Steve Post, Veteran New York Radio Personality, Passes Away at 70

Steve Post, legendary New York radio personality for more than 50 years, died yesterday. He was 70 years old. Steve was the acerbic host of Morning Music, heard on WNYC-FM for 25 years. Every morning Steve read his version of the news. When Mayor Koch had a stroke, his doctors announced that he had "the brain of a 12-year old." Ever after Steve referred to His Honor as "him with the twelve year old brain." Weather reports were called, "the weather lies." Steve delivered news of leaks from nuclear reactors always ending with the line, "no significant amount of radiation was released," whether in the wire copy or not, read absolutely straight with an incredulous voice. It became his mantra on the many occasions of nuclear failure.

Steve had absolutely no respect for authority of any kind. He once read an NPR spot for Squirrel-Away, a non-toxic substance designed to repel squirrels, the cockroaches of the countryside, who will eat everything in sight, including your house. "Who wudd wanna hurt da itty bitty widdle sqwuirrels?" said Steve, channeling Elmer Fudd. Mr. Squirrel-Away, a squirrel, called NPR to protest. Steve was asked by WNYC to apologize. Big mistake.

Steve raised millions for WNYC and WBAI during fund drives. His pitches were laced with humor and gentle mockery of the station's pretensions. He opened one matching fund by claiming that he had locked Mary Nichols, the station manager, into the 17th subbasement of the Municipal Building, refusing to release her until that hour's goal was met. More recently Steve hosted The No Show, a wide ranging, often live, mix of opinion and interviews. Steve's world view was perfectly expressed by the show's title.

Steve Post started his radio career in 1965 at WBAI-FM, the alternative Pacifica station in New York, as the bookkeeper. When it soon became apparent that Steve was profoundly unqualified for that position, WBAI put him on the air (a Pacifica tradition), first as an announcer, then, for many years, the host of The Outside, a free-form program of personal commentary, satire, oddball guests, phone calls and music. The program was heard on weekend overnights.

Free-form radio was created at WBAI by Bob Fass, host of Radio Unnameable, still running on WBAI since the early 60s. I was then WBAI's "morning man." We copied Fass, adapting the form to suit our individual personalities and world view. The triumvirate of Fass, Post and Josephson was a crucial element in the transformation of WBAI from a super-serious, often stuffy, mix of left politics, lectures, great documentaries and avant garde culture, to the New York radio hub of sixties' counterculture.

WBAI announced, and sometimes led, a zillion demonstrations. Programs and personalities on the station supported the struggle for civil rights, protests against the Vietnam War, the use of recreational drugs, the fight against injustice of all sort, and later, women's and gay rights. All underscored with an eclectic combination of comedy, satire, brilliant mixes of found sound, skillfully combined with folk, protest, avant garde, classical or rock music.

Steve Post loomed large in this era. His personality was the same on air as off: mordant, satirical and very funny. He was soft spoken, low key, depressed, but also warm and loving, under the carapace of a curmudgeon. He ridiculed the absurdity of modern life; general stupidity; self-important politicians; puffed up press releases, and magisterial memos from management. He skewered confidential memos marked "for station personnel only," reading them on the air exactly as written, in a mocking tone. For this and for many other acts of rebellion and courage, Steve was my hero.

Born in the Bronx, Steve styled himself a "D-minus Dewitt Clinton dropout." He was in fact one of the smartest people I've ever known, though he never set foot in any institution of higher learning. Steve had politics. He cared deeply about the state of the world, was moved to anger by injustice visited on the many by the few. His heroes included Pete Seeger, Bob Fass, Bayard Rustin, A.J. Muste and Lenny Bruce. Steve was Lenny's assistant for a brief, chaotic period. The Outside featured offbeat personalities like Marshall Efron, Paul Krassner, Brother Theodore, and someone who called herself, The Enema Lady. Don't ask.

Steve described himself as a "physical coward." One morning he found himself locked inside a bathroom on the 25th floor of the Municipal Building. Pounding on the door aroused no one. With no apparent way out, he opened the window, climbed out on the ledge, and walked most of the way around the building until he found an open window. He returned to master control just as the record ended. Some coward!

Steve Post had no enemies, none. He was deeply loved by his friends and family, by his colleagues and his fans. With the possible exception of Richard Nixon. Steve was obsessed with everything Nixon, with the many self-reinventions and self-destructions of Tricky Dick. Steve wasn't exactly a Nixon hater, more an ambivalent Nixon observer, a wry curator of all the contradictions embodied by our 37th president. Like moth to flame, he was both attracted and repelled by his hero's ability to "get away with it" for so long.

Steve's collection of Nixon memorabilia: campaign buttons, posters, books, articles, photos and marginalia is unrivaled, the Nixon Presidential Library East. He finally met his antihero at a session where Nixon recorded his memoir. Steve, who possessed a magnificent, resonant radio voice, was hired to record wraparounds for the audio book. Steve left the session with copy of Nixon's memoir, personally inscribed to him, and a picture of Steve and Dick arm-in-arm. Nixon had no idea who Steve was, nor of Steve's career-long fascination with him.

Steve published a memoir of his time at WBAI, "Playing in the FM Band." He organized a "Fat In" in Central Park to celebrate the overweight, and to counter the deeply-ingrained stigma in our thin-obsessed modern society. (Steve was a fat kid, but as an adult, really wasn't.)

Steve Post also served as WBAI's station manager. As station manager he made a great radio host. If someone is really good at doing something, why, in America, are they too often promoted to management? Certainly not, in Pacifica, for power or money.

Steve wrote an article for WBAI's program guide about the incredible stresses of managing the station, with the semi-serious title, "Now I Know Why Lew Hill Committed Suicide." Lewis Hill was one of the principal founders of Pacifica. Hill took his life after being thrown out of KPFA, Berkeley, the first Pacifica station, that he conceived and got off the ground. Pacifica's Jesus! Pacifica stations have survived half a hundred near-death experiences.

What kind of God would take Steve Post and Margot Adler in the same week?

Steve Post was my friend for 50 years. I loved and admired him without reservation. We fought on occasion, but our friendship and love for each other continued for five decades. He is survived by Laura Rosenberg, his devoted, loving wife, friend and companion of 47 years; a brother, Gerry; a brother-in-law, Charles Rosenberg; nieces Leah and Jessica Rosenberg; two complicated dogs, Phoebe and Olive; and cockatiel named Moorea. And by more friends and fans than would fit in the Manhattan phone book.

Steve's radio voice and soul were unique; there will never be anyone like him.

Obituary by Larry Josephson