After that, he ran around to stations on Long Island and walked into WALK in Patchogue, where the station manager (still believed it was 1934, and was playing Benny Goodman.) But he listened to Dan's tape and signed him on New Year's Day, 1954.
Ingram later joined Connecticut stations WNHC in New Haven and WICC in Bridgeport .Those jobs led to the big breaks -- DJ jobs in Dallas (KBOX) and St. Louis (WIL), where he boosted listenership and his own profile. He was hired by WABC in 1961.
With Ingram as its star DJ, the station's longtime programming chief, Rick Sklar, launched a format of "only the biggest hits - rock, pop and Motown - in an up-tempo atmosphere sustained by high-octane disc jockeys." The catchy jingles came to be as memorable as the songs, and much-hyped contests, such as an annual principal-of-the-year election, that hooked teenagers.
The 1965 blackout.
Ingram's style was perfectly matched to Sklar's format: Loose, fast, funny and go-with-the-flow, wherever that flow might lead either Ingram or listeners. In 1965, Ingram led 10,000 Beatles fans who had gathered outside the studio on a sing-along of the station's indelible jingle (77-W-A-B-C!)) On November 9, 1965, Ingram was on the air just as a blackout struck New York. As lights flickered in the studio, the song he was playing, Jonathan King's "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", also began to slow down. As it ground to a halt, Ingram quipped "everyone's running at half speed here, including me." Ingram is a well regarded DJ from his era. He was noted for his quick wit and ability to convey a humorous or satiric idea with quick pacing and an economy of words—a skill which has made him uniquely suited to, and successful within, modern personality-driven music radio. He is among the most frequently emulated radio personalities, cited as an influence or inspiration by numerous current broadcasters. One of Ingram's unique skills was his ability to "talk up" to the lyrics of a record, meaning speaking over the musical introduction and finishing exactly at the point when the lyrics started.
Behind the WABC mic March, 1975.Part of Dan's early years behind the microphone were spent at WIL in St. Louis. This aircheck is from 1961.
[ LISTEN ] (9:32)
“I like to have fun with my listeners,” Ingram told The New York Times in 1993 when he was at WCBS-FM. “I like them to use their minds. I like them to say, ‘I don’t believe he said that.’ But I don’t like to do sleaze.”
His irreverence was usually heard in short bursts, more often than not during musical intros before a song was sung.
Once, giving the weather report, he said: “I love brief showers. They’re fun. Watch those briefs coming down!” [ LISTEN ]
December 26, 1969.
2:00-3:00 PM(56:01)
3:00-4:00 PM
(55:25)
4:00-5:00 PM
(52:46)
5:00-6:00 PM
(55:10)
Dan's longtime closing theme song was "Tri-Fi Drums" by Billy May. An edited version of the song was used for broadcast.
Dan commented occasionally about the pronunciation of his name: jingles often are heard pronouncing his last name as "Ing-ram," but on numerous occasions, the man himself said it was correctly pronounced "In-gram."
Here's is Dan working at WABC on April 5, 1971. [ LISTEN ] (54:47)
WABC Charlie Greer, Bobby Vinton, Dan, Chuck Dunaway, and Scott Muni.
WABC November 28, 1980. (56:33)The station is WABC in New York. The date is February 26, 1975. And Dan is at the console playing all the hits.
[ LISTEN ] (46:41)
[ LISTEN ] (46:41)
Ingram held down the coveted afternoon drive spot at WABC for 21 years. It was at WABC Ingram uttered many of the patented lines, like "Hi Kemosabe", "Roll your bod", "You're in the honor group of the day", "On the Ingram Flingram" and "Zay gezunt", a Yiddish expression meaning "be well."
Dan was no choir boy either. On one occasion while discussing a lawsuit filed against him by another person who used his name, he said "shit". While the dump button managed to erase that profanity from the air, his second profanity ("fuck") accidentally aired due to a delay problem.
Dan celebrates his 20th anniversary at WABC on July 3, 1981. [ Part One ] (26:25) and [ Part Two ] (38:58)
Only a few songs get played and the ones that do get played all relate back to years in his WABC career. Newscaster Rick James reviews lots of historic events that happened during Dan's tenure, there are many phone calls from friends, family and stars and Dan plays many jingles, including some rarities and jingles made just for this anniversary show.
Dan Ingram was funny, quick, and fearless (he often goofed on commercials and the music). He had such a great voice, precision timing weaving his content into the intro of records, and somehow managed to communicate as if he were talking only to you. There were numerous great disc jockeys. The Real Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan, Larry Lujack, Gary Owens, and Don McKinnon. Dan Ingram might have been the greatest of them all. He said more hilarious things in one hour than anyone else did in a week - for almost 50 years.
During Dan's career he was awarded the following; The Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews for public service announcements, National Radio Hall of Fame nominee in 2004 (although not inducted), National Radio Hall of Fame inductee in 2007, and the New York Achievement In Radio (A.I.R.) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
During a career retrospective at the Museum of Television and Radio in 2001, Ingram recalled that one of his most vivid memories from WABC occurred on his last day: "I got a letter, neatly typed, and in the middle paragraph, this person wrote 'I was a battered child, and one day, standing on the Brooklyn Bridge with a transistor radio, you made me laugh, and I didn't jump. Dan thought, "Maybe that's what made it all worthwhile."
Dan with his wife Maureen-Donnelly.In addition to his son Christopher, who wrote a novel, “Hey Kemosabe!” (2014), based in part on his father’s experiences, Dan is survived by his wife, Maureen Donnelly; four other sons, Daniel, David, Robert and Phillip; four daughters, Patricia Gavigan, Michelle Rydberg and Christina and Jacqueline Ingram; two stepdaughters, Laura Turetsky and Linda Ingram-Vargas; 26 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
His first wife, Kathleen Patricia (Snediker) Ingram, died in a car accident in 1962; his marriages to Anita Strand and Jeannie Weigel ended in divorce.
Ingram’s freewheeling, smart-alecky approach had its moments of anxiety. In 1993, he told The Times that a disc jockey’s job is filled with “moments of terror interrupted by long periods of utter boredom.” “You talk for 10 seconds, the music plays, you’ve got nothing to do.”
During a career retrospective at the Museum of Television and Radio in 2001, Ingram recalled that one of his most vivid memories from WABC occurred on his last day: “I got a letter, neatly typed, and in the middle paragraph, this person wrote 'I was a battered child, and one day, standing on the Brooklyn Bridge with a transistor radio, you made me laugh, and I didn't jump.” Dan thought, “Maybe that's what made it all worthwhile.”
WHERE DID DAN WORK? Here is the list: WNRC, WALK-FM, WABC, WCBS-FM.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Musc Radio 77, New York Radio Archive, Rock Radio Scrapbook, Hollywood and Levine.
