Posted on 09/03/2020 7:19:24 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
American radio icon “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, who catapulted to national fame playing rock n’ roll hits for teenagers on New York’s “Music Radio 77” WABC (770) from 1961 to 1974 during AM top 40’s heyday, is ready for another turn at the venerable station — and he’s eager to recapture the magic of a bygone era.
The 84-year-old Morrow — born Bruce Meyerowitz in Brooklyn — will debut “Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party” on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Although 46 years have passed since Morrow left WABC, and many of his listeners are now retired, he tells Inside Radio his mission remains largely unchanged. “This audience wants exactly to re-live the moments they had during the Sixties, during the great days of ‘Music Radio’ on WABC,” he says.
The concept of “oldies,” as it turns out, doesn’t just encompass the music. Several sonic components of Morrow’s original WABC broadcasts — at the behest of fans who have taken to Facebook — will also play a role in the updated broadcast.
“They want the music, number one, but they also want the jingles — the original WABC Music Radio jingles. And that’s very important because that’s part of the sound. And I wasn’t going to do this, but they want the reverb. On WABC in the Sixties we had this little reverb. It wasn’t like anything we have today digitally, but it added a little wetness and a little warmth to what I was doing. They want the telephones and the dedications. In other words, they want to make the connection with the romance of Sixties. And that’s what we’re going to give them.”
Morrow’s return to his WABC roots follows a successful 15-year run at SiriusXM, where he hosted several oldies-focused programs before amicably signing off in late August. The move to WABC was made possible by billionaire John Catsimatidis, a longtime fan of Cousin Brucie’s who still remembers listening to his shows via a small transistor radio he carried around in the 1960s. Catsimatidis acquired WABC last year for a reported $12.5 million.
“I bought WABC sight unseen,” says Catsimatidis, who made his fortune via Gristedes Foods, a supermarket chain with more than 30 locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. “I just wrote a personal check and just did it. I re-live the Fifties and Sixties, where I grew up. I loved those years. They were great years. I think the music from those years told a story that we don’t have in today’s music. And I think the people that listen to that music remember where they were when that song is playing.”
Cousin Brucie’s eventual journey back to WABC began when Catsimatidis and his wife, Margo — who had been following Brucie’s SiriusXM broadcasts in recent years — began regularly calling in on Saturday nights with requests. (“John loves Elvis, and he loves the Everly Brothers,” Brucie says.) Things progressed naturally from there.
“I got friendly with John,” Brucie recalls, “and yet I really didn’t know who John was. He was one of my listeners and he was absolutely delightful on the phone, and we’d play the music and he enjoyed the show. Then one day I read a story that somebody bought WABC. And I said, ‘What? How can a person buy WABC?’ … Well, he and I talked, and it was pretty obvious to both of us that eventually we were gonna have to get together because this has been my dream, to come back to the home that started my major career — and started rock n’ roll.”
Morrow is also excited about the expanded reach he’ll have via an array of digital platforms.
“When I was on WABC [originally] we reached a huge audience in the tri-state area,” he recalls. “Then at night when the ionosphere went up we were reaching 39 states. Today that’s no longer necessary. Today, with the technology, with what is happening with the internet and now our 77 WABC Radio app, you can hear us anywhere in the world… It’s an international sport, what’s happening with this radio station!”
It’s fair to say that Cousin Brucie, at least in a professional sense, has come full circle with his return to WABC. You won’t hear him disparage his tenure at SiriusXM, but he says returning to the place where he first made his name “feels like coming home.”
“I learned a long time ago that I talk to people,” he says, “never ever at them. When I’m on that air, with that WABC microphone, I will be communicating directly with that person that’s shopping, taking a shower, driving in the car… I can feel this. I can feel that audience as sure as you’re listening to me right now. I’m back home. I’m back on radio.”
I used to listen to his Saturday Night Dance Party when I was in high school in the 80s. I didn’t really enjoy him in recent years on XM — too much talking, too much 50s stuff that didn’t interest me — but good for him. Wolfman Jack and Murray the K may be long gone, but Brucie’s still kicking.
Herb Oscar Anderson.
On a good night WABC can be heard as far away as Ireland and the UK. Van Morrison once said listening to WABC, also CKLW in Ontario when the signals were strong enough was a big influence on him.
Sadly they all passed away. Harry Harrison died a couple of months ago. He was the last of the original WMCA good guys.
Dan Ingraham, Ron Lundy, Howard Hoffman, Sturgis Griffin, and all those good folks were the voices of my high school and college years.
WABC’s signal was strong as all get-out in the Poconos - until that day in college when the music died. The last song played was “Imagine” - I had to pull off the road and listen to the final broadcast.
Hearing about Cousin Brucie’s return is a part of my youth revisited.
I agree. Not a fan cause I am not from New York.
I actually have some of those original PAMS jingle tapes for WABC. That sure was a sweet spot in radio history (not PAMS, but the whole AM/FM radio scene).
Dan was my favorite.
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