STEVE DAHL: WHAT’S HE GOING TO DO WHEN HE GROWS UP?

At 6 a.m. every weekday morning, Steve Dahl mans the microphone at radio station WABX. A typical Dahl monologue might run as follows: 'I don't like to brag but Farah Fawcett and I lived together for a while. Of course she picked up Lee Majors on the rebound after I broke her little heart. I couldn't help it. I just couldn't be bothered.' In an Oak Park deli, over a corned beef sandwich, Steve Dahl discussed his radio personality. 'The reason I say things like that is because guys can relate to it. I mean, how hip would it be to live with Farah Fawcett?'

Relatability is the key to Dahl's radio endeavors.. In his attempt to identify with the audience, he has created one of the most personal radio programs wafting across the FM airwaves. Sandwiched inbetween the Blue Oyster Cult and Bruce Springsteen are Dahlian discourses on a host of subjects, ranging from his mom back home to his plans to open a Garden of Eden souvenir stand in Detroit (after a geologist theorrized in the Free Press that the Motor City may have been the original couple's Eotanical playground). Another time, in keeping with the early morning wake-up format of the show, Dahl poured himself a bowl of cornflakes so that he could crunch along with his listeners as they prepared themselves for another dose of workaday reality.

Sometimes these situation gags work, often they fall flatter than a can of Stroh's left out overnight.

'Fortunately I have this image built into my radio personality so that if I make a mistake I can just say, 'Well, folks, blew another one.' Also I have a cast of characters that I use on the show that help me get out of rough spots. The funniest thing I ever did, though, was to put in an air raid alert cartridge by mistake. But I got out of it. I turned it off and pretended like I was hiding under the table myself.'

Although Steve has found a niche in early morning Detroit radio, he is not indigenous to these parts. A transplanted Californian, he came to Detroit in the aftermath of a divorce in an attempt to start afresh. 'It was such a culture shock when I came here. There's hard-'' ly any good Mexican restaurants. There's also this whole factory town thing. It makes a difference in the attitude on the kids. It seems that there's so. many kids caught up in that cycle. Their parents work for Ford, maybe, and the kids work there part-time and they probably will end up working there. There's that whole industrial syndrome and so to get away from it they do a lot of quaaludes and party, party all the time. Everybody needs so many escapes. It's so different from any place I've ever been before.'

In light of all the negative PR and advice from friends, ityis somewhat of a miracle that Steve Dahl evOn made the trip to Detroit at all. 'People in California thought I was nuts. They thought I'd be driving up 1-94 and I'd get to the sign that said Detroit and a guy would jump out from behind the sign and kill me.'

Digging a little, we discover that this kid wants to be the Dick Purtan of the FM progressive mode. 'I used to hang out when I was 13 or 14 at KPPC filing records, this and that, and guys used to get so high that they couldn't do their shows, so I'd start playing records and eventually I worked my way into an air position. I'd always been a sort of radio groupie, anyway. I was kind of an oddball kid and 1 was never really,accepted. Not really like a loser but never a part of those hip groups and that always hurt me. Anyway, I used to listen to this one disc jockey in Los Angeles, his name was Jimmy Rabbit, and I really related to him. He was on a Top. 40 station and he was the first progressive disc jockey on AM in Los Angeles. His program started a trend. He used to play the Velvets and things like that. I decided that if I was a disc jockey that would make people like me. I used to imitate Jimmy Rabbit's show in my simulated home studio. I'd write down what he said and then practice it the next morning. It was amazing the influence Jimmy's show had on me. I paid more attention to Jimmy Rabbit than I did my parents or teachers.'

This influence lingers on into the present. As unbelievable as it may sound, Steve wants to program an AM station in the image of his mentor's show. 'I think communication in radio is so important. Not to sound corny, but radio should improve the quality of the listener's life. What I'm saying is that radio should use the power it has. To sit there and scream, 'Stand by to rip me off.. You can be my next big winner...Heeey baby, call me on the hitline,' is a waste of time. People like Jim-, my Rabbit and Bobby Ocean (another LA disc jockey) talk to their listeners. They're Top 40 but they communicate and that's what these AM stations should be doing. That's one of my goals, to program a Top 40 radio station, so if anyone's listening out there...' -

OK Steve, enough business, how about SEX. Do you notice any difference between Detroit women and Cali: fornia women? 'Aside from the basic physical differences; blonde hair, suntans, etc., I think there's a moral difference. It seems to take a little longer in Michigan, you kpow. In California, you might go out with someone for the first time and have, uh, sexual relations. Morally it seems to be a little looser, I'm not sure why. See, I worked in Hollywood where the' whole groupsex, orgy syndrome is rampant, so things were a bit looser. But I kind of like it back here. You work harder but it's worth it. There's some wild women in Detroit. Once they get into it, they're into it. In California it's so casual that it's no big deal, it's like shaking hands. But here it's like...WOW...wild women. They just take care of business back here.'

If you could have anything out of life what would it be? 'Well, forget everything I said about goals. I'd like to many someone who's beautiful and rich and will support me. I'll hang out at the house. That or an older woman who will keep me and let me do what I want.'