Bob Steele (broadcaster)

Robert Lee "Bob" Steele (July 13, 1911 – December 6, 2002) was an American radio personality. He was with WTIC Radio in Hartford, Connecticut for more than 66 years, and dominated the morning radio scene in Southern New England for most of that time.

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• The real bob steele
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He was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. After working as a newsboy, salesman, motorcycle messenger and professional boxer, he was invited to Hartford by a race promoter to announce a motorcycle race. On his last day in town, he walked into WTIC-AM on a whim and asked to audition for a vacant announcer position. He became a junior staff announcer at WTIC in Hartford on Oct. 1, 1936.

He took over The G. Fox Morning Watch radio show on WTIC Radio in 1943. (In a day when businesses sponsored entire programs, the prominence of the business was a reflection of the show's popularity. G. Fox was the premier department store chain in the greater Hartford area.) In 1950 it was renamed The Bob Steele Show. By the time he retired from the daily radio show in 1991, he had created one of the longest running radio shows in the country. But he never fully retired; he continued to host a Saturday morning radio show on WTIC-AM until his death.

For much of his time at WTIC, he also did the evening sports program on WTIC radio and television -- no mean feat since he had to be on the air at 5:30 AM. For years, Steele broadcast six days a week and told the occasional incredulous interviewer that the show was his pastime, not a job.

The show was easy-going and comfortably predictable. Segments comprised weather (including world temperatures), sports (Steele was longtime sports director for WTIC), birthdays (only over 80), anniversaries (only over 60), local and national news, storytelling for children. Nothing brightened up a winter morning more for generations of school-age kids than when Bob Steele announced that there would be no school that day. A favorite segment was "Tiddlywinks from the Teletype, little stories of little importance..." that wrapped up each day's show, ending with the final bars of the 2nd Connecticut Regiment March leading into the 10:00 AM news.

Quick with a pun (and a corny joke or two..."my full name is Robert L. Steele - the 'L' stands for Elmer"), Steele’s respect for the spoken word was renowned. He regularly shared with his audience tips and lessons on grammar and pronunciation, including his Word for the Day, an always popular part of his show. His unparalleled popularity was matched by a very responsive audience. He regularly received hundreds of letters a week from listeners, including, reportedly, letters from listeners "Down Under." Due to the 50,000-watt power of the WTIC transmitter, atmospheric conditions would occasionally allow his show to be heard as far away as Australia.

He often told folksy, punny stories about his numerous relatives, including his uncles Coldrolled and Stainless, and his aunts Bessemer and Amalgamated.

Throughout the 1960s, Steele vowed to not play music by the Beatles and other rock and roll acts on his show. By the 1980s, however, oldies from the sixties, including songs by the Beatles and others, worked their way into his playlists. Steele was more famous, however, for the obscure novelty songs he often played on his show, especially Rolf Harris' "Two Buffaloes," Mitch Miller's "The Yellow Rose of Texas," and, annually on May 20, a song appropriately entitled, "(I'm Getting Married on) The 20th of May." He also was very fond of "Tulips in Amsterdam" and "Any dream will do."

Steele's son, Robert H. Steele represented Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District in the early 1970s and was the Republican candidate for Governor in 1974.

In 1980, Steele published a book entitled "Bob Steele: A Man and His Humor." A second book celebrating his 50th anniversary on radio was published in 1986 and his last, "The Word for the Day," written with son Phil Steele, was published in 2002.

The Bob Steele Reading Center at the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford facility on Arbor Street in Hartford, dedicated in 1989, honors his years as an advocate of literacy.

On December 12, 2011, the Hartford city council voted unanimously to support a proposal to rename in Steele's honor a section of the city's Grove Street (between Prospect Street and Columbus Boulevard) in recognition of his iconic status and the 100th anniversary of his birth. Bob Steele Street was officially dedicated in a special ceremony on January 4, 2013. A bronze plaque honoring Steele's career was installed on the east side of the Travelers Insurance building at the intersection of Bob Steele and Prospect streets on May 19, 2015. The plaque, created by sculptor Michael Keropian [1], was unveiled in a ceremony on May 29, 2015.