The WABC Console from the DJ's side in 1977


Photo and commentary courtesy of WABC Engineer Frank D'Elia 

This is a photo of the WABC console from the DJ’s position.
In addition to the mic, cough switch, and copy book, the overbridge on this side contains much the same information equipment as the engineer’s side
(hot and time clocks, on the air lights, end cue lights, and phone indicators)
but it also contains lights denoting when it’s time to play the top 4 records (4 orange tinted lights on the left side).

Two notes….

(1) The manual stopwatch you see was designed into this new studio strictly for George Michael.
He liked being able to see a sweep hand when talking up a record – not just a hot clock counting up – and this was taken into consideration when designing this area.
The holder for this watch was a part of the overbridge, but George would put the actual watch in his locker after each show.
He would cue us and punch the watch start at the same instant and talk up the record as only the "King" could!

(2) When this studio was built, the design crew was very careful to measure the area between the end of the copy stand and the end of the desk to make sure the WABC program log fit.
This worked for most of the air staff but Dan Ingram had a problem. It seems that he kept the log at a 45-degree angle to make it easier for him to note the spot times on.
At this angle, the desk was about an inch short and the log flopped over the edge.
Always looking to make the situation in 8A as conformable as possible, a solution was found. An additional inch of table was fashioned
and connected to the main desk with a long piano hinge.
While most DJs used the desk as originally designed, Dan was able to flip up this extension, latch it into place, and comfortably place the log at the angle he desired.
Thus was born the "Ingram Inch"!

(More photos of the WABC studio during this era may be found here)