Backstage Pass Radio
A podcast created to showcase local/national/ and world-renowned musicians, resellers, and manufacturers on what is new and exciting as it relates to past and current projects. A podcast by the artist...for the artists!
Backstage Pass Radio
S6: E8: Dayna Steele (Radio DJ - 101 KLOL) Amplifying Life with the Voice of Rock
Date: April 24, 2024
Name of podcast: Backstage Pass Radio
Episode title and number: S6 : E8: Dayna Steele (Radio DJ - 101 KLOL) Amplifying Life with the Voice of Rock
BIO:
Dayna Steele electrifies our latest episode, sharing the raw and untamed journey of her life in rock radio and beyond. The airwaves buzz with her stories of scaling the heights from an ambitious teen to a revered rock radio icon at KLOL, and how her unmistakable, raspy voice became her trademark. Dayna's relentless drive and the support of her 'Wonder Husband' demonstrate that with the right mix of grit and grace, you can transform your career into a symphony of success and influence.
The conversation takes a deeper turn as we explore Dayna's commitment to advocacy and her candid reflections on the radio industry's evolution. She unpacks the power of unique traits, the art of commanding attention and respect by stating your needs, and the importance of clear communication. Whether it's her activism for Alzheimer's or her ventures into the political realm, Dayna's narrative reinforces the significance of carving your own path and the unexpected twists and turns that life may present.
Get ready for an insider's tour of the music radio world with anecdotes of Dayna's encounters with rock legends and the spontaneity of pre-corporate radio days. This episode is a thrilling backstage pass, revealing the camaraderie and chaos of the industry, the hustle needed to break through, and the surprising ways opportunities can appear. Join us for a ride through a life lived at full volume, where giving back, seizing the moment, and honoring the power of your voice create a legacy that resonates far beyond the final note.
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Web - https://www.facebook.com/daynasteele/
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Sponsor Link:
WWW.ECOTRIC.COM
WWW.SIGNAD.COM
WWW.RUNWAYAUDIO.COM
Backstage Pass Radio Social Media Handles:
Facebook - @backstagepassradiopodcast @randyhulseymusic
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Website - backstagepassradio.com and randyhulsey.com
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Web - www.adamhood.com
Call to action
We ask our listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the show and the artist's social media pages. This enables us to continue pushing great content to the consumer.
Thank you for being a part of Backstage Pass Radio
Your Host,
Randy Hulsey
I am super excited about my guest on the show today. She is a native Houstonian who is a motivational speaker, an author, a candidate for the 2024 United States House of Representatives, a leading voice for Alzheimer's and a Hall of Fame radio broadcaster. Hey everyone, it's Randy Holsey with Backstage Pass Radio, coming to you from the Crystal Vision studio here in Cypress, texas. Today I have an in-depth conversation with my newfound golf pal and one of the top female radio personalities in the country. She is the first lady of rock and roll and you may know her best from her days on Rock Radio 101, KLOL. So hang tight and we will chat with Dana Steele right after this.
Speaker 2:This is Backstage Pass Radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon, and I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like, subscribe and turn alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of Backstage Pass Radio, randy Halsey.
Speaker 1:I am joined by the lovely Dana Steele. Dana, hello.
Speaker 3:Hello, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm doing well. Well, it looks like you have your wine in hand, so you must be prepared for this right. You have to be prepared if you've got the wine.
Speaker 3:You know, I figured it's five o'clock in California and it's backstage and it's rock and roll, so it applies to all the rules.
Speaker 1:It surely does. Well, it's good to finally see you live after probably many text exchanges back and forth over the last month. So welcome, I'm glad you're here. It's good to see you.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, and I'm just coming off doing my first really true play acting job for four weeks and the mere fact that you say I look alive, thank you. You know, I did not realize how tightly I was wound and how hard I've been working and concentrating until it all ended. You know it was closing night, saturday night. Yesterday I think I was just completely stupid. Today I'm about 90% stupid.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine. I've never been an actor or an actress.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure what they call you guys these days, right, and we're going to talk about that because that's one of the questions I had for you but I would think night after night there has to be some delirium that sets in and it's all kind of surreal for you. I mean, this is a new thing and I don't want to steal either one of our thunders, but yeah, it's probably a good thing that you have maybe just a tiny bit of wind down time, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wine and wind, wine and wind, you know. And Wonder Husband, right, yeah, wine and wind, wine and wine and wonder and wonder husband, you know the three w's and wonder husband needs to be petted and he needs some attention because he has gotten no attention for weeks now and he's I mean he's been doing the laundry, the grocery shopping, the just trying to stay out of my way when I'm like you know, just you.
Speaker 3:He's been amazing. He earned his name Wonder Husband years ago, but he more than earned it here these last few weeks.
Speaker 1:Well, for you know, when there's one Energizer Bunny in the relationship, there has to be kind of a non-Energizer Bunny to offset that. Am I right, or am I?
Speaker 1:wrong, don't say it about me, come on, probably the same thing you'd say about yourself, with all the things that we have to cover here, but anyway, first of all. I mean, we have a lot to cover here. There's a lot to know about Dana Steele and there's a lot of things that I didn't know about you, which makes the conversation even more cool. But you're a native Houstonian and you graduated from Dulles, right, is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I graduated a year early from Dulles, right, is that correct? Yeah, I graduated a year early Comedian, slash historian, slash podcaster, slash history professor at Rice, mike Vance. And I figured out that if we took a couple of summer school classes and a couple of correspondence courses when you really mailed them to Texas Tech, that we could graduate early. So yeah, I graduated in 1976 at the old age of 16 from Dulles High School, go Vikings and headed off to Texas A&M Giga Maggie's.
Speaker 1:Well, I was going to say you graduated from Dulles High School back in, yeah, and I wasn't going to go there. You went there, so I let you go there.
Speaker 3:Oh, I went there. Do you know how long it took me to say sesquicentennial? You know, I made sesquicentennial.
Speaker 1:Sesquicentennial, sesquicentennial right, right.
Speaker 3:No, I'm proud of the fact I graduated. You know I earned every one of these wrinkles and you know the trolls every once in a while go oh my God, you got an old lady neck. Well, it's like first of all, I've had an old lady neck since I was 26.
Speaker 1:It's like I have earned every one of these damn wrinkles. Every wrinkle is a smile and an adventure. Well, I was going to say look at the environment that you've worked in for so many years. There has to be some war stories and some wrinkles that come along with that. There just has to be right.
Speaker 3:Oh, maybe a few Maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I guess for the most part you've lived in and around greater, the greater Houston area all along, right? I know you're out in Palm Springs right now, right, but you've lived here pretty much all of your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have an Airbnb out here, so we come out, you know, several times a year just to check on it and, you know, throw more money at roofers and you know, whoever else plumbers, whoever else needs money when it's a house. So it was just fortunate that an incredible new repertory company here invited us out to do the play about the time our one year journey was up last year and our house was available again. So, yeah, so I've been. I've been here doing the play for three months getting that ready, and we'll probably stay another couple of months because we haven't given roofers and plumbers enough money yet, and then it'll be rented, you know, the rest of the year and we'll be back in Houston.
Speaker 1:And is that Airbnb there in the Palm Springs area? Is that where you are? Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a short term vacation rental that somebody actually rented it from us for a year last year with four days notice, which is why we took off.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we're, uh, but I'm still a Texan. I'm a I'm a proud Texan fifth generation Texan, which means I probably come from criminals. You know, I love it when people go. I'm a seventh or eighth generation Texan. I'm like you know that means you come from criminals, right, because that's who populated Texas. You can stay in jail northeast or you can go to Texas and help populate this new state.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right. How far are you from Santa Clarita, do you know?
Speaker 3:Actually I do know, because that's that's north kind of northish of LA, because that's north kind of north-ish of LA, depending on the traffic, we are two hours and five minutes from LA, or five hours and two minutes from LA, depending on. Okay, don't try to go to LA on Sunday when all the influence is trying to go back. A lot of people don't know where. They know Palm Springs, but they don't know where it is. They think it's in Florida, california, the desert. It is part of Coachella. So if you've seen the concert Coachella or Stagecoach, if you drew a triangle I guess between if you did like, los Angeles, san Diego and Palm Springs, we would be one of the points of the triangle.
Speaker 3:So we're right at 45 minutes from Joshua Tree. We're 45 minutes from Big Bear. 45 minutes from Joshua Tree. We're 45 minutes from Big Bear. We're 45 minutes from the dunes where everybody goes and does stupid things on the giant dunes. It's an interesting little town in that, randy, I mean, I immediately found, just by fluke, I immediately found my rock people and it's amazing how many rock stars live out here that are still working, still touring, still recording. I was at a crawfish boil Saturday with Matt Sorum. You know, got hoses and everything. He Spike Edney of Queen, paul Rogers, bad Company you know, one of the most incredible voices of all time and Matt Sorum. We were all at a neighbor's house for a crawfish boil and they were all wearing name tags. You can go to my Instagram and see it, because it just cracked me up that these three guys were standing there. You know, matt Paul Spike I really don't need hello, my name is Exactly Whatever.
Speaker 1:Exactly. No, you're right. I've been out to LA several times to do interviews and I've become good friends with Graham Bonnet from Rainbow and Bethany Heavenstone, who is his bass player, and, like you, graham also has an Airbnb out in Santa Clarita. That's why I asked how far away that was from Palm Springs. So I digress yeah, I mean we love it out here.
Speaker 3:It's an incredible one of the first. I love to cook. That's something a lot of people don't know about me. I am a closet chef. I love to cook. So we had 12 people over for dinner and it was just friends and friends of friends and people we'd met and people we'd known for a long time. And when everybody left I looked at Charlie and said do you realize that was an EGOT table? Emmy, grammy, oscar, tony, and you know, it's just the talent out here, but it's still. It's only 43,000 people, except when you all come for the weekend and then it's it's a lot, no, 243,000 people.
Speaker 1:Well, over the years, you've become, and have been, a staple on our airwaves. If we go back and you correct me with dates if we go back to around I think 77, this is kind of where it all began for you on, was it KAMU? Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, actually, yeah, I signed on to KAMU in 1977. The anniversary was Saturday, march the 30th. I totally missed that because I was in the middle of doing Closing Night. But yeah, 1977. And what I love to point out is that a black woman in radio at Texas A&M, the program director is who hired me. A black woman at PLOL, jackie McCauley, is who mentored me. She was a black woman was the program director of KLOL in the late 70s. So, yeah, these women and I don't think they hired me because it was like this woman to woman, we're going to take care of each other. I just had this weird voice at 17 years old.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:I had this weird voice at 17 years old. Wow, I had this deep voice. Of course, I chain smoked back then.
Speaker 1:but Did that add to it, you think or not really?
Speaker 3:That and I used to drink scotch. The scotch and the cigarettes probably did it, but my dad had this voice.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:So I got my dark sense of humor and my love of entrepreneurship and my smoky voice from my dad.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what you could talk bad about that voice all you want. I mean when you think of people like Janis Joplin, and I mean, look at all the gravel throated singers that we've known over the years that made an amazing living with their voice like that, and you've done very well for yourself too. So it's nothing to you know be bashful about talking about. It's awesome.
Speaker 3:I'm proud of it, but it still surprises me Like we were. It was pre I mean, it happens all the time, but it was like pre COVID. We had taken a family vacation. You know, it's the only way you get to see your adult children now is if you pay for everything. So we had taken everyone to go through the panama canal and we were standing in this ridiculous line in panama going through customs and finally this woman behind me went. I am so sorry to bother you, but I'm a steel worker and are you dana steel?
Speaker 1:and my kids are just like oh god here we go Well, and I'm not nearly, not even remotely as popular as you are, but if you were in the same room with my wife Terry right now, she would always she would tell you oh my God, can we go anywhere where you don't know one person in the room? Like, come on.
Speaker 3:No, it's not possible.
Speaker 1:It's like let me just. Let me just have my moment. Please Can I just have my moment, good God.
Speaker 3:I mean these two wonderful guys. This couple just bought the house next to us in Palm Springs. It's been on the market off and on for I don't know four years, five years. These people have been trying to sell this house, this lovely couple. So I went over there the other day and took my card with my phone number and I said I'm sorry if this feels stalkerish or weird, but I'm from Texas and this is what you do. Of course it makes your neighborhood special and safer if you know each other and they go, oh, we're from Austin. I was like, oh, okay, that's kind of cool. And one of the husbands looks at the card and goes I grew up in Houston. Husband looks at the card and goes I grew up in Houston. Oh my God, is that data steel? Here we go again. Here we go again.
Speaker 1:Yes, how funny. Is it safe to say that the big radio break came for you around 18 at KRLY? Do you consider that your big break?
Speaker 3:No, I mean yes. Everything I've done is a big break. One of the things I always say to people is always voice what you want and need. Like at the end of every night, when I would take my curtain calls, I'd say you know, if you need more help with Alzheimer's, go to my website and if you would like to see this play continue, you can make a tax deductible donation to my grant fund for $250,000. Right, you know. But what's funny is now people have reached out to me and they're helping me figure out Always what you want and need.
Speaker 3:So when I left Texas A&M to take a job as a secretary at Y94, I'd been there for three weeks. I hated it. I hated Monday through Friday, nine to five. I hated it. So I went into the program director and I said I have a license, because you had to have a license and test that whole thing and I have experience. It was a Friday afternoon. He literally patted me on my head. I am 64 years old and people still pat me on my head. It's like stop it and. But he kind of made fun of me and said that's nice, kid, you know, go back to work. And that night the overnight guy didn't show up and they were all too high to go on the air and they knew I lived across the street. So they called me and said, okay, you're on. And then he didn't show up again the next night and they said you're on and I got his job.
Speaker 3:So Monday through Friday I was a secretary and admin um helping schedule commercials, and then I would do open nights Friday and Saturday night. But I really have to say the break they've all been amazing breaks that I'm so appreciative of. But I kept interviewing with Jackie McCauley at KLOL and she kept saying you're not ready, you're not ready, you're too young. A little more season. But she was great. And I went from Y94 to 97 Rock, rock. And they hired me to do mornings. And was it 97? Yeah, 97 rock. They hired me to do mornings.
Speaker 3:And you know I don't have that sense of humor, I don't have that slapstick sense of humor and it wasn't working and the program director said he called me in and he said you know, basically we're we're firing you, we will buy out your contract or you can stay and do overnights. But you're really awful, you'll never make a living at this. And I said I'll take the buyout. I think I had interviewed at KLOL four times and I called to let them know that I was a free agent and I cashed my check where they bought out my contract. And that weekend a DJ at the Texas Jam in the Astrodome said here's more Zepu efforts. And there was a delay. And she got fired for saying it. Wow, for saying the F word, yes. And they gave you a job because you know you can do that now but you couldn't do that back then.
Speaker 3:Sure, and so I did weekends at KOL to start with, and then I tried to be a Kelly temp during the week. Boy did I suck at that. But that was my break. I mean, I just, and I worked it, I worked it. I was there all the time. I filed records, I wiped the counters, I ran errands, I got coffee, I had little pictures printed up so that when I did go out to do appearances I could autograph things. And you know, I marketed myself.
Speaker 1:I love that you sound like you have a lot of you and me kind of thing, like I think we're just we're hustlers at the end of the day and you I'm in sales for a living. That's how I pay my mortgage. I'm a local musician here in Houston and play all over the place and I started this show that's now heard in 84 countries and I think I'm just not a complacent person and I agree with you on you have to make the ask.
Speaker 3:We're not afraid of failure.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You have to ask for what you want and need. You know, just ask for the interviews, ask for them 100%.
Speaker 3:You know it was funny. I ran for Congress six years ago and I went into that. I've always said I'm not a salesperson, but you're right, I am. I sold myself. But six years ago when I ran for Congress the first time I was like I can't ask for money. I don't come with that skill set. I cannot. I never could ask for a raise. I would break out in hives when I had to ask my dad for my allowance every week. It just money makes people uncomfortable. And I came out of that experience realizing I could ask anybody for anything, because for the most part people are kind. They're not going to eat you, they're not going to yell at you, they may hang up on you, correct, but they'll say no and you say thank you. Of course. Two weeks, three weeks, two years later they may say you know what I want? To invest in your play.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:There you go. So I just learned to ask.
Speaker 1:If you never ask, you never know. Right At the end of the day. And my little story behind that is I was playing a microbrewery up in the Cypress area and this lady came up. I would say she was probably late 60s, maybe even early 70s, and she said sorry to bother you. I would like to make a request. It's my husband's birthday. He's 72 today and he loves Jimmy Buffett. Do you know any Jimmy Buffett? Can you play one Jimmy Buffett song? And I looked at her tongue in cheek and kind of smiled when I said it. I said I do know a Jimmy Buffett song, but those were the hundred dollar songs and at the end of the night there was a hundred dollar bill in the tip bucket. She left and I was totally it was totally a joke, right, I would have played her the song for no money right I?
Speaker 2:was totally kidding.
Speaker 1:But had I not said that, I mean there wouldn't be $100 in the tip jar, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:It's like me kidding at the end of the play going and all I need is $250,000 to move my play about Alzheimer's on to help more people. Sure, you know, and who knows who's going to be sitting in the audience in this crazy town.
Speaker 1:You never know. And you know when you least expect it, they say to expect it. So you know that's a nice gloves down way of asking people for help. That's a great approach, you know, like just it kind of takes them like hey, quit asking for money, dana. But if you kind of say it tongue in cheek and jokingly, somebody's going to take you serious. You never know, right.
Speaker 3:Well, and I'm always so grateful, I'm always so gracious and I say thank you Really. You know, enjoyed visiting with you, talking to you, performing for you or whatever, and I just leave it at that Of course.
Speaker 3:Of course. You know, yesterday we got invited by some people in the audience to their ritzy, titsy house for a brunch and we went and it was just fun people. And there was this woman. She was the first female black successful manager in Los Angeles and I mean she managed Lou Gossett, she managed Quincy Jones, she managed all these, she managed Tom Cruise, she managed all these people. And all of a sudden I was like wait a minute, are you Holly Robinson, pete's mom from 21 Jump Street?
Speaker 2:And she's like yes, Wow, you never know, but she's like yes, Wow. You never know.
Speaker 3:But it's because I made jokes on stage. They were like well, why don't you come to our house for brunch and we'll figure out if we know anybody that can give you $250,000.
Speaker 1:That's so awesome. Did you glaze over? I think you had a short stint, maybe a couple of years, with uh 104 krbe. Oh, 104k.
Speaker 3:billy gibbons used to call me. He still calls me, just like every two years out of the blue I get this call from. Hey, I'm in iceland, it's like okay, but he used to call me and I would pick up the hotline and go you know hotline and and he go say it. You're listening to 104 KRBE with Dana Steele, your lady for the night. That's so awesome and he'd just laugh and hang up. That is awesome. Oh, no, krbe was great.
Speaker 3:I went from Y94, turned to Disco 94, and everybody either quit or got fired. So I went from overnights to evenings, yeah, and then 97 Rock hired me away to do mornings. And then, no, krbe hired me away to do nights because Roger WWW Garrett wanted to date me. I found that out later. So they hired me. I became the music director of, you know, one of the top top 40 stations in the country before I was old enough to boat or drink, of one of the top top 40 stations in the country before I was old enough to boat or drink. And then I went from there to 97 Rock to do Mornings and then to KLA Well, where I was for 16 years, which is unheard of in the video.
Speaker 1:You touched on this just a second ago. You said you were the music director and I've never been in radio. I guess the podcast is. It's not technically radio, but you get where I'm coming from here. When you say music director, what does that mean to the listeners?
Speaker 3:It means that every Wednesday, from you know, say, I think my hours were like one to four Every Wednesday, from one to four, every record rep that had something they wanted played would line up in the lobby and I'd give them each 15 minutes and they'd come in to this 19-year-old. You know, green girl, and try to convince me you need to add this to your playlists. It's interesting. A lot of the people that I worked with back then are still some of my best friends. There was a woman there was only one woman doing radio promotion. I'm one of the few women in the country and she is still doing record promotion. She still lives in Houston, patty Moore, and so Patty and I sort of protected each other as women in this business.
Speaker 3:And then I became assistant program director, I think before I even turned 20 and and that's kind of like when the program director is not around and you're scheduling people and but the music director doesn't actually decide what gets played, but the music director is a buffer between the record reps and the program director and know I would listen to a bunch of stuff and then I would take out of you know I might listen to 70 new songs a week that these people would bring in and then I may be 10 of them in to then the meeting with the program director and say these are the ones I think we need to add. We talk about. Okay, the ones we've already playing, they're really good. Which ones are we going to put in a rotation? What are we moving back down to B rotation? What's going to C? What needs to be chunked out? It's just not happening.
Speaker 3:We thought it was a hit. It's not a hit. And then I'm like I think we need to give these a chance and then this one's really good, I think it should just go straight to B rotation. So it was a lot of that Now, most of these. When I left radio, it was more focus groups and research and you know the data. Mine was always gut. Yeah, like the first first time I heard, like the way I do, from Melissa Etheridge. I had to fight for that record, but I knew it was a hit, it was somethingidge.
Speaker 1:I had to fight for that record, but I knew it was a hit, it was something good.
Speaker 3:I knew it, it touched my soul.
Speaker 1:So when you say you were these people would line up and you would try to pick them and try to get them into rotation. Are these less well-known artists? These aren't your Rushes and your Led Zeppelins.
Speaker 3:Oh no, it was. I had theins they're. Oh no, it was. I had the new one from rush and it was like, yeah, well, they pissed me off the last time they were in town.
Speaker 3:Oh okay gotcha, so so it was there also the record reps that would take you to dinner and you know there was no more paola by the time I came along, but instead they'd take you to dinner. It's like you know we want to fly you to la for a showcase because we want you to hear this record, and then you get there and find out you're having dinner with Aerosmith or whatever. I mean there was constant schmoozing and that kind of thing. So it was fun. I had a ball in my 20s.
Speaker 3:Now when people say do you play at a concert? I'm like no.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny that you talk about kind of maybe even exposing. You know, you have people trying to push records on the radio station to get into a rotation and I believe that we have a mutual friendship, you and I in the band Zebra. All three of the guys from Zebra have been on my show Felix, guy and Randy and they all talked about that. That's how they got discovered is basically, they got into a rotation and somebody said, hey, you need to play this band they're outperforming. Have five of the top songs in your rotation. They're like they didn't even know that they weren't even a discovered band at the time, back in 80 or 81, right, this was like the demo of the first record that ever came out Behind the door.
Speaker 3:Yeah, one of those songs you hear and go, wow, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:And so we played it and it was funny. It was, you know, again, pre-covid. This was actually pre-mom's Alzheimer's. When I was a pretty, you know, probably one of the top 50 business speakers in the country, I was speaking to 5,000 people at a conference in Orlando and I was backstage getting mic'd up, getting ready to go, and one of the emcees came over and said I think you know my dad. And I'm like, okay, who's your dad? He goes, he's the drummer for Zebra. And I'm like, get out of here, wow, oh wow, that's your dad.
Speaker 3:You're a grown adult. Oh, I feel so old now.
Speaker 1:Kind of put things in perspective, didn't it? Well, and Guy even mentioned on the show. I think Guy is 72, 72 now, I think, and oh my God, how old is Mick Jagger?
Speaker 3:And 72 now, I think. And uh, oh my God, how old is Mick Jagger? And they are touring, and I mean he dances and stretches and yogas and everything you know, three to five hours a day when he's not on a show day.
Speaker 1:That's why he can do that. Total hats off to those guys. Because I'm 58 and I'm crying. I feel like I'm falling to pieces over here, like literally, and I'm like how do these guys go out and do these shows night after night after night? And it's amazing, it's very impressive.
Speaker 3:I had an MRI on my back today. I'm like when I'm old, when did this happen?
Speaker 1:Did I roll over in bed wrong? What's going on? Well, you know, I myself have been fortunate enough to talk to many super cool artists on my show, from the local artist exposing local musicians here in the Houston area to regional and even Hall of Fame artists. But you have taken this to a whole nother level another level.
Speaker 3:You know all of the people that you yeah, I did it, but it's because I did it in the late 70s and the 80s when you didn't have a spotify and pandora and podcast and blogs and you name it you had me, and then you had nine rock for a while and then you had me again. I mean, if you wanted to listen to rock and roll during the day when you were driving around or, you know, had your little radio on your desk, it was me. Yes, you didn't have voices Correct. And if you wanted to know, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend, even if you're in one of those 84 countries listening to us right now, you must stream the documentary Runaway Radio the Rise and Fall of KOL, because it truly is a metaphor for the great rock stations of the 70s and 80s and the great rock personalities who disappeared.
Speaker 3:But we were what you had. You didn't have anything else. So we were the ones who told you about the concerts. We were the ones who told you the weather was going to suck. We were the ones who told you you know, you need to listen to this record, you need to buy this record, otherwise you would not have known 100% and I talked to.
Speaker 1:I talked to Tony Carey from Rainbow about that very thing. He lives in Germany now and I told I asked him. I said the times have changed. You know, everything is so different now than it was in the seventies and eighties, back when Pace concerts put on the biggest shows at the summit and the Texas Jam, blah, blah, blah, right. But I said, tony, what have you seen change? He's like we used to sell records back in the day. Now artists are T-shirt salespeople, they go out and they have to sell merch because they don't make any money streaming music anymore, right.
Speaker 3:No, you used to make your money off of the record and you lost money on the road. Now you must go on the road for these exorbitant ticket prices and do the $500 VIPs or whatever it is. And the record is just. It's like I write books. People go oh you must make so much money. No, a book is like a really thick business card. You make absolutely no money off a book. You make absolutely no money off a record now, but it's what fuels your play or your speech or, you know, your concert. You have to do those things Exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, thinking about you know, going back to all of the people that you got a chance to talk to on the airwaves over the years and still do, I'm sure Is there an artist that you never got to talk to but would absolutely love to have the chance to sit down with. Have you ever pondered that much? Freddie Mercury. Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Freddie Mercury is somebody Queen played had. The last concert Queen played in Houston with Freddie Mercury I was the new kid on the block, I think, at KLOL, and so I had to stay back at the station. So it's been doubly nice to become such good friends here in Palm Springs with Spike Edney, the musical director and keyboardist for Queen since long before Freddie died, and we spent time with him. And you know, last year we went and spent time with them in London. They took us and showed us Freddie's house and the gate to Freddie's house, and then we went to the Sotheby's exhibit and you know. So not only were we getting the tour of the Sotheby's exhibit from the curator, but we were also getting the side story, you know, from Spike.
Speaker 3:So I would love to have seen led zeppelin perform. I've met, been around robert plant and jimmy page and all of them, but I would love to have seen led zeppelin live. I would love to. I've still never seen queen. We went to opening night. Uh, last year in baltimore we drove in and found out everybody, the entire american crew had covid and, and I'm like I'm a novid, I'm not going, I'm a novid, we're just going to keep going. Love you. See you next tour.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I would love to see Queen. I would love to have seen Led Zeppelin. I would love to have met and interviewed Freddie Mercury not only for the musician he is, but I was on the board of directors, at the advisory board, of the assistance fund which became AIDS foundation Houston, long before anybody knew what it was, because I lost friends in college to AIDS, so I was a big supporter early on. Who else you know? I've seen Lady Gaga. I'd love to meet her. I think she's an incredible philanthropist. Yeah, she's a philanthropist. She does so much for so many. Blake Shelton was in town the other night and a friend of mine is one of his reps. But I had just gotten through doing a matinee and, you know, doing a play every day about your mom dying of Alzheimer's. You're just not in any mood to go anywhere afterwards I hear you Do you remember?
Speaker 1:or? I guess the question would be more like who do you think your most memorable interview was with? If you think about all of the hundreds or thousands of interviews you've done, is there one that ever just stuck, david?
Speaker 3:Crosby when he got out of prison.
Speaker 1:David.
Speaker 3:Crosby was not doing any interviews. I didn't know him. His manager called me and said you know, we don't know each other very well, but you wrote me a thank you note. See, I'm the queen of thank you notes. You wrote me a thank you note two years ago and said if I ever needed anything to give you a call, well, I need something. David's in a halfway house in Houston. He's not doing any interviews. We need a doctor, we need a chiropractor, we need a dentist. We've called a few people. We know in Houston Everybody wants tit for tat. Can you help me? And I was like, of course, so I, you know. I got him hooked up and next thing I know David's calling me. I didn't know him, I never met him and he was like can I come hang out at the station? So he hung out at the station for a good week before he would even let me say he was there.
Speaker 3:He was filing my records for me. He was just hanging out in the studio and was that 86, 84? I don't know. We became lifelong friends. I met my husband through David. You know, the first week we went on the road last year, the first place we were supposed to be is a few nights in Solvang with David, and all of a sudden I got a text from a friend that said oh my God, Krause, and I thought, oh, what has he tweeted now? And then, not 30 seconds later, I got a text from Melissa Etheridge that said I love you, babe. And I just looked at Charlie and went David's dead, yeah, and I just looked at.
Speaker 3:Charlie and went David's dead and he said how do you know? I'm like I don't need to know. I would not get a text from these two people saying things like that if David wasn't dead. So you know. But David finally decided that he wanted to talk and it was at a time in radio where corporate radio was starting to take over, but not quite.
Speaker 3:So I didn't need permission to go off format and for about two hours David pulled music and told stories about Joni Mitchell and Tom Petty and Graham Nash and Stephen Stills and Jimi Hendrix and you know getting high and getting caught and almost dying and his sailboat. And you know I didn't record anything but I still have. Every once in a while somebody will say I pulled over that day and just stopped driving and was late to work so that I could listen.
Speaker 2:So didn't have, don't have the interview.
Speaker 3:All I have is the memory and the love in my heart for david. It's terribly every day that's.
Speaker 1:That's a super cool story. And when you talk about for for the listeners, when you talk about going off format, I guess the the shows are all kind of programmed out to stick to the format so you don't go long or you can get all the spots in, like I'm. I don't know if I'm speaking your language or not, but by going off format I'm assuming you're just meaning you're just talking from the heart and however long it takes, it takes kind of thing.
Speaker 3:We played records, yeah, and every once in a while I'd say, david, we got to pay some bills. He'd say, okay, I'm going to pull some more records. And he would pull some. I would play the commercials and the program director came in. I think it was rick lambert. Then I had like 13 program directors in 15 years, wow, but I think it was rick came in and said, just keep going, it's friggin summarizing. And then we'd come out of ads and I'd say, you know, hey guys, I know you're expecting to hear blah, blah, blah, but we've got david crosby here in the studio and david go. Okay, now we're gonna we to play some Janice. Now let me tell you a Janice story. Janice used to have a bar with you every Sunday for everybody in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1:That's such a cool story and one of the reasons that I started this podcast is because I'm a true music lover. I'm the liner note reading dude that nobody ever does this shit anymore, right, and I still do it to this day, and I always wanted to know who were the artists on the record. Where did they record it? All of the meaningless things that, out of a hundred people, 99 cared nothing about. But I was the one guy that loved that music?
Speaker 3:Idiot Savant that wants to know where was it done.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's that your story about David was something that I would have latched onto and you could have cracked me over the head with a beer bottle and I would just still be right there with you guys, just listening, just absorbing like a sponge, because those are stories that can never I mean they can be retold, but you will never, have that story to, for David to David to tell, or that time with David again, and it's just like to me, it's just amazing times.
Speaker 1:And again, if you ask 100 people, maybe 50 of them don't care. I don't know what the ratio is, but I think you know where I'm coming from with what I'm saying there, right?
Speaker 3:I mean, it was just this incredible connection and you know, when David died I called. One of the first people I called was my middle son. He's 28 now and he had spent some time with David and me in Austin when he was going to college and David was doing some things for me for the campaign and he was like Mom. First of all, he said this morning, while I was getting ready, or I even heard the news, I was playing Crosby, stills and Nash and he said I don't think I ever told you, but after you went back to Houston to campaign, david and I hung out for another two days just smoking weed and talking and I took him to my favorite restaurants and you know, my kids referred to him as uncle David, you know, because they knew that's how I met Charlie.
Speaker 1:That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Well, what was? Yeah, I mean, go ahead, finish your thought. We did all the relationships yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, so what you talked about your husband a little bit and that you met him through David. What was that relationship with him and David? I've never read or heard this story before.
Speaker 3:David called me. It was the first Crosby, stills and Nash tour after the prison stint. And he called me and said there's a bunch of astronauts who want to come to the show. David was a huge sci-fi geek. Okay, Huge David. Read every sci-fi. You would not even begin to believe what a geek Davidid crosby was. But he called me and said there's a bunch of astronauts who want to come. I don't have time to deal with this. You're in houston. Can you help me coordinate this? You know no cell phones or anything.
Speaker 3:Man, I'm like sure that's oh, this will be so cool. Well, first of all, astronauts are never anywhere on time second, of all it's like hats so I had sold my house.
Speaker 3:I was living in my condo down in clear lake on the water. Everybody was late. The record company had gotten me a limo. The limo was there. We're an hour and a half from the woodlands. I'm like, oh my god, where are these people? This guy drives up in his piece of shit honda with 300 000 miles on it, all beat up yellow like a pale yellow, like banana yellow as if.
Speaker 1:As if the accord wasn't bad enough, it had to be yellow right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, it was just. Oh my God, it was a pretty looking car. He gets out of the car, he's got on these tight starch jeans and this cool looking starch shirt and Tom Cruise aviator glasses. He looks like Tom Cruise, okay, dark black hair.
Speaker 3:And I'm on my third floor balcony and I looked out and I said, excuse me, I mean you look like NASA, they all look the same. I'm like, excuse me, are you with us? And he turned around and he looked up and he lowered his glasses a la Tom Cruise, and he said I hope so and smiled at me and I told him how to get up to my third floor apartment and I went inside and called my friend Jeannie, who I'd met David through. She was his opening act when he first got out of prison. I called Jeannie and I said, oh my God, I feel like Cupid's arrow just hit me. I just saw the man I'm gonna marry and she said what's his name? And I said I have no idea. He's on his way up the stairs and that was June the 3rd 1990.
Speaker 1:And we have been together ever since even though I had a blind date with another astronaut that night. Wow.
Speaker 3:So there's a draw to astronauts. This is a common denominator for you here. It sounds like right, you know, with David. That's how I met all these people at NASA was through David. Charlie was part of the group that David invited and you know we've just been together ever since. And then I married a NASA pilot and my life was surrounded by astronauts and pilots and NASA crap. Wow.
Speaker 1:That's a cool story as well. You know we talked about the different radio stations, but we fast forward from. You know what we all kind of grew up on in the 80s, right with KOL, and you're currently the host of a midday show now, houston Radio Platinum. Share with the listeners a little bit about this station and kind of how this came about for you.
Speaker 3:So everything I do is so weirdly intertwined. This play I'm doing. I have some incredible investors, from former Houston mayor Anise Parker to, if you've seen the musical Come From Away, the real Nick and Diane live in Houston and they were my first investors. And there is a wonderful guy, chris Allen. He's on Saturday afternoons on Houston Radio Platinum, which is the streaming radio station. He also happens to own Christian's Tailgate, the best hamburger in Houston. Several locations around Houston. He is a philanthropist. He is not only a very successful businessman, he does a lot for so many you would never. He never talks about it, but anyway, he has invested in my play, he's donated to my play, he's donated to Alzheimer's. For me. He's just one of those people, randy, that's just. He's just a good person.
Speaker 3:And when I found out he was involved with this station, I wanted to give back, I wanted to say thank you. So I offered to do a show for six months. So that's what I'm doing right now. I don't know if it will continue or not, but I'm having a ball. I did it strictly as a favor for them. Okay, I mean it was immediately on the front page of the Chronicle. I was on Great Day, houston. I mean it was nice to know people remembered. Of course it was flattering, it was weirdly overwhelming. So I do the show from the Rock and Roll guest room here in Palm Springs.
Speaker 3:Everything's computerized now, so I can do a radio show from anywhere in the world. So I take the equipment with me and you know, got the microphone and you know it's right there, this microphone, and all the gear over here, and I'm having a ball with it and I'm on, you know, my God-given time slot, as people used to call it, middays Of course.
Speaker 3:And on the days when I'm traveling or have meetings or whatever, I either pre-record it or they just use some pre-recorded things I've done before. Okay, but I did it because I wanted to thank someone for how incredibly supportive they have been about my play about Alzheimer's. But I had no idea how much satisfaction I would get out of it and steelworkers would have, and so I think we're just all having fun with it right now. It makes me feel somebody said I feel 25. Again I'm like well, I feel 26.
Speaker 1:Well, it's always nice to reciprocate, right? I think that that's what makes a good human. You know, we, we reciprocate, we help others, whether it's monetarily or whether it's just time, or whatever the case may be right, you have a talent and you have a name and you have things that come in handy for that station and that's your way of giving back, you know, just like theirs was monetarily.
Speaker 3:My motto I live by is the more you do to help someone else be successful, the more you will succeed. You may not get it back in a day, a week, it may. You know, it may be 25 years later when Melissa Etheridge and David Crosby call you and go hey, we want to do a fundraiser for your campaign. Of course, Of course. You know, which was amazing six years ago. So I just think the more you do to help someone else, the more you get it back.
Speaker 1:Reap what you sow, right, I mean, that's what it basically boils down to. Well, I think, I mean I know the short answer, but how does the Houston Radio Platinum gig differ than, let's just say, your KLOL days? I mean, I know the big one is the physical.
Speaker 3:I can do anything I want they're like. If you don't like the song, change it.
Speaker 1:Right In the middle of it, too right.
Speaker 3:It's almost too weird. It's almost like I need parameters, people, I have no filter. No, they're like do anything you want, talk to anybody you want, do anything you want, move songs around, move spots around, I have. I mean, when I left radio I was starting to get really, you know, formatted and formatted and segmented, and even more so now. So it was a little. It was a little uncomfortable the first couple of weeks with somebody going, you know, we'll schedule all the music, We'll schedule all the spots, we'll say this is where you need to be, you know, doing your breaks, but if you want to move stuff, move it. I was like what?
Speaker 1:There's no rules, what?
Speaker 3:No, I'm not allowed to do that, I'll get. I'll get a hotline. I'll get in trouble, I'll do a meeting. How funny.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I thought that maybe you know, the big one was just physical. The big one was just physical. You didn't have to go into a studio to do it. You could do it from the backseat of your car if that's where you wanted to record your show from. But I didn't realize, like you just do what you want on this station versus. You know all the regulations. I guess that you know the KOLs and the KRBs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they let me talk about my play. They let me talk about my podcast. They let me talk about my play. They let me talk about my podcast. They let me talk about my airbnb. Right, the only thing I don't do is I keep politics out of it. The only thing I do is remind people I don't care how you vote, just register to vote, yeah, and just do it, because it is such an incredible privilege. I cry every time I vote. I am so overwhelmed with emotion. Oh, you should have seen me when I took my last sunday. I was with him when he cast his first vote. Oh, my god, and that mom was a weepy mess. Um, because I have just. I am so damn proud of our country and being an american, and I have just always. I don't know why I cry when I vote. I find it so overwhelming that I have that privilege. Maybe it's because I've traveled the entire world so many times that I see countries that don't have that right.
Speaker 3:And yeah, so that is the only political thing I do Now. If you go to my any of my social media, you're going to see politics. You're going to see my hummingbird nest that we're watching every day waiting for the babies. You're going to see rock things. You're going to see snarky politics. You're going to see the things I'm most adamant about. Some guys are like, well, you need to keep that separate. I'm like, oh honey, I wouldn't be running for Congress if it was separate. I mean, it's like personal yeah.
Speaker 3:But I keep that separate.
Speaker 1:The only thing I talk about politics on the radio on this new app is just register to vote. Well, back in what was it? 2010,. You were inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3:Yes, the world's longest induction ceremony ever. My children are like we don't care if you get nominated for a Tony. We're never coming to another one of your awards.
Speaker 1:This is the last one right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it was 2010. And it was very. You know, this career has been such a gift and it's why I constantly still give back to my community and to anybody I can. And that was just icing on the cake. But again, this career it's a gift. I mean, I got paid to go to concerts and hang out with David Crosby and, you know date, billy Idol. I mean I look back now I can't stay up past 830 now, but I look back and go. You know, it was such I had so much fun.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I have gotten to experience. You know, I've gotten to experience everything, I think, but going into space. And if I could still figure out a way to get me on a Jeff Bezos flight or a Virgin Galactic, or you know, I'm one of those people that if you called me and said, hey, can you clear your schedule and go into space tomorrow, I would be like, yes, I'm amazed how many people go. No, I'm like I would get on a rocket and blast into space. Oh God, that's the only thing I think I've never done that I would so do.
Speaker 1:Let me try to help you there. So I did a podcast and he's a great friend but a wonderful guy by the name of Adam Hamilton, and Adam played in a band with a buddy of mine who was the singer for CC DeVille's band when CC split from Poison Fast forward. He played bass guitar for LA Guns and now he is a A-list producer in Hollywood and has produced multiple number one billboard records for William Shatner and William Shatner just went into space, right. So if Adam Hamilton is listening and you can have your people, william Shatner, contact my friend Dana Steele in Houston and get her on a rocket ship and get her into space. Please do so, hammy, please. I appreciate you, even one of those 20-minute flights.
Speaker 3:I could do the best. 20-minute show from space.
Speaker 1:You might be the only one ever. You could be the first lady of space then, right.
Speaker 3:I do know that Jeff Bezos listened to me growing up in Houston.
Speaker 1:There you go. You never know.
Speaker 3:Come on, guys. Oh, I would so go in just a second.
Speaker 1:Well, what does the accolade mean to you, though? You know, hall of Fame, anything Hall of Fame, whether you're a biscuit cooker, I'm in the biscuit cooking Hall of Fame. Right, like to just say that I'm in some kind of hall of fame. What does that mean to Dana Steele?
Speaker 3:To me it's just icing on the cake and flattering. To business and social media it means I can add a hashtag hall of fame to everything to business. I can add a hall of fame rock radio personality, dana Steele, that gets people's attention.
Speaker 1:Of course it does.
Speaker 3:You know, I felt weird using it at first and I don't remember who it was that told me they were like. But that's who you are.
Speaker 1:You earned it right. You earned the accolade.
Speaker 3:So it opens doors. So when you know, spike and his wife Kyle introduce you to their neighbors, you know they mention oh, by the way, she's a Rock Radio Hall of Famer. And then Paul Rogers and his wife Cynthia are like you know. Ok, well, but does she like animals? I guess she does, yes, yes, we actually ended up dog sitting for them last year.
Speaker 1:Wow, and you mentioned it earlier, paul Rogers, one of the greatest voices in rock and roll. As far as I'm concerned, like one of the and his wife came to my play four times.
Speaker 3:Wow, paul came twice. I mean, just the sweetest, most wonderful people on the face of the planet. Oh my God, they do so much for animals and you know, sometimes we stay with them when our house is rented and we're there and you know, all of a sudden Paul's just walking around the house singing or playing guitar and I have to go. Oh my God, I'm 13 again and I have this poster on my wall.
Speaker 1:If you're ever there and he starts singing or playing silver, blue and gold, please like get your phone out and record it and send it to me please, please. And thank you send it to me, please, please and thank you. Well, listen, it's been great to have caught up with you, and when you're back in Houston, let's do get out and hit the golf ball If you have time.
Speaker 3:I told you I'll get up early, I'll play before it gets excruciatingly hot. I don't play well, but I play fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you guys listen. Dana again, thanks for being here and your stories. I know there's a lot more we could get into, but it was great to catch up with you. You guys make sure you go out and check out all things, dana Steele. I'm sure, dana, you're very easy to find on Facebook and X or whatever it's called this week.
Speaker 3:I'm the first 62 pages of Google. If you do Dana Steele, I'm the first 62 pages. And then when I win and I go to Washington, let's do this in my congressional office.
Speaker 1:That would be super awesome. Well, listen for the listeners out there. Go check out Dana on all of her social media handles. I also ask the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at Backstage Pass Radio and on the website at BackstagePassRadiocom. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Halsey Music and on Twitter at R Halsey Music. Also, make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them Backstage Pass Radio is the best show on the web for everything music. We'll see you next time right here on Backstage Pass Radio.
