Dahl gained a measure of national attention after organizing and hosting Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park.

[10][failed verification] In the 9th grade, Dahl began hanging around a local underground radio station, KPPC,[11] in his home state of California.

"[10] At the age of eighteen, he obtained his GED and briefly married a woman he met after she called him on-air to request "Suzanne", a song by Leonard Cohen which told a tale of a troubled relationship.

Throughout this time period, he was making efforts to reconcile with his ex-wife, who by then was dating the program director at the Los Angeles radio station where she worked.

[10] During his time at WABX, Dahl was introduced to Janet Joliat, a junior high school English and drama teacher in a Detroit suburb, who was casually dating a friend of his and was also a listener of his show.

[10][failed verification] In 1978, after Janet accepted his marriage proposal, Dahl left Detroit for WDAI in Chicago.

Ten months later, on Christmas Eve, 1978, WDAI changed formats from rock to disco and fired Dahl.

Shortly thereafter, the two began a cross talk that eventually led to Meier being teamed up with Dahl as both sidekick and newsman.

[10] During this same time period, Dahl and Meier, along with Mike Veeck (son of then Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck), Jeff Schwartz of WLUP Sales and Dave Logan, the WLUP Promotions Director, came up with a radio promotion and tie-in to the White Sox called Disco Demolition Night which took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979.

As the second game of the doubleheader was about to begin, the raucous crowd stormed onto the field, refused to leave, and proceeded by setting fires, tearing out seats and pieces of turf, and other damage.

American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers.

It comes out of who I am.During the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Dahl, along with his backing band Teenage Radiation, recorded and released a parody of The Knack's song "My Sharona", called "Ayatollah".

[18] Dahl also parodied the John Wayne Gacy murders with his song "Another Kid in the Crawl" (to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall").

The show was canceled after four weeks on the air because it was deemed "unsuitable for general viewing... in particular for young children"[20][21] after Dahl was shown fully clothed sitting on a toilet seat reading a newspaper.

[20] In 1982, he stated on the air that motorists could allegedly substitute Necco Wafers for coins in automatic toll booths on Chicago's tollways.

[2] According to Paul D. Colford, a former writer for Newsday, Howard Stern listened to tapes of Steve and Garry sent from Chicago by a friend of the chief engineer at WCCC Hartford.

The alleged reason for the break-up was Dahl's on-the-air comments about Meier's new wife, commercial real-estate broker Cynthia Fircak, while the new couple were on their honeymoon.

In 2003, Robert Feder, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, said, "It's the divorce that just keeps on giving: A decade after Steve Dahl and Garry Meier severed their legendary radio partnership, their breakup remains a source of bitterness and anger for them — and continuing fascination for their fans.

Criminal suspect Drew Peterson and his lawyer, Joel Brodsky, called in to Dahl's show on January 23, 2008.

[19][31] On October 7, 2014, media blogger Robert Feder reported that Dahl would be returning to terrestrial radio on WLS AM 890.

Feder wrote: "Dahl, 59, will join the Cumulus Media news/talk station as afternoon personality, from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday though Friday.

Under the agreement, Cumulus would provide financial, technical and marketing support, while Dahl would continue to host a separate, 90-minute daily podcast for his paid subscribers.

[38] In October 2018, Dahl confirmed to Feder by email that he was leaving WLS after four years in December 2018, in advance of the major weekday lineup shakeup the station announced would take place in early 2019.

Dahl also stated that he intended to continue to produce his daily podcasts in partnership with WLS's owner Cumulus Media.

At the time, Dahl was still under contract with CBS, who had agreed in July 2009 to partner with him to produce a daily, hour long podcast complete with a few commercials.

"[44] In addition to podcasting, Dahl maintained a presence with his fans through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, occasional newspaper articles (he wrote a regular column for the Chicago Tribune up until 2011), and various television and radio appearances.

This band has recorded and released several albums, including 1992's Tropical Tides[47] and 1997's Mai Tai Roa Ae.

[50][51] In 2007, backed by Des Moines, Iowa band The Nadas, Dahl embarked on a tour of Chicago-area concert venues.

[55][56] On November 9, 2013, Dahl and former partner Meier were both inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in recognition of their work together on the "Steve and Garry Show".

[65] Also in 1999, Steve Dahl admitted secretly recording conversations among staffers at WCKG because he suspected they were talking about him behind his back.