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.
He would imitate the way radio announcers talked and practiced reading ads form the newspaper. In 1959, he appeared with Mason Alan Dinehart, another Wyatt Earp alumnus, in the episode "Half a Loaf" of the syndicated series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. ", Steele appeared as "Kirby" with Agnes Moorehead and Madlyn Rhue in the 1959 episode "In Memoriam" of another ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. On December 12, 2011, the Hartford city council voted unanimously 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. He also was billed as Bob Bradbury Jr..[1], Steele was born in Portland, Oregon, into a vaudeville family. In real life, forty years before F Troop, Steele played a supporting role in his father's 1926 film Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo.
In cowboy movies shown on TV in the 1940s he played a dashing, but short cowboy replete with eye-make-up and lipstick. Robert Lee Steele was born in Kansas City, Mo., on July 13, 1911. In 1950, the program was renamed The Bob Steele Show. Like many kids of his era, Steele was fascinated with radio and crystal sets. Listeners looked forward to Steele’s regular features like “Word for the Day” and “Tiddlywinks” which offered little known facts of little importance. He moved to Los Angeles in 1930, where he sold motorcycles, did work as a movie stuntman, and … He became a junior staff announcer at WTIC on Oct. 1, 1936. Like many kids of his era, Steele was fascinated with radio and crystal sets. [citation needed], Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Steele_(actor)&oldid=956152511, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Articles needing additional references from May 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2018, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Virginia Nash Tatem (1939–1988, his death), This page was last edited on 11 May 2020, at 19:32. Robert Lee "Bob" Steele (July 13, 1911 – December 6, 2002) was with WTIC Radio for more than 66 years, and dominated the morning radio scene in Southern New England for most of that time. He took over The G. Fox Morning Watch radio show on WTIC Radio AM 1080 in 1943. G. Fox & Co. was the premier department store chain in the greater Hartford area. He became a junior staff announcer at WTIC on Oct. 1, 1936. Nothing brightened up a winter morning more for generations of school-age kids than when Bob Steele announced that their district would have no school that day. It was no mean feat since he had to be on the air for his morning drive time radio show at 5:30 AM. [1], After years of touring, the family settled in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in the late 1910s, where his father soon found work in the movies, first as an actor, later as a director. Barbara Stuart played the gambler Poker Alice in the same episode, which also features Reed Hadley and Richard Devon.[5]. Some of the above material from Simon Pure's The Real Bob Steele Article posted by former WTIC engineer Bob Scherago, who worked with Steele from 1963 through 1977. 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. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911, Steele tried the restaurant business, boxing and announcing motorcycle races in Los Angeles before focusing on radio. He would imitate the way radio announcers talked and practiced reading ads form the … He also was billed as Bob Bradbury Jr.. In 1943, he assumed the morning drive time slot on WTIC and began to make radio history. He often told folksy, punny stories about his numerous relatives, including his uncles Coldrolled and Stainless, and his aunts Bessemer and Amalgamated.