“Steve Segal was the most brilliant disc jockey that ever existed,” Charles Laquidara once said. “Made Howard Stern pale.” In June 1968, when WBCN needed more talent to complete its first lineup of deejays, the station imported West Coast underground radio veteran Steve Segal, who’d been working for the legendary Tom Donahue at KPPC-FM in Los Angeles.
Since every jock at WBCN had been encouraged to spin their own choice of musical selections, Segal’s taste and greater experience would serve as a beacon for the others to follow. On the air, Segal became “The Seagull,” commenting, “I guess [the name] had something to do with me coming in from California.”
DON LAW CONNECTION, DEPARTURE, RETURN AS “STEVEN CLEAN”
Promoter Don Law, who was busy running The Boston Tea Party when ‘BCN switched from classical to rock in May 1968, became Segal’ first roommate in Boston. “He moved in with me on Beacon Hill and we were the odd couple,” Segal said. “He was a really sweet guy, but he had a very tough time keeping it together. He was as disorganized as an adolescent, but he was brilliant.”
“There’s no question as I look back, but I was quite insane,” Segal says. “I was clearly bi-polar.” Despite his instant success as a deejay, it became entirely apparent that he might not be the best choice to lead the air staff, so Sam Kopper assumed that role. “It‘s been said that I was the first program director, but that‘s not totally accurate,” Kopper says. “When Steve arrived, he was the program director, and kind of like the ‘John Lennon’ of our station. I basically exercised and made real his visions.”
“The Seagull” returned to the West Coast in 1970, but became disillusioned with the radio industry shortly thereafter. However, when popular ‘BCN jock Maxanne decided to leave WBCN in 1977, Segal returned to fill her afternoon drive slot, calling himself “Steven Clean.” He spread more of his free-form merriment and mischief for about a year before departing 104.1 the second and final time.
(by Carter Alan)
Carter Alan is a former WBCN deejay now heard on WZLX-FM in Boston. He is the author of Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN (University Press of New England, 2013).
