One of the most familiar voices on the radio is ending his run on SiriusXM tomorrow night. Cousin Brucie announced to his 60,000 Facebook followers that Saturday night will be his final show on SiriusXM, where the 84-year old has spent the last 15 years.
Here’s the Facebook message radio’s favorite cousin posted…
A Message From The Cuz….
Cousins, I know that this is a very trying time for all of us. I have been reading your Posts on the Bulletin Boards. Thank you, Thank you for your sensitivity and your good wishes. Let me assure you once again – I Am Not Retiring. After Jodie and I take some time to relax – I promise you that we will be together again on the Radio. By the way, Jodie and I are both in good health and we are looking forward to this next adventure. Coming Soon.
Bruce Morrow took over for Wolfman Jack on WNBC in New York back in 1974. he became a station owner working with Robert Sillerman. he then joined WCBS-FM in New York City where he played the oldies. He also hosted the nationally syndicated “Cruisin’ America.”
It was a great show. The best I’ve seen in years.
Talk about a killer 50,000 watt signal. In the winter of 1966 > 1967 , I played trumpet in the NYC blue eyed soul band , Rocky & His Friends . We got a 12 week location gig
at The Joker’s Wild on Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. My girlfriend had a cool Chevy Impala with a great AM radio. She was British and had never heard of Cousin Brucie.
I was goofing around , never thinking that WABC-AM would actually carry the 1100 miles or so down to the Bahamas .. It did .. Load and clear !!! Fast forward to the early 1990s .. I was vacationing on St Barthelemy (St Barths) in the Lesser Antilles (about 1600 miles from NYC . The world series was happening . The Yankees were still on WABC-AM (John Sterling and Michael Kaye) . I was desperate to get the score . I sat on the porch , right on the beach facing north , and my portable radio pulled in the Yankee game !
Does anyone know why he left? Was it his decision or did XM Sirius push him out? It happened very suddenly and my sense is that XM Sirius made an attempt to modify his contract and he was not happy; this is just a guess on my part.
Bruce Morrow is one of the kindest people in the industry. The first time I worked with Bruce was at WNBC starting in 1974. In the 80’s we were on opposite each other on Saturday nights in New York, when I was on WYNY and he was on CBS-FM. In the 2000’s, at his request, I was his alternate host on both CBS-FM and then on Sirius XM’s 60’s channel where, at the time, I was doing afternoons. Then once again, for many years, we were on opposite each other Saturday nights on SXM, he being on channel 6 and I being on channel 19, Elvis Radio. I wish all the best to the “Cuz”.
Awesome post Sir 🙂
I spent my childhood into my early 20s in Queens, NY. Brucie was and is a legend. My mother knew him from weekends she would spend in the Hamptons where Brucie enjoyed his down time as well. Mid 70’s through the 80’s. I met him once and he was very kind and warm.
Don’t forget the many years Cousin Brucie spent doing evenings on WABC! He was a fixture on that station until WNBC wooed him in 1974, putting him on middays, “Housewife Haven”, as he called it in his book. I still remember his live read commercials for Dennison Clothiers, a discount clothing store which, I believe, was on U.S. 22 in Springfield, NJ.
WABC’s 50 kW signal on 770 ensured that Cousin Brucie’s audience spanned a huge chunk of American real estate westward from the transmitter site in Lodi, New Jersey to the point where KOB in Albuquerque took over the frequency.
I remember Morrow-Sillerman Broadcasting. Their station was the now-defunct WRAN, 1510 kHz in Dover, NJ in Morris County. The “RAN” stands for Randolph Township, actual location of the station.