"Big Dan" started broadcasting at WHCH Hofstra College, Hempstead, New York; WNRC, New Rochelle, New York; and WALK-FM, Patchogue, New York. Ingram was one of the most highly regarded DJs from his era. He was noted for his quick wit and ability to convey a humorous or satiric idea with fast pacing and an economy of words, a skill that rendered him uniquely suited to, and successful within, modern personality-driven music radio. He was among the most frequently emulated radio personalities, cited as an influence or inspiration by numerous current broadcasters. One of Ingram's unique skills was his ability to "talk up" to the lyrics of a record, meaning speaking over the musical introduction and finishing exactly at the point when the lyrics started. Ingram was well known for playing doctored versions of popular songs. The Paul McCartney & Wings song My Love Does it Good became My Glove Does it Good. The stuttering title refrain of Bennie and the Jets went from three or four repetitions to countless. In the same vein, the distinctive refrain added to Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede, Ooga-chucka-ooga-ooga would start repeating and listeners would never know when it would end. Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover became "50 Ways to Love Your Leaver" and "49 Ways to Relieve Your Liver", and Ingram "rearranged" the spelling of "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y" on the Bay City Rollers' Saturday Night. His longtime closing theme song was "Tri-Fi Drums" by Billy May. An edited version of the song was used for broadcast. TV commercials Ingram narrated include a 1970 promo for free cut-out records of Archies songs on the backs of PostHoneycomb and Alpha-Bits cereals. Ingram also worked for cable channelHBO in the mid-1980s, mostly as the off-camera host of HBO Coming Attractions and various voiceover roles, though he did occasionally appear on camera in early 1986 as part of the HBO Weekend interstitials of the time. Ingram was also featured prominently in his son Chris's book, Hey Kemosabe! The Days of a Radio Idyll, a fictionalized account of the Musicradio WABC era.
1987 - 1988 — The Weekend Music Review, a weekly Adult Contemporary radio program that counted down the top 20 AC records today, and highlighted what was going on 20, 15, 10, and 1 yr ago that weekend. JAM Creative Productions, Dallas TX produced and syndicated from 1987 to 1988. Julie Sizemore handled affiliate relations. Dan Ingram was host of "The Weekend Music Review" 3 hour AC show.
October 1991 - June 2003, September 16, 2007 — New York Radio Greats on WCBS-FM, New York City
June 1998 — KRTH-FM, Los Angeles. One week as "guest DJ," ostensibly a tryout for the morning drive spot previously held by Robert W. Morgan, who had died a month earlier. The job went to Charlie Van Dyke.
Upon his death, Ingram was survived by his wife, Maureen Donnelly. He also had five sons, four daughters, and two stepdaughters. He also had 26 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. His brother was John W. Ingram, whom was the final president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad when the company went bankrupt on March 31, 1980.
