Two decades behind the mic, still picking up the phone
Program Director at 22, founder of Steele Imaging in 2000, voice of 165+ radio stations and a roster of national brands — recorded in his own studio, delivered direct.
Radio first, since 1985
Dave Steele started in radio at 15 and was a Program Director by 22 — with early freelance voice and production work along the way. Two decades of on-air, production and programming is the foundation everything else sits on. When he voices a sweeper, he's heard it from the PD's chair; when he reads a sports promo, he knows what the tune-in has to do.
He founded Steele Imaging, Ltd. in 2000 to voice radio imaging full-time. The roster has since passed 165 stations across the US and Canada (and, for a while, one in Sweden), and the work widened into TV promo, national commercials, narration and character voice.
The studio
Everything is recorded in Dave's own broadcast-ready studio in Fort Wayne, Indiana — just south of Chicago and north of Indianapolis: Neumann microphones, direct-to-digital, edited and delivered in-house. Source Connect Pro is set up for live remote direction, so a producer in Chicago, Los Angeles or Toronto can direct the session and hear it as it's recorded. Standard batches go back the same day. The studio keeps Monday–Friday, 9am–4pm ET hours; deadlines outside that get a straight answer, not a maybe.
There's no agency layer. You talk to Dave, Dave records it, Dave sends it back. Revisions go the same route.
The work
Radio imaging for 165+ stations, from KOA Denver to small-market FMs. TV and sports promo for The CW, Paramount's UFC and Zuffa Boxing, Nebraska Athletics, Midco Sports Network, Minnesota Gophers, UConn and the Houston Dynamo. National commercials for Jimmy John's, Northern Tool & Equipment, Pizza Hut, Bud Light, Motorola, Honeywell, Ford Lincoln Mercury and a run of automotive brands. Narration for Caterpillar, Whirlpool, HP Aruba and outdoor and racing programming. The full list is on the clients and credits page, and most of it is playable on the portfolio.
On the character side, gamers know him as Cassette Man — Henry Emily — in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, the sixth Five Nights at Freddy's game. Same voice that reads a Caterpillar industrial piece; a very different room.
Before and during the microphone work
Dave studied electrical engineering, spent over 20 years as a firefighter (structure fires, auto extrication, rapid-intervention training) and two years doing scuba search and recovery for a county sheriff's department. It's not a résumé that most voice talent has, and it's why technical scripts get read by someone who understands them and why the serious reads carry weight without being pushed.
How to work with Dave
- Get a quote and a delivery time back directly — usually within the business day. Send the script, the deadline and the format through the contact page or call 260-220-3020.
- Recorded, delivered, revised: all with the same person.
Related
Ready when you are
Direct access to Dave Steele — no agents, no drawn-out negotiations. Send the script, the deadline and the format you need.
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