Alison Steele

American DJ

Alison Steele (born Ceil Loman; January 26, 1937 – September 27, 1995) was an American radio personality who was also known by her air name, The Nightbird. She amassed a large and loyal following on her night shifts on WNEW FM in New York City during the late 1960s and 1970s. Her show featured progressive rock and artists associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, combined with listeners' calls and Steele's own unique brand of mellow DJ patter, peppered with poetry and mysticism. Her original Nightbird show ran from 1968 to 1979. Steele also worked in television for many years in a variety of roles including performer, writer, and producer. She returned to WNEW in 1982 for another three years, and then joined New York's WXRK in 1989 for another six. Steele was honored with the Billboard award for FM Personality of the Year (1976), and she was the first woman to receive it. Years later, the same magazine established a new award in her honor, The Alison Steele Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Steele was born Ceil Loman on January 26, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York. She had two sisters, Joyce and Emalie. She credited the situation for creating a lifestyle of hard work and a lasting ambition for success. At the age of 19, she married Steele and got her first taste of radio broadcasting with their husband and wife music show, Ted and the Redhead. The couple had one daughter, Heather, before the marriage ended in divorce. In doing so, she became one of the first female disc jockeys in the country. Her show always began with a bit of Andean flute music and some variation of her regular introduction:

She then transitioned 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. As well as music, she recited texts and poetry over music. She favored mystical and romantic writing for her recitations, and sometimes offered up her own writing as well. Whether poetry or prose, her spoken segments were almost always gently optimistic: "I abhor negativism," she stated. "I want to convey a positive attitude so that people will reach out to other people." She was a supporter and promoter of prog rock bands like Yes, Genesis, Renaissance and the Moody Blues, as well as hippie favorites like Santana and the Grateful Dead. By 1974, she had more than 100,000 listeners at any given average quarter hour of her show, and hosted a syndicated rock radio show to 600 stations nationwide, a radio show for women, and a cable television talk show. According to Jimi Hendrix's manager Michael Jeffery, the song "Night Bird Flying", recorded by Hendrix and released posthumously on the album The Cry of Love (1971), was inspired by Steele's show. Steele became known as "The Grande Dame of New York Night". Steele was on the credit committee of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. She was a member of the Science of Mind religion. She died on September 27, 1995, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, aged 58. She is interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Hastings on Hudson. Steele was long recognized as a primary force in making overnight radio a notable medium, as well as developing the progressive rock radio format. She also was a female pioneer in a field traditionally dominated by men. Fellow New York disc jockey Jo Maeder said of Steele: "She was the one who really blazed a trail for all women in radio."