Yvonne Daniels

THE DANIELS FAMILY ARCHIVE

YVONNE DANIELS

Yvonne Daniels, was a famous Disc-jockey and was known as the ‘First Lady of Chicago Radio’ from 1964 to 1973 Daniels worked at WSDM, where in 1967 she was a member of the first all-female radio station. Yvonne Daniels was the first woman radio host for WLS in 1973. “Smack Dab in the middle of your FM Dial” Daniels was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. A 30 year plus Chicago radio career included stints at WYNR, WCFL, WSDM, WLS-AM, WVON, and WGGI-AM/FM and most recently WNUA, Yvonne Daniels is credited with paving the way for several generations of female radio personalities.

Educated at Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville and at Tuskegee University. Her first radio job was at WOBS a Jacksonville R&B station at age 17 while she took singing lessons and sang at beachfront nightclubs, until she found radio work at WBBR in East St Louis where she was soon hired by Chicago’s WYNR to do a jazz program to compete directly with that of the rival WCFL’s popular overnight Disc-Jockey, Sid McCoy. When WYNR went all-news a few years later, McCoy urged WCFL to hire Miss Daniels and team them together. They were a hit combination and were heard over large areas of the country due to WCFL’s 50,000-watt signal. When WCFL went to Top 40 format Miss Daniels joined WSDM where she remained until 1973.

At WSDM billed as “The station with the girls” for its all-female air staff, known as a jazz expert Yvonne Daniels was the only personality allowed to program her own music. Her 7pm to 11pm jazz programme “Daniels Den” consistently ranked No.1 in its time slot. Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, a frequent guest on Miss Daniels shows and later her co-host at WNUA’s ‘Saturday Night Jazz with Ramsey and Yvonne’ traced her radio success to her early training as a singer “Her background gave her a feel for working with an audience and communicating with them. I started calling her ‘Lady Bird’ after Charlie Parker, because she could improvise on the air just like a jazz musician”.

In 1973 she was hired to host the overnight show on Top 40 giant WLS-AM another 50,000 watt powerhouse, where she became the stations first female disc-jockey. In a 1976 interview she said “I decided that I had to make good there, because if I didn’t cut it they might never hire another woman” WVAZ morning personality Richard Steele who worked with Miss Daniels at WGCI-AM described her as a very private individual “This is a tough business, especially for a woman and she had to develop a pretty tough exterior” he said “but that wasn’t really her, she was in reality one of the most sensitive and caring people I’ve ever met” In numerous interviews Daniels refused to divulge her age, fearing that radio station bosses might use it against her.

After nine years at WLS-AM she was hired by black-orientated WVON in 1982 to do the prestigious morning-drive show. When the station became WGCI-AM she was switched to the midday show in 1984 which was simulcast on WGCI-FM. Later relegated to overnights she left the station in 1989 when WNUA general manager John Gehron, her former boss at WLS-AM hired her to do the morning show at the new “Smooth Jazz Station WNUA”.

Diagnosed with Breast Cancer later that same year, typically she kept the seriousness of her illness a secret, “Yvonne was a consummate pro right until the end” Gehron said “she had the unique ability to reach out and make a bond with the listener. She was so successful because people could feel that what she said on the air was coming straight from her heart”.

In June 1991 she passed away at 54 and a part of Dearborn Street Bridge in Chicago was named ‘Yvonne Daniels Way’ after her, she had lived in the Chicago landmark, the nearby Marina Towers. Yvonne Daniels was an African American broadcast pioneer, she broke through the gender barrier with her beautiful, soothing, sultry voice that added a touch of class to any radio broadcast.
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