Post Date: November 10, 2004
Listening to this I thought I woke up on a different planet! This is the same Dan Ingram we know and love from WABC, 92-KTU and WCBS-FM (not to mention a short lived morning show on KRTH Los Angeles while the late Robert W. Morgan was sick). But, it’s NOT WABC!
As the story goes, Ingram, Ron Lundy and some other well known WABC jocks were going to join former MusicRadio 77 PD Rick Sklar in a new satellite radio service called SuperRadio. It was supposed to launch around June of ‘82, after WABC flipped to talk. In fact, Big Dan alluded to that fact during his final show on WABC with Ron Lundy in May of 1982. Inevitably, the network never got off the ground. Frankly, I never heard any of the promotional material for it, until I got this in a package of hundreds of airchecks from (literally) an unknown contributor.
Why the network didn’t launch is somewhat of a mystery to me, since it’s now apparent that much preparation went into it. As you listen to this demo, you’ll figure out that the jingles are for ficticious radio stations… there isn’t and never was a WJCT FM 101 in Boston, and WSPR isn’t in St. Louis. Never was, it’s in Springfield Massachusetts… an AM station airing hispanic programming. (I shoulda just said the names have been changed to protect the innocent… )
I can’t say much else about this aircheck aside from the fact it’ll blow your mind when you realize this was only a demo – I could swear this was just Big Dan Ingram on WABC. Oh, what could have been if this network had gotten off the ground!
It’s a World Premier aircheck on the site where Classic Radio Lives!
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This is a good aircheck of SuperRadio with Dan Ingram in it.
Kinda interesting to hear because it brings back a lot of memories.
I love this aircheck!!
That is the old Dan Ingram. He sounds the way he did in the early eighties on WABC. It is not the restrained Ingram from CBS-FM who had his creativity somewhat constrained by their format.
Dan Ingram sounds better when he is left to produce himself. What would radio be like today, especially oldies radio, if the show was a success?
I hope that Dan will get back into radio and do a show where he can produce himself.
It would be interesting to see what their line-up would have been.
ABC cancelled it’s plans to offer the satellite-fed format – not enough stations signed on to give ABC brass a comfort zone. Remember, satlellite transponder costs in 1982 were around $1000/hr in 1982 dollars … and this didn’t include the “over scale” Dan Ingram, studio and production costs, etc. Also scheduled to debut, besides Ingram and Lundy were Bob Dayton & Larry Lujack (I’ve got an aircheck of LL commenting to Tommy Edwards abt. flying out and signing the contract). Oh what could have been ….
Listening to this demo of Ingram on Superradio
was incredible. Jingles, audio chain, and ofcourse Big Dan with apparantly no formatic restraints. Man this is great radio.
To the guy who wanted to know “…what their line-up would have been.” I have heard a couple of names on JAM’s Superadio jingle Demo. The list was a who’s who of (then) living legends: Ingram, Ron Lundy, Bob Dayton, Dick Purtan, Jay Thomas, Jack Spector, Dr. Don Rose, Larry Lujack, Robert W. Morgan and a whole slew of others. I found the jingle demo if anyone is interested.
I had the opportunity to interview Dan Ingram on November 23rd, 2004 on “Live”" radio.
It undoubtedly was one of the greatest moments of my life.
Ron Soldano
Too bad – the SuperRadio Network Demo link doesn’t work for me. Can anybody send me a copy please? I’m also very interested in JAM’s Superadio Jingle Demo, the one mentioned by J.K. The DJ. Please???
Love it! Ingram, great 80s music and what it could have been…(not another generic satellite format);)
The jingles are very much like the last WABC Musicradio jingles in sound and lyric, though seeing as Super Radio was under the ABC banner, it made sense.
after listening to the dan ingram cut, i fully see why and how ’super radio’ failed. this stunk! it firstly was NOT that sharp, hot cutting wabc/ingram….next was the rotten watered down texture, the “bigmac” approach to programming some moron believes will appeal to the entire country, when in fact, its more of the uninteresting same old same old.
what a shame, really.
dan ingram is without a doubt the most solid jock from wabc.
hearing this seems as though (whoever produced it) is due to be dumped without an i.d. at the mall some busy weekend….
Gr8 find! Classic Ingram. Lousy idea. Where to begin?
First, the Rick Sklar/Glenn Morgan format hadn’t been working since in the mid ’70’s. The jingle package is a throwback to the 60’s and certainly NOT what WABC sounded like from mid ’70’s til signoff in ‘82. Second, this first attempt at voice-tracking every local station in the country met with huge listener and industry resistance. NABET and AFTRA correctly saw the handwriting on the wall as local jobs across the country would be decimated. In fact, NABET, one of the leading broadcast engineer unions, actively sabotaged and ultimately trashed SuperRadios’ super expensive state of the art facilities. Finally, the wit and personality of not just Ingram, but all of the SuperRadio jocks, was honed to a local market audience. What plays in NY would not and did not play in Peoria (or even in Los Angeles) and vice versa. Note Ingrams’ reference to Eyewitness News, a NY institution, but not generally known outside major markets. And he probably talks too fast with more than a double entendree or too eluding the folks in Osh Kosh B’Kosh. There’s a reason voice tracking and mass mindless programming sound the death knell for local radio louder with the release of every Arbitron book. Are you listening Clear Channel?
I’m not sure that the industry necessarilly could see that far ahead and thus criticize and/or sabotage Superradio. Remember, we’re talking about an industry that can’t see beyond it’s nose… even things that are obvious are ignored.