Time off the air takes toll on Steve Dahl

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: Time off the air takes toll on Dahl : Phil Rosenthal | Media : December 19, 2008 : Gov. Rod Blagojevich is out jogging as he maintains there's nothing for him to run from. Drew Peterson, meanwhile, wants to take another walk down the aisle. : "I know, it's killing me," Steve Dahl said Thursday from Florida. "Yesterday, Blagojevich, in his jogging suit - he looked like a girl going out to do Pilates." : It's been about two weeks since Dahl's final show for CBS Radio's WJMK-FM 104.3, a span that he said "seems like two months," especially with Peterson, a person he impersonated to great effect over the last year or so, reportedly having proposed marriage to yet another woman. : "I've got a feeling her dad is going kill him before he gets a chance to do anything to her," Dahl said. "That's the feeling I got from the paper today. ... It's like they all waited until I was gone." : A Chicago radio personality for more than 30 years whose freewheeling, free-form style inspired a generation of voices, Dahl was cut loose by CBS in part because Arbitron's switch to electronic devices to compile the audience estimates used to set ad rates didn't reward his program the way its old diary system did. : Dahl, 54, believes he might have cracked the code and figured out how to eventually become more effective in a Portable People Meter world, despite issues such as sample size that have kept the third-party Media Research Council from accrediting the new methodology. : But time ran out, thanks to a bum economy and accounting advantages for CBS in honoring the remaining 2 1/2 years on Dahl's contract but taking him off the air. : He has the freedom and resources to do things he has always wanted, such as cash in frequent flier miles for a round-the-world ticket or go to surf school. But the terms of his CBS payout are limiting concerning work. : It's not clear whether he can branch out into TV - beyond a one-off special such as hosting "Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards" in February - or podcasts. : "I say the language is vague. They say the language is broad. And that sounds expensive," he said. : So even as he's relaxing in Florida, it sometimes feels like a far warmer place. : "On paper, I'm a genius. I'm going to get paid for 2 1/2 years and have total freedom to do whatever I want, except the one thing I like to do most of all, which is be on the air," Dahl said. "I can live with it, I have to. ... It would be irresponsible for me to not take this deal." : He knows others don't have it so good, and he is respectful of that. : "What I feel bad about most of all are the people who worked on the show," he said. "They worked really hard, especially in the last year, and obviously they don't have the same protections that I have." : There's now a countdown clock on his Dahl.com Web site indicating the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining on his CBS deal, which is worth more than $1 million annually and expires in June 2011. He relays his observations to fans through blog postings and Twitter tweets. His wife fills in some of the personal details on her own Janet's Planet blog. : "He is not a man who is accustomed to unstructured time," Janet Dahl wrote earlier this week. "He watches me happily frittering away the day. I read the papers just to know stuff, not to broadcast it. It is alien to Steve, where every molecule of his being funnels into work product." : Dahl has lost weight since leaving the air, his meal and sleep schedule askew. An occasional columnist for the Chicago Tribune, he hopes to contribute more to the paper now. The other day he wrote a song. : "I haven't written a song in four or five years," he said. "It's sort of like my brain has to rewire itself to find other outlets." : (Chicago Tribune)

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