Talent: THE REAL DON STEELE
Station: KHJ Los Angeles
Date: February 2, 1973
Time: 31:08 (unscoped)
         7:03 (scoped)
 

(The Real Don Steele from the second KHJ Chart, May 16, 1965/Courtesy Tom Howard)

"I've never stopped. I've never changed. I never did anything else."
- The Real Don Steele, as told to the Los Angeles Times in 1993

Back when radio was Boss, Don Steele made it Real.

Donald S. Revert, better known by his air-name The Real Don Steele, was one of Top 40 radio's brightest stars for well over three decades before cancer took his life. The native of Hollywood, California, honed his jocking skills at several other stations, including KOIL Omaha, KISN Portland, Oregon, and KEWB San Francisco, before arriving at KHJ Los Angeles for the launch of Boss Radio in the spring of 1965.

Interviewed by Don Barrett for his book Los Angeles Radio People, Steele said the launch of Boss Radio was "like a mushroom cloud that went up - heavy on the mushroom." That sense of humour was part of a memorable act that carried Steele through eight years as the afternoon drive jock on KHJ.

Born into show business - his mother played piano at silent movies and his father was a driver for entertainers - Steele was a natural showman with a masterful sense of timing well-suited for the fast-paced Top 40 format.

After leaving KHJ in mid-1973, Steele went to success at Los Angeles stations KIQQ, KTNQ, KRLA and KODJ/KCBS-FM. From 1988 to 1993, he hosted the syndicated oldies show Live From the '60's, which was run in over 300 markets. Steele even has a Canadian connection - in 1967 he was host of a radio show called CBC's Action Set.

Steele's last radio stop began in 1992 at K-EARTH 101, where he was reunited with original KHJ Boss Radio morning man Robert W. Morgan. Steele died at age 61 on August 5, 1997.

Enjoy The Real Don Steele on KHJ (UNSCOPED) here.

Enjoy The Real Don Steele on KHJ (SCOPED) here.
 

NOTE: His widow Shaune Steele tells us that Don Revert's middle name was actually Steele. She says his mother chose it because it sounded more "show-biz."

(The Bill Dulmage Collection)