album, "The Cry Of Love", was inspired by Allison's late night Manhattan radio program. [cite web
url = http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/eccentric/vdsoup2.htm
title = A Page For Allison Steele! FM Radio Disc Jockey.
accessdate = 2008-10-11
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quote = However, Allison Steele, New York's WNEW DJ known as `The Night Bird', was told that it was she who was the inspiration for this song title. `After Jimi died', explains Steele, `I was doing a radio memorial tribute to him and I got a phone call from Jimi's manager, Michael Jeffery. He was driving on the highway and had to get off to call me because he thought it was a great tribute, and did I know that Jimi wrote Night Bird Flying for me?'] and a poem in his handwriting reads;"Hello night bird. How was your day? Did you visit the gods in the valleys far away? What did you bring me, in your visit from the sea?" The song originally was intended to be the flip-side of a planned single.

Her show became an instant hit and did much to push WNEW-FM into the forefront of "progressive radio". At one point, she also served as the music director of the station.

Alison Steele became the first woman named as, "Billboard Magazine FM Personality of the Year".

She left WNEW-FM in 1979 and worked as a writer, producer, and correspondent for "Limelight" on CNN until 1985. Steele held several positions that overlapped during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. She worked as a disc jockey on New York's WNEW–AM from 1980–1981. She served as the announcer for the daytime soap opera, "Search for Tomorrow", from 1982 to 1984. From 1989 to 1995, she was on WXRK along with some work for VH1, as well as running the cat boutique "Just Cats" with her sister, Joyce Loman, on East Sixtieth Street in Manhattan.

In the 1950s while running errands for a local television station at the beginning of her career, at the age of nineteen, she met and married orchestra leader, Ted Steele, who was twenty years older than she was. Eventually, they separated permanently, with Alison raising their daughter, Heather, alone.

Alison Steele died of stomach cancer in 1995 at the age of fifty-eight. [cite news
first = David
last = Stout
title = Alison Steele, Disk Jockey, Dies; The Pioneer 'Nightbird' Was 58
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2DC123EF93BA1575AC0A963958260&scp=1&sq=alison%20steele&st=cse
work = The New York Times
publisher =
location =
id =
pages =
page =
date = 1995-09-28
accessdate = 2008-10-11 ]

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