VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mike Harrison

Many Baby Boomers have come to voice-over following a career in radio. And, a large number of them had been motivated to pursue radio after hearing their favorite DJ.

New York's WABC which, due to its 50,000 watt signal that reached 48 states, became "the most listened-to radio station in all of North America" following the Beatles' arrival in 1964. Dan Ingram, WABC's PM drive jock, is revered by many in the industry as the best Top 40 DJ of all time. He possessed unbelievable timing and the ability to say a lot using the fewest words. And he made us laugh... but his humor was such that we often had to think for a moment about what he'd said.

As WABC's ratings climbed during the 1960s, several of the country's biggest ad agencies stopped supplying fully-scripted live spots and instead provided simple fact-sheets, urging the DJs to do with them what they would. Linked here, from 1964 - 1969, is 9-1/2 minutes of pure commercial goodness, the likes of which radio will never experience again.

http://mike-harrison.com/vobb/Ingram-Spots.mp3
_________________
Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

ballenberg · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:25 am Post subject:

OMG Mike...that's quite a set of memories! The only difference between then and now is everything!

People on this board don't know we went to the same school...and you were my classmate's little brother! Well, I guess they do now Smile

Mike Harrison · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:51 am Post subject:

ballenberg · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 6:34 am Post subject:

Back in those days, I was a part-time newspaper photographer and worked a day with Cousin Brucie. Then in my wannabee deejay mode, I got to meet Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy briefly, and spent part of an overnight shift with Roby Yonge, who invited me over to his loft to hang out.

I was just now listening to some Charlie Greer clips on You Tube. Seems like my memory isn;'t wrong. Back then, deejays were only in their twenties!

Mike Harrison · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 7:27 am Post subject:

Yeah, Ingram was only 27 when he started at WABC. He'd already worked in New Haven, Dallas and St. Louis MO (where he and Lundy met).

So cool that you'd met Ingram, Lundy and Yonge (sounds like a law firm). I'd visited WABC twice; first in late 1966, only months after they moved into ABC's new corporate HQ at 1330 Avenue of the Americas, when I spent a half-hour in the studio with Cousin Brucie (while standing behind his engineer); and a Sunday afternoon about a year later, when Chuck Leonard was working. I remember those visits (details of the studio) like it was yesterday.
_________________
Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

ballenberg · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:42 am Post subject:

Brucie made a show of it..cueing his engineer like a maestro...which of course, he was Smile

We're still in our thirties, though, right Mike ?

Mike?

Wink

Mike Harrison · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:14 am Post subject:

Oh, absolutely!
_________________
Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.