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Dan Ingram, WABC New York, December 9, 1980 (1:02:19)

Unscoped
… We’re looking for John Lennon’s medal …

From the morning of December 9, 1980, the morning after the murder of John Lennon, comes an aircheck loaded with history, following the de-throning of WABC by WKTU-FM and its disco format. This was during the brief time that Dan Ingram held down morning drive, replacing Harry Harrison, before moving back to afternoons.

WABC was in full John Lennon mode, with all Beatles music and commentary by Ingram. The All-Lennon newscasts included John Meagher, traffic reporter Joe Nolan and feature reporter Kathleen Maloney. Ingram spoke with WABC great Bruce Morrow, as well as former Program Director Rick Sklar.

Apparently, most of these legendary professionals had very little sleep following the tragic event the day before. At one point, Ingram accidentally switches the story about Ringo Starr‘s missing medal to Lennon’s missing medal.

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum