Re: WTIC studios actually move

[mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>Mike Thomas wrote:
>Ironically, that's how Bob Steele ID'ed and brought in the news.

Except he was/is fond of saying, "WTIC, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.,"
just to make it specific and exact for all points in Canada and the ships
at sea <g>.

>It would have
>been fitting to bring Steele in to do that last show.  Did he pull any shifts
>at 1080 this summer?  I knew he used to do them on summer weekends, but didn't
>he have some medical problems?  Anyone know what's up with him?

        Bob Steele has been doing a show on the first Saturday of each
month, 530-10 am, for the past few years, except he takes a few of the
winter months off because he doesn't want to have to drive in if it's bad
road conditions. Before that, after his "retirement," he did every Saturday
for awhile. He's around 88 or so now. As far as I know, he's not missed any
recent shows due to health problems.

        There was a Hartford Courant interview with him a couple months ago
that didn't mention any health problems, other than general old age/tired
out. The headline was, more or less, "Steele thinking about retirement--but
don't hold him to it." He did sound like he may be getting near the end of
doing the show, and I read between the lines that it might be partly to do
with the studios moving--if only reminding him to think about the fact that
he's got to give it up sometime. And he mentioned the practical issue that
it's a much longer drive for him to the new location, in the pre-dawn dark.
Somewhere I remember seeing him say he doesn't like driving at night now.
But he lives less than 5 miles from the old studio and he could take city
streets that he knows well.

        The Courant had a quote from him this week in a story about the
studio relocation, though, in which he said, basically, "You have to expect
things to change." Typical Bob Steele. Like, no big deal--unlike some of
the other, much younger people (like me) wailing and lamenting the station
leaving not only the downtown but its COL altogether. I can almost hear him
joking that he's been around so long he remembers when the station was
there but the downtown hadn't been built yet--Native Americans still lived
there. And if you don't believe him, ask his brother, Stainless.

        Anyhow, I expect Bob Steele to be on at 530 am Saturday Sept 4,
signaled by his opening theme, with the birds tweeting to mark the dawn,
and the song "Walk in the Black Forest." October? Well, every month now,
I'd say I'd change the odds if I were betting. Maybe he'll decide to go out
with the old century--which might mean November would be the last show. I
think he's been skipping December.

********************************************************************

Have you patronized the skywave signal of an AM Class A station today?

********************************************************************

------------------------------