It will be syndicated through Red Apple Audio Networks. It will be interesting to see if music or talk stations will pick up the show.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Cousin Brucie's WABC Saturday Night Show Will Be Syndicated
- Thread starter BruceNYC
- Start date
Bruce was born circa 1937, if I remember his book correctly. He's at a point in life when he should be hanging up the ol' headphones. I can't understand why any out-of-market station would pick up this show. Anyone who wants to live in this particular past can just stream him on the originating station, WABC. Even early Boomers know how to talk to an Alexa device, or have children or neighbors' children who can teach them. So why, other than ego, would Bruce go for this idea? I've met him, I like him, and my assessment is that he's personable in the extreme, but neither stupid nor delusional.
Still produced live most weekends, AFAIK. But he may be "only" 87.
The show is live. The Cuz does the show from his home in upstate New York
Art Leboe was still being broadcasted into his 90s.
Any announced affiliates yet?
On Facebook, a listener stated WCNG-WCVP Radio carries Cousin Bruce's show. This station is in North Carolina. Cousin Bruce last night welcomed new affiliates but didn't report specific stations.
It almost isn't. That's in far southwest NC next to Tennessee and Georgia.
I get an error message with that link.
So... my fiancé and I caught Brucie's entire program last night driving home from a trip (at first via groundwave and then skywave as we got further from WABC) and I... was not impressed.
I get wanting to syndicate the show, except it loses one of my favorite parts as a result: the WABC jingles! Pre-syndication, the show was special - it was a WABC thing, musicradio77 WABC! Those jingles were an absolute delight to hear with 50kw of pure AM power along with a healthy helping of reverb. It was a homecoming to a heritage station for Brucie and the music he was playing.
Now, he hardly even mentions WABC at all. It feels like a generic oldies show, and that's just sad because when it started it was anything but.
I've had a very busy last few months and haven't been able to listen much on Saturdays lately - I'd just caught little snatches and noticed the lack of jingles but just figured it was the portion of the show I was catching.
I'm very disappointed...
...But still incredibly thankful for a guy in his early 20s to be able to be on a road trip with his fiancé being kept company with great music and personality on an AM stick for a few hours. Before and after his show? She was playing "DJ" with tunes on her phone. Brucie is an "event" for us and we catch him whenever we can and will continue to do so!
I get wanting to syndicate the show, except it loses one of my favorite parts as a result: the WABC jingles! Pre-syndication, the show was special - it was a WABC thing, musicradio77 WABC! Those jingles were an absolute delight to hear with 50kw of pure AM power along with a healthy helping of reverb. It was a homecoming to a heritage station for Brucie and the music he was playing.
Now, he hardly even mentions WABC at all. It feels like a generic oldies show, and that's just sad because when it started it was anything but.
I've had a very busy last few months and haven't been able to listen much on Saturdays lately - I'd just caught little snatches and noticed the lack of jingles but just figured it was the portion of the show I was catching.
I'm very disappointed...
...But still incredibly thankful for a guy in his early 20s to be able to be on a road trip with his fiancé being kept company with great music and personality on an AM stick for a few hours. Before and after his show? She was playing "DJ" with tunes on her phone. Brucie is an "event" for us and we catch him whenever we can and will continue to do so!
No one cares about jingles any more, really.
I would agree that no one cares about jingles, except in the same way we look at old black and white movies. It was a part of what once was. Cousin Bruce was a part of what was. and today is an old black and white movie people listen to for the nostalgia value and wanting to return to a place and time. Realistically Bruce Morrow is an old man, kind and respectful, warm and friendly, but can't possibly be a draw to anyone who isn't trying to relive what they remember from 100 years ago. The jingles were as much a part of WABC as the music was during his time of fame. I can't imagine syndicating him, but if it works, God bless them. I tended to avoid him when he was on Sirius XM because I felt sad hearing the calls from people even older than I am. "We love you. We love the music. We know it was so much better back then" It made me feel sad. I see the nostalgia value in Bruce on WABC, but I don't see it playing well in places where the elderly population didn't grow up with him. Of course there are a thousand local radio stations with nothing to put on the air on a Saturday night, no budget to pay for anything expensive, and this is probably a step up from broadcasting old Wolf Man Jack tapes.
It's not just the jingles - it's the feel of the whole show. It just doesn't feel the same - it feels like a syndicated product and not the unique thing it was.
Considering there were quite a few dedications in the love half hour at the end of his show concerning couples getting engaged/married, it seems like there are at least some younger people listening to his show.
My fiancée and I are both in our early 20s and love listening to his program.
But does he still stay, "Yeeeeee cousins?"
I doubt his vocal cords could take the strain anymore. It's not that easy. But, for the low low price of only $29.99, I'll be happy to call you up on any upcoming Saturday night of your choice and give you a few of my best Cuzz' impressions. (Cash only, no refunds.) Yee-eEEEE-ee! (Ha!) (Oops, wrong format.)But does he still stay, "Yeeeeee cousins?"
Seriously, I met Bruce back in the days he was on WCBS-FM. A friend of mine had the shift after Bruce's, and my fiance (at that time) and I came up to visit him at the station, and so she could see what a big-time radio station was like. Bruce came out of the air studio unprompted during one of the longer records, we all chatted for a few minutes, and the guy couldn't have been nicer. He impressed me and definitely impressed her. All he knew about us was I was friends with his colleague, and he acted as if I was a long lost cousin he was thrilled to be reunited with. Absolutely no attitude, no prima donna vibes, just super nice. An experience like that brings home why so many listeners have stayed loyal for close to 7 decades.
Relatives of mine were part of a trip to Western Germany to evaluate the effects of the Marshall Plan in the early 1960s, and Bruce and his wife/girlfriend were also on the trip. My relatives said he was a really nice guy, but he wouldn’t stop taking pictures of everything even after the West German guide asked/told him to!
I heard Brucie this Saturday on WGNY FM in Rosendale. It was a great listen if you enjoy hearing a very nice old man saying mostly nothing to a lot of old people you would not care to hear in any other type of program. Fun fact: The show on WABC was fully 40 or so seconds delayed from what I was hearing on the local stations. The mystique of the show from its WABC days is completely lost without the reverb and jingles. Bruce is every bit as nice of a man as has been described. He is also nothing relevant to radio in 2025.
No, it's not. It's one of those otherwise-incomprehensible "you had to have been there" situations.
Yup, exactly. The reverb and jingles are a big part of what makes the show so special...
- Status