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Alison Steele: Before #MeToo She Survived Amid the Media Women’s Denials
I met “The Nightbird” by chance on a midnight TV set, had brief phone conversations, and wrote about her, but her story needs re-telling because she revealed the intensely personal, internal struggle the media forced on her.
The lure of the media has pulled many of us in. But there comes a time when the veil is pulled back, and we “see” the underbelly, the exploitation, and the personal tragedies.
I wasn’t looking for fame, but my book publisher urged me to get more promotion. One day the phone rang, and I was asked if I’d do a demo TV show with someone from the Howard Stern show. He planned a midnight show and was lining up guests. I wasn’t a fan of Stern, but they offered something I couldn’t refuse, and it wasn’t a limo ride to Manhattan.
Usually, filming a midnight show in Manhattan wasn’t something that got me excited, but that guest’s name did, Alison Steele. I knew she was a radio legend and I wanted to meet her, so I agreed. She was one of the first “girl” radio disk jockey hosts as they were known then. “Girl” was the operative word.
After Alison died, I decided to write about her time on radio as she presented it, and I’m reprinting it here because it’s a story that has been forgotten even though she’s in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame —…
