When you meet Steve Deace in person, it’s hard to imagine how he manages to infuriate so many people. A smile is plastered on his face and he is much more prone to drop video game references than to discuss the hot-button issues.

“I’d rather be at home with my family or playing dynasty mode on NCAA [Football] 2007,” Deace said about his afternoon drive-time talk show on WHO radio. “I mean, I love it, but you have to maintain your priorities.”

But in his short time on WHO, Deace (rhymes with “pace”) has become a lightning rod of controversy. Though his political views fit in nicely with the station’s conservative bent (the shows preceding his are hosted by Rush Limbaugh and local conservative talk-radio veteran Jan Mickelson), his religious leanings set him apart. Unlike many in the conservative radio world, Deace wears his religion on his sleeve, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks of that.

“The key to my show,” he said, “is that I’ve managed to alienate just about everyone, and I have to say, I couldn’t be more proud of that.”

Deace was born July 28, 1973, at Iowa Lutheran Hospital to a 15-year-old mother. He never knew his biological father, and though his stepfather did his best, Deace said that just wasn’t enough. He wasn’t abusive or absent, but he also wasn’t his father.

“He came from a dysfunctional family as well,” he said. “When you grow up not knowing your father, it’s hard. It leaves a void in you.”

He succumbed to excesses to fill that void, he said, but none of it seemed to work.

“I drank like a fish when I was younger,” Deace said. “And I had a collection of porn. But I just couldn’t find true happiness.”

Then in 2003, Deace attended a church service in Kansas City, where he listened to people tell their stories about the damage fathers can do to their sons.

“Ten minutes in, I was bawling,” he said.

Those in attendance were then asked to come to the front of the sanctuary and share their stories with the group.

“But there was no way I was going down there,” he said. “I thought that kind of thing was for Pentecostal preachers on Sunday morning television. But something made me get up out of my chair. God dragged me down there, and since that day, I am not the same person. I sold out to my faith.”

It is that faith that fuels his show, almost evangelically so, for three hours a day.

“And there is no number low enough to show how little I care how that may offend people,” Deace said. “I used to say I was part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. Now, I say I’m part of the only conspiracy that has ever worked: the Jesus conspiracy.”



LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM

“I wish I could say I worked hard and strived and eventually all that paid off for me,” Deace said. “But in all actuality, I’ve stumbled into every job I’ve had. I really haven’t put any effort into finding these jobs at all, and I have no degree, special education or training.”

Before venturing into talk radio, Deace worked as a part-time sportswriter for The Des Moines Register. Deace has been a fixture in sports talk radio in the area since 1999, most recently at WHO’s sister station KXNO. In June, he was given WHO’s coveted 4 to 7 p.m. drive-time spot.

“We don’t make many changes at this radio station,” said Van Harden, WHO’s program director. “So when we do, you can rest assured that we took a long, calculated look at what we were doing. We wouldn’t have made the change if we thought we were going to lose ratings.”

Harden said Deace has always been able to generate a large audience no matter what station he was on due to his unique style, and the hope is he can take that even further in his new position.

“You either like Steve or you just can’t stand him,” Harden said. “And I think that is why his show is so popular.”

Deace said his show is about finding the truth, even if that truth makes people feel squeamish.

“Sometimes you have to alienate someone before you can have an honest dialogue with them,” he said. “People seem to have forgotten how to have an honest debate.”

Truth, as Deace sees it, is rooted deeply in his faith, and this puts him at odds with many of his contemporaries, such as Rush Limbaugh.

“I used to want to be Rush,” he said. “Now I can’t stand to listen to him. I know that probably isn’t the best thing to say since we’re on the same station, but it saddens me that so many people of faith have anointed him as their spokesman.”

So, though he considers himself a conservative, he is quick to point out that the Republican Party is not God’s party. He also said he would have voted for Ed Fallon, the darling of Iowa liberals, if Fallon had decided to run as an independent for governor.

“I would rather vote for a person of conviction because they can eventually come to the truth,” Deace said. “The mushy middle is what I have the most problems with.”

And it is against that mushy middle that Deace said he wages war every day.

“This is always what I wanted to do,” he said. “I enjoyed doing the sports stuff, and we still do that from time to time, but I now get the chance to have a platform in the community. That really fires me up. And my faith allows me to call it as I see it.”



ISSUES OF THE DAY

When Deace looks into his crystal ball, he sees a political reformation around the corner. And he isn’t using the term reformation as a metaphor.

“The party apparatus of both the Democrats and Republicans don’t speak to the issues people care about anymore,” he said. “On the left, working-class folks are forced to vote for candidates whose values are not the same as their own, candidates who are pushing an agenda of abortion on demand and gay marriage.”

And apparently the right isn’t doing much better.

“Republicans have a materialistic, Wall Street-centered view of the world that is not consistent with a Christian worldview,” he said. “I’m not looking for everyone to take a vow of poverty here, but they don’t share the value system of the majority of Americans.”

As Deace sees it, the working class must sacrifice their values for money in the form of either tax cuts or welfare.

He said the country is headed down the same path it took before the Civil War, when social conservatives and economic conservatives split the Whig Party in half over the issue of slavery, giving birth to the Republican Party.

So, what issues will be splitting the electorate up this time? As Deace sees it, three issues dominate the political landscape, and both parties are off the mark in the way they are dealing with them: eminent domain, immigration and gay marriage.

“Leadership in both parties is out of whack,” he said. “Look at gay marriage. Even those politicians who say they are opposed to redefining marriage aren’t actually interested in stopping it. They just want it as an issue.”

Most Americans, Deace said, do not want to see marriage redefined to include homosexual couples. If the people in charge don’t realize that, “they will get bludgeoned and deserve it.”

For those of a progressive or liberal mindset, it sometimes takes some intestinal fortitude to keep from blowing a gasket when listening to Deace.

“I still don’t understand exactly what is so objectionable about civil marriage,” said Sharon Malheiro, a Des Moines attorney and current president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community of Central Iowa. “This isn’t a religious issue; it’s about being denied access to the same rights and privileges because of sexual orientation.”

Malheiro said she has listened to Deace’s show and believes he speaks for a small, vocal minority, not the majority that he claims to represent.

“No one is going to force your church to perform these ceremonies, we’re just talking about civil rights,” she said. “But they are entitled to their opinion, even if I don’t agree with it. That’s why we live in America.”

Malheiro also believes a lot of what conservative radio hosts say is just for shock value and ratings, not necessarily what they believe wholeheartedly. And, she said, she is sure that in the future people will look back at this debate the same way they look back now at those who opposed interracial marriage and other civil rights issues of the past.

“Companies have been providing domestic partner benefits for years, and the world didn’t come crashing down,” she said. “Fifteen years ago, that idea would have been an absurd concept.”

Deace said the establishment of gay marriage, the violation of private property rights (eminent domain) and no rule of law (immigration reform) is not the America the founding fathers laid out, and people won’t sit idly by and watch it happen.



GOING TOO FAR

Deace is the first to admit that sometimes he goes a little too far.

“I over generalize sometimes,” he said. “I know I’m guilty of that. I think I’m right, but yeah, sometimes I probably go too far.”

Harden said WHO receives negative feedback from the public about every show on the station, and whenever he has a problem with the show, Deace is always receptive to his ideas.

“We talk about the shows, sometimes ahead of time, but usually afterward,” he said. “I think he is really responsible about what he puts out there.”

Deace said he has dealt with his share of criticism. At this year’s state fair, while standing outside the station’s studio on the fairgrounds, several people complained to him about the “new guy” and how terrible he was, without realizing they were speaking to the new guy himself.

“I don’t need any affirmation,” he said. “Usually, the stuff they say to my face is pretty nice. I don’t necessarily like being the bad guy, but someone has to be.”

His true joy comes from his faith and his family. He lives in Urbandale with his wife, Amy, and their two daughters, Anastasia, 5, and Zoë, 1, and they’re expecting a third child in February. His wife works part time at Point of Grace Church in Waukee as well as taking care of their children. The two met online, looking for “exactly what two young Gen-X’ers look for online,” Deace said.

But even though this is where the relationship started, it soon grew much more serious, and now, Deace said, he can’t imagine life without her.

So with this in mind, a successful career, though nice, isn’t his ultimate goal.

“No one’s headstone says ‘he was a good provider’ or ‘he brought home the bacon,'” he said. “Being a good father and husband is all I really have to be.”

Looking back at the unusual path his life has taken, Deace smiles and says he is more surprised than anyone.

“I never knew where my path would lead me, and at the time, if I knew, there is no way I would have taken it,” he said. “Who knew I would one day be sticking up for the same Ned Flanders types I used to ridicule.”

“People would be amazed to meet Steve in person,” Harden said. “He actually is a likable guy. Maybe he’s just mellower off the air.”

Deace turned the anger of his youth into a deep faith, and that has in turn given him 50,000 watts to share his message with the world. At the end of the day, however, his future in local radio doesn’t depend on being likable, being controversial or a mixture of the two. Radio is a business, and if the ratings aren’t there, then that’s the ballgame.

“His show is still too young to tell what impact his moving into that slot has had,” Harden said. “The bottom line for any show is how many people are listening. It’s like a hardware store; you put on the shelf what sells. But we have no reason to doubt that Steve will do well.”

Deace understands the business and cherishes every moment.

“I don’t know how many days God is giving me to do this,” he said. “When I’m done, I want to be able to say I fought the good fight and finished the race.”