bob steele

If you ever lived in New England, you probably woke up with Bob Steele. At one time Steele hosted the number one rated morning show in America.

Like many kids of his era, Steele was fascinated with radio and crystal sets. He would imitate the way radio announcers talked and practiced reading ads form the newspaper.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911, Steele tried the restaurant business, boxing and announcing motorcycle races in Los Angeles before focusing on radio. Attempts to break into radio in Los Angeles failed, but eventually the radio bug led him to Hartford.

In 1936, Steele realized one of his early ambitions of becoming a radio announcer when he walked into WTIC/Hartford and won an audition for staff announcer. In 1943, he assumed the morning drive time slot on WTIC and began to make radio history.

From the days of World War II until his retirement in 1991, Steele’s wit and warmth provided a touch of security for half a million listeners every day. Listeners looked forward to Steele’s regular features like “Word for the Day” and “Tiddlywinks” which offered little known facts of little importance.

Bob Steele died on December 6, 2002.

Bob Steele was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.