SO LONG, BIG DAN: It was just about this time of year, 52 years ago, June, 1966. I had just finished fourth grade at Roselle Park's Aldene elementary school, and the summer was just about underway. And, while I had vaguely followed popular music going back to the early part of the decade, and more so after The Beatles "invaded" North America, it wasn't until this month that the radio became my soundtrack.
The radio station in question was WABC, the biggest top 40 station there was. The top songs of the day, with the biggest preceded by the jingles "W-A-B-C....Super Hit One (hit, one, hit one), or Two or Three. The songs would end with the jingle "W-A-B-C" and a chime, to which the deejay would give the "chime time". And it was the deejays that made the station, the All-Americans, as they would be known at the time. Herb Oscar Anderson could be heard in the mornings, Ron Lundy middays. During the evening there was "Cousin Brucie" Morrow.
And then there was Dan Ingram.
"Big Dan", as he was known at the time was in a class by himself. A well modulated voice (he did voice-overs on many commercials, both on radio and television), he was the consummate professional on the air, who didn't take himself seriously, but added so much humor to the proceedings that had inspired many others after him.
Sadly, Dan Ingram passed away earlier this week. He was 83 years old.
During that magical summer of 1966, I listened religiously. Dan was awesome, ad libbing everything from the commercials, to the songs he would play, often "fooling around" with the names of the artists, the songs, and even banter during the commercials. He excelled at 'talking up" records (talking during a song's intro right up until the vocals start). One example during that summer of 1966 was the song "Lil Red Riding Hood", by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. The song would start off "who's out there walking in these woods", at which time Dan would say the same of some well known person. Back in the day, you would hear one song, maybe two, followed by a string of commercials; his commentary would be just as entertaining as listening to a song. For example, a Budweiser commercial go on; at its conclusion, the DJ voices over....Ingram said, "a product of ANHEUSER'S Busch, St. Louis".
Ingram had been in a few other cities before coming to New York's WABC in 1961. His first gig in the Big Apple was to fill in for the vacationing afternoon jock Chuck Dunaway. But he was told by management that he could not say his name, so during that broadcast, he would call himself "NOT Chuck Dunaway". But soon thereafter he established his afternoon drive-time presence. 1965's blackout that kept the entire northeast in darkness was another memorable moment for Ingram. Before the lights went out, the power dimmed and the records being played started slowing down. Not missing a beat, he made jokes...."this record is in the key of 'R'", and make light of a potential horrific situation. Here's an aircheck of what happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-kjUBpd2ks
While people like Cousin Brucie couldn't really adapt to the 1970's, Dan Ingram thrived in it. In 1971, when Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy", he'd lead with "Ringo's there, Ringo's Ringo's Everywhere". But it was in the middle part of that decade that he'd have a lot of fun with the music. For example, Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling", which starts with a chant of Ooga Chaka, Ooga Ooga Ooga Chaka, the song intro was in a loop, repeating the chant over and over. "Come to me, my people", he said. Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" he often called "Someone Shaved My Wife Tonight", and the stuttering in that same singer's "Bennie And the Jets" was repeated over and over. He'd substitute the word 'lunch' for 'love' in song titles..."Can't Get Enough of Your Lunch, Babe", for example. He'd scramble the lines of a record, too. He mixed up the lines of Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover", as well as the Bay City Rollers spelling of "S-A-TUR-DAY" in "Saturday Night".
While he often mocked the names of the artists, there was one in particular Ingram despised: Neil Sedaka. When the Brooklyn-born singer made a big comeback in 1974 with "Laughter In the Rain", Ingram exclaimed "it's ol' fat and ugly". Captain & Tennille's 1975 hit "Love Will Keep Us Together", written by Sedaka, during the outro, Toni Tennille sings "Sedaka's Back", prompting Ingram to interject before that, "what's the ugliest thing in the world to look at". Ingram admits he had talent, but that he just didn't like the guy.
Listen to this air check, from the week of January 20, 1976. It gives an excellent representation of what Ingram was doing at the time. It contains the special version of "Saturday Night", as well as a variation on the Budweiser commericals and a jab at Neil Sedaka, among other things:
http://www.musicradio77.com/images/ing1-21-76(s-a-t-nite).mp3
Every Tuesday afternoon, WABC would unveil its new survey. I was a huge fan of survey chart positions (hence my SNS chart below), so I would often tune in when I got home from school to see what was the number one record, or what number was my favorite song at the time. He would play them at random (Cousin Brucie would later count them down in order on Tuesday evenings). He would also announce the survey number when he played a song.
Right before 6 PM, there was a five minute ABC network spot, "Speaking of Sport" with sportscaster Howard Cosell. Ingram would announce that it's time to "broach the coach". His closing theme song, "Tri Fi Drums" was very memorable. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq39aI4O4g8
Later in the seventies, he'd introduce two new features: The "honor group of the day" and the "word of the day", along with a comedic definition. By this time, however, top 40 radio was changing. Most of the stations were now on FM and the music was getting more diversified. In 1979, changes were made, with some of the DJ's being let go. But Ingram, along with midday personality Ron Lundy remained. For a while Ingram was moved to morning drive. It wasn't a bad idea, given his humor (a precursor to the "morning zoos" of the 1980's like at Z-100 in New York), and his word and group of the day. Whether or not it worked is moot, since AM radio was starting to skew to older demographics. Ross and Wilson, the duo in which the former, Ross Brittain eventually wound up at the aforementioned Z-100 morning zoo, took over mornings, moving Ingram back to afternoons.
By the early 1980's, talk was starting to surface on the station. Aside from Ross and Wilson, Art Rust Jr had a sports show in the evenings, and the station carried Yankees baseball. Only Lundy and Ingram had music shows going on. By 1982, the decision to change the format to all talk was made, and on May 10 of that year, Lundy and Ingram teamed together for one last show and looking back at the years they were with the station. Along with moments over the last twenty years, they played some favorites. The final song played was "Imagine" by John Lennon, which was followed by the iconic W-A-B-C and the familiar chime. And then.....silence. Musicradio WABC was no more.
But of course, it didn't end for Ingram. He and Lundy were slated to host a new national satellite radio service shortly thereafter, but it did not get enough sponsors and it never got off the ground. Ingram did a national countdown show for a couple of years as well as continuing to do many voiceovers, but it wasn't until 1991 when he got a second act as DJ for WCBS-FM, the legendary oldies station, giving him another chance to play (and make snide remarks for) the songs he originally played. He was reunited with many other legendary jocks, including Morrow, Lundy, Harry Harrison, as well as deejays from competing WMCA such as Dan Daniel. He stayed at the station until his retirement in 2003.
In my opinion, in spite of him being well known, I felt he was underrated. He didn't seem to get the national respect that a Wolfman Jack, Casey Kasem or Rick Dees did, although to me, he was far better than those three legends. Ingram inspired many growing up during the sixties and seventies to get into radio. In recent years, he had some health issues, but according to his son Christopher, he died choking on a steak.
And thus, another hero of my childhood is gone. We will miss you, Big Dan.
You can listen to many of his airchecks, as well as all about the station in general over the years on the website www.musicradio77.com.
BRIEFLY: Neko Case's "Bad Luck" holds of Curtis Harding's "Need Your Love" to stay at the top of the SNS 100 for a second week. New York trio Interpol releases its first music in four years with album Marauder and lead single "The Rover", the Top Debut. The band has three SNS top 20 songs, including the #2 "Barricade" from 2010. Courtney Barnett also enters with "Charity" in my opinion her best since the SNS #1 "Dead Fox", and Wallows, from LA, make their SNS debut with "Pictures of Girls". All three debuts are worth checking out.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
June 24, 2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE: 
"Bad Luck"
Album: Hell-On
(2 weeks at #1)
|
9 |
| 2 | 2 | Curtis Harding - Need Your Love | 8 |
| 3 | 3 | Nick Waterhouse - Straight Love Affair | 9 |
| 4 | 4 | James Bay - Pink Lemonade | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | Florence + the Machine - Hunger | 7 |
| 6 | 9 | Kungs vs Cookin' on 3 Burners - This Girl | 4 |
| 7 | 5 | The War on Drugs - Pain | 10 |
| 8 | 7 | Phillip Phillips - Magnetic | 10 |
| 9 | 8 | Leon Bridges- Bad Bad News | 10 |
| 10 | 14 | The Big Takeover - Rainboots | 7 |
| 11 | 10 | Cold War Kids - Can We Hang On? | 10 |
| 12 | 15 | Beck -Colors | 8 |
| 13 | 13 | The Neighbourhood -Scary Love | 13 |
| 14 | 11 | Lovelytheband - Broken | 12 |
| 15 | 17 | Foster the People - I Love My Friends | 10 |
| 16 | 18 | Bishop Briggs - White Flag | 8 |
| 17 | 21 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Never Be
the Same"
Album: Camila
|
9 |
| 18 | 24 | Alice Merton - Lash Out | 6 |
| 19 | 16 | Tennis - Modern Woman● | 14 |
| 20 | 12 | Swimming With Bears - French Girls | 10 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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