We recently lost radio legend when Dan Ingram. Ingram passed away on June 24 in Florida. His broadcast history takes him back to the great days of AM radio where he was part of 77 WABC and later WCBS(FM). For this Off the Beaten Path we’re going to look at some memorable people and moments that are part of radio history.
77 WABC New York
As a young guy living in Ohio in the early ’80s, I’d drive back home from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, to Dover (Ohio), a three-hour drive. My station of choice even in the days of FM was 77 WABC in New York City! I had no trouble picking up the station in the evening on my drive. Here was the TV report on the day when WABC went from music to news/talk. Of interest is the focus on the only remaining music station, WNBC (which soon would sell to new owners who put WFAN on that AM frequency with sports).
WNBC Becomes WFAN
Here’s WABC(TV) news report from 1988 announcing WNBC(AM) radio’s sale and how WFAN took over 660 AM and music went away from AM in the New York City radio market. On a side note, you get to hear the late, great Ernie Anderson (“The Lovvvvveeee Boat” and ABC TV network announcer) doing the lead-in for WABC(TV) news at the beginning of this report.
If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, it’s a company that provides web space for users to post information, (really mainly images) on a variety of interests. Some of it is promotional for businesses, other just hobbyist. Here’s a fun link to many old radio images that someone has collected, including images from the U.K., U.S. and other countries.
And now for some people,
Dan Ingram
Let’s look back with a couple airchecks from Dan Ingram. We start with Ingram on WABC in 1966,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4bZnbfj5OY
and wrap-up with a 2001 aircheck with him on WCBS(FM) on his 40th anniversary of “playing radio.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMHYogC6YE4
Charlie Tuna
In the mid to late 1980s, I worked for the Armed Forces Network (formerly known as Armed Forces Radio and TV Service or AFRTS). We had a lot of U.S. radio talent who produced programs we aired, along with our own local radio people. My station was part of the European Broadcast Squadron (EBS), and we were 100.2 EBS Torrejon (Madrid). One particular announcer who was very popular was Charlie Tuna. We lost Charlie just two years ago in 2016 from cancer. Here’s info about Charlie including a great air check.
Radio Guy — Don Pardo
We all remember Don Pardo from game shows, “Saturday Night Live” and NBC (for 60 years) with his infectious delivery. A friend who knew him said “he was as genuine and regular as your grandpa.” Pardo got his start in radio. Here’s a great interview from NPR with Don Pardo featured on “Weekend Edition” from January 1994. Of course, Mr. Pardo passed away in August 2014 at the age of 96. Enjoy listening to the “one-of-a-kind” Don Pardo here!
And finally …
From The Atlantic comes Weird, Wonderful Photos from the Archives. The second picture is radio related (from the early days of NBC). Wait until you see the costumes those poor people had to wear!
If you stumble across a good or unusual website that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is [email protected].
