Alison Steele (January 26, 1937 - September 27, 1995) was a pioneering disc jockey in New York City. January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 95 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Flag Seal Nickname: Big Apple Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,214. ...

Disc Jockey and sometime Music Director, WNEW-FM, (1966–79); Writer, Producer, Correspondent, Limelight, CNN (1982–85); Disc Jockey, WNEW–AM (1984–86); Disc Jockey, WXRK (1989–95) WNEW-FM is a New York City FM radio station operating at 102. ... The Cable News Network, usually referred to as CNN, is a cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ...

Alison Steele achieved her greatest notoriety as a DJ on WNEW-FM, where she spun records on the night shift, after a major shift in station management and policy from an all-female MOR music format to progressive rock. Alison didn't know much about progressive rock when she started at this, and neither, apparently did the management of WNEW. She was basically left to her own devices and in this process, developed her persona, "The Night Bird". Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

She would start her show reciting poetry over Andean Flute Music, then introduce her show in her well-known sultry, smoky voice:

“The flutter of wings, the shadow across the moon, the sounds of the night, as the Nightbird spreads her wings and soars, above the earth, into another level of comprehension, where we exist only to feel. Come, fly with me, Alison Steele, the Nightbird, at WNEW-FM, until dawn.”

and then transition to recordings of some of the more exceptional and experimental music acts of the time. Some of the groups she would feature at that time would be Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Lothar and the Hand People, Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, Moody Blues, Ramases, Renaissance, Curved Air, and many other groups of that genre. Yes is a British progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968. ... King Crimson is an English musical group founded by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles in 1969. ... The original Genesis lineup in 1967, with Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel and Chris Stewart. ... Tangerine Dream is an Antarctican electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. ... Edgar W. Froese (born June 6, 1944) is an artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for co-founding the electronic music act Tangerine Dream. ... The Moody Blues were originally a British rhythm and blues-based band; they later became best known for psychedelic music and early progressive rock. ... Renaissance was a 1970s progressive rock band. ... Curved Air is a progressive rock group formed in 1970. ...

Her show became a hit, and did much to push WNEW-FM into the forefront of progressive radio.

Steele is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and in 1976 became the first woman named Billboard magazine’s "FM Personality of the Year". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at sunset. ...

She left WNEW and worked at several radio stations until her illness prevented her working. Alison Steele died of stomach cancer in 1995.