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Cousin Brucie Returns To 77WABC To Host Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party

dumber than a box of hair said:
WABC had them too. Dan Ingram often recalled that when he started at WABC in mid-1961 there were *four* unionized employees in the studio: an engineer (NABET), a “platter turner” (AFM), a director (Directors Guild) and the DJ (AFTRA). Throwing a cue which would insure a tight flowing presentation took some doing back then.
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OMG, I'm all for people having a right to make a living, but WTH?
 
Well back into last century when I was 18, I got to attend a radio announcing school in NYC. As with every other student there, the main chore of the instructors was to rid the lot of the sorry Noo Yawk accents, these Original Sins we never knew we had. I mean, back then, who ever heard of a NYC radio announcer who had a Noo Yawk accent, anyway? It was forbidden. The school said you were supposed to sound as homogenized as if you were from nowhere in particular.*

Anyway, the other main part of the academic rudiments was becoming used to giving cue signals to the engineer / instructor on the other side of the glass. We were not allowed to operate a control board. I'm certain that many kids who washed out never even got to SEE that control board. Only in the final weeks of the course were those who stayed allowed to operate it. Probationally, of course.

My routine was simple. I played exclusively Beautiful Music, which at the time I enjoyed (and still do). The other students preferred their Three Dog Night and Crystals and Rascals, so their 'Gimme my mic', 'Raise the music', 'Cut my Mike', 'Fade the music under me' hand gestures were more complicated.
So I cannot appreciate or even approach comprehending how signals went back and forth so seamlessly between DJ and engineer at some high-voltage fun house Top 40 station like WABC or WMCA.
We got to see Dan Ingram do his Ingram Thingram in that WABC fishbowl studio once. 'So THIS is what happens as we hear it coming out of the transistor!'
To me, a bit more impressive was watching Gene Klavan's ridiculous studio anarchy at WNEW -- a middle-of-the-road station! Everything I saw him say or do was impromptu except for the live commercial reads (all of which he delightfully destroyed, of course). Between his show's ad-libs and character voices and SFX and reverb and that ridiculously outhouse-slamming 'studio door', one would think his engineers for four hours would be popping pills and looking for the nearest and highest ledge.
Nope.
What fascinating, fabulous, timing went on back in those days vis-a-vis jock and engineer. Every DAY! Every quarter hour! Truly a lost art of the finest kind.

* My accent, along with my acne, has cleared. Recent evaluations from two radio types are suitably confused. I accept as the more accurate positioning 'Somewhere between Springfield Massachusetts and Utica NY -- or maybe Binghampton NY.'
 
Just a few days away from "Cousin Brucie's" re-debut on WABC, what are the odds on the WABC "Chime time jingle" returning?
We know Bruce will have his own personal jingles that he originally used at WABC. I want to hear that "Chime" again.
 
It would be nice to turn on the HD during Brucies show to enhance the music, did WABC ever run HD are they set up for it...
 
radioman148 said:
I want to hear that "Chime" again.
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Heard the "chime" Although not as frequently, and he said it was chime time, but didn't in fact give the time.

There was echo on his voice, although not to the degree he might have had originally. Also needs a lot more compression.

Big Joe Henry has the echo and compression done correctly. Crank it up!
 
TheBigA said:
Heard the "chime" Although not as frequently, and he said it was chime time, but didn't in fact give the time.

There was echo on his voice, although not to the degree he might have had originally. Also needs a lot more compression.

Big Joe Henry has the echo and compression done correctly. Crank it up!
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Heard the chime right before 8PM and he did give the time.
 
mnw1890 said:
I hope WABC will put Cousin Brucie's program on demand so it can be heard anytime...
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cant, music licensing wouldnt allow that i dont htink
 
DavidEduardo said:
... but a great deal to gain. Just the publicity this is generating is priceless.

Just as our RadioDiscussions participant in Buffalo who bought WECK and targeted the "forgotten demos", WABC is going after a thin but potentially profitable slice of the NYC market with attention getting programming.

The fact is that both Saturday and Sunday evenings are the absolute lowest point in radio listening and have been for many, many decades. Putting a strong name with a marvelous image on the air on Saturday gives WABC an aura it has not had for a long time... and one that spreads across the whole week.

Despite the paucity of listeners on Saturday evening, how many other stations appealing to older demos have anything fun, spontaneous and exciting on in that daypart?

I think that the owner is making a beef stifado with his own recipe, unbiased by focus groups and national PDs and cost vs. return analysis. This could be fun to watch, and I hope it works.
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WECK isn't the only stations that targets "the forgotten demos and music"....There are other stations around the USA who have ratings (some good some bad), but still fills the gap of listeners who want to relive their generations.
 
I can imagine if Cousin Brucie's show would go after WCBS FM.....But WCBS FM is more classic hits and not oldies.

Should WABC flip to oldies and make Cousin Brucie program director??
 
BJSteigner said:
WECK isn't the only stations that targets "the forgotten demos and music"....There are other stations around the USA who have ratings (some good some bad), but still fills the gap of listeners who want to relive their generations.
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The problem is that few of them make much money. There is limited revenue and the business model does not fit that of larger group broadcasters. it is, though, a good alternative for single station or very small group owners who can establish the relationships needed to sell this kind of format.
 
BJSteigner said:
I can imagine if Cousin Brucie's show would go after WCBS FM.....But WCBS FM is more classic hits and not oldies.

Should WABC flip to oldies and make Cousin Brucie program director??
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The Cousin Brucie show is a specialty show that is a good magnet during the lowest-listening daypart, Saturday evening. It will have no effect on CBS-FM as they have very separate target audiences.

But trying to do oldies all week on an AM station is not a magnet. It has no advertiser appeal, and, besides, I think the new owner wants to be the "voice" of New York with talk, not the "beat" of NYC with Chuck Barry and Buddy Holly songs.
 
Production wise, they still have some work to do. I felt the show wasn't as tight as it could have been. He was familiarizing himself with some of the elements. There were problems with the technical quality of some songs (phase cancelation). As I said, the echo and compression should get cranked up. His original House Party show had music and party sounds in the background (endless loop) when he was talking to simulate an actual party. That might be worth trying, because it just feels loose.
 
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