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

[alok]

The first show was good overall,but there are wrinkles to be taking care of . . .

They need to research the music and make sure they get "original mixed mono " versions of the songs, they are available to this day ,on CD too. Example the version they played of UP UP AND WAY by The 5th Dimension was terrible ,nothing like what was played on WABC in its heyday.
The version they played of SURF CITY by Jan & Dean was really bad . . . it was a stereo mix trying to make it thru WABC's 50,000 watt AM MONO transmitter ,at times you could hardly hear the duo ( Jan & Dean ) in the background as they told you they were GOING TO SURF CITY ,GONNA HAVE SOME FUN . . . at these times the instrumentation was way above the singers.

I don't know how the show was done ,with the pandemic, I assume from Bruce's home ?

Is Bruce running his own little board or is somebody else ? Was the music played from home ,how about the FEW commercials.

On commercials I know it was just "old farts " like me & you listening but it would have been FUN to hear afew OLD COMMERCIALS thrown in . . . like a CLEARSIL commercial or CASTRO convertible or DOUBLEMINT GUM . . . instead you heard the same "AWFUL COMMERCIALS " that' are on WABC when they are talk !

One thing that bothered me was I never heard Bruce do a weather report ,that would have been fun and he never really did CHIME TIME followed often by a TIME CHECK !

Cousin Brucie THANK YOU , YOU ARE LOVED BY MANY & GOD BLESS. It was FUN to hear ya on SEVENTY SEVEN WABC !!!!!!!!!!

Al

 

[TheBigA]

Is Bruce running his own little board or is somebody else ?

It sounds like both. There's a woman who came on the air several time who I suspect is at the station, and he doesn't have visual contact with her. And there were times when it sounded like he was triggering the jingles. I heard a clunk before one ran. He was giving instructions on the air to trigger some of the artist endorsements.

I know Goya Foods has a title sponsorship, but I didn't hear any product commercials for Goya. If they play old ads that could cause legal problems with the original voices wanting to get paid. And yes, I too heard the chime, but didn't hear the time. So maybe the show was recorded.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

It sounds like both. There's a woman who came on the air several time who I suspect is at the station, and he doesn't have visual contact with her. And there were times when it sounded like he was triggering the jingles. I heard a clunk before one ran. He was giving instructions on the air to trigger some of the artist endorsements.

I know Goya Foods has a title sponsorship, but I didn't hear any product commercials for Goya. If they play old ads that could cause legal problems with the original voices wanting to get paid. And yes, I too heard the chime, but didn't hear the time. So maybe the show was recorded.

FWIW, I actually heard a Goya spot for black beans.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I heard part of the show. Being a fan of radio history, and respectful of someone with such a legacy, I thought I would enjoy it more. But Brucie sounds his age and his style didn't have the broad appeal I expected. Without exaggeration I can say it reminded me of the kinds of things I hear the staff play in the activity room for the residents at the nursing home when I visit my father there.

Brucie does sound like he fits right in at WABC, though. I thought his schtick sounded a little like one of the station's talk shows with music added. And it sounded like it was aimed squarely at the 75+ crowd which is pretty much what WABC is doing as a station overall too. I guess it's a niche no other radio station in New York is serving.

Sponsored by Goya? Huh, I guess the company is looking for a new customer base now that the Latinos are all boycotting its products.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I would bet the Goya deal involves Mr. Catsimitides's grocery chain. They may have worked a deal where Gristedes gets a 5 cent discount on beans in exchange for advertising with WABC.

 

[TheBigA]

The WABC website says there will be an encore broadcast of the Cousin Brucie show Monday at noon.

www.wabcradio.com

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I would bet the Goya deal involves Mr. Catsimitides's grocery chain. They may have worked a deal where Gristedes gets a 5 cent discount on beans in exchange for advertising with WABC.

Well yes, that. Plus, Goya CEO Robert Unanue turned out to be a huge Trump supporter, standing next to him at the Rose Garden and heaping praise on him during an event in July that sparked the boycott mentioned above. And he lives in the NYC area so he is probably a fan of WABC at the very least, and maybe even friends with Mister Cat given both the business and political alignments.

 

[radioman148]

One thing that bothered me was I never heard Bruce do a weather report ,that would have been fun and he never really did CHIME TIME followed often by a TIME CHECK !

Cousin Brucie THANK YOU , YOU ARE LOVED BY MANY & GOD BLESS. It was FUN to hear ya on SEVENTY SEVEN WABC !!!!!!!!!!

Al

I thought I heard him give the time at least once after the chime.

 

[TTalkradio1]

I never listened to Cousin Brucie's Show, but I know him. 84 is too old to come back to radio. Bob Grant was 78 in 2007 when he returned.

 

[KeithE4]

I never listened to Cousin Brucie's Show, but I know him. 84 is too old to come back to radio. Bob Grant was 78 in 2007 when he returned.

Dick Biondi will be 88 next week. He was on WLS-FM Chicago until he was let go two years ago, just a few months short of his 86th birthday.

 

[davideduardo]

I never listened to Cousin Brucie's Show, but I know him. 84 is too old to come back to radio. Bob Grant was 78 in 2007 when he returned.

Cousin Brucie has been on radio almost non-stop for the last 60 years and more. You may not think satellite is "radio" but those of use in the industry think of anything that is audio without pictures is radio (and competition!).

If you had listened to Mr Morrow this Saturday, you'd realize how timeless his style is. He sounded absolutely great, despite some little technical issues that come with a new project in the times of the world pandemic.

 

[Cordelia Chase]

What a fun and interesting thread! I am not from New York, but over nine pages of enthusiastic responses in less than a month show how special this station and Mr. Morrow are. I hope the new show will be very successful. (I also wish something would generate this much excitement and spark friendly discussions like this throughout the rest of the message board.)

 

[Kemosabe]

If you had listened to Mr Morrow this Saturday, you'd realize how timeless his style is. He sounded absolutely great, despite some little technical issues that come with a new project in the times of the world pandemic.

In my opinion, Cousin Brucie on WABC is analogous to comfort food: a bowl of chicken soup, consumed aurally, to fight the ills of 2020. Mr. Morrow punctuated his nostos with numerous expressions of "coming home." As joyful as they may have sounded, however, his words left me with somber imagery of sunset and an evening star.

What a fun and interesting thread! I am not from New York, but over nine pages of enthusiastic responses in less than a month show how special this station and Mr. Morrow are. I hope the new show will be very successful. (I also wish something would generate this much excitement and spark friendly discussions like this throughout the rest of the message board.)

Hear! Hear!

 

[radioman148]

Dick Biondi will be 88 next week. He was on WLS-FM Chicago until he was let go two years ago, just a few months short of his 86th birthday.

Dick Biondi was ill and had been off the air since April of 2017. He was hoping to come back to WLS-FM, but was unable.

 

[kevtronics]

Brucie's show on WABC was clearly only playing one channel of the audio, instead of mixing to mono. For example, when he played "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles, the vocals were missing!

 

[TheBigA]

Brucie's show on WABC was clearly only playing one channel of the audio, instead of mixing to mono. For example, when he played "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles, the vocals were missing!

I worked at a place where the boards always took left channel for everything, to prevent phase cancelation. Works just fine for a talk station. Bad idea for music.

Of course the purists would recommend using only mono music anyway, since the remixes are awful.

 

[davideduardo]

Brucie's show on WABC was clearly only playing one channel of the audio, instead of mixing to mono. For example, when he played "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles, the vocals were missing!

And, since this was noted by many one the NYRMB, including by friends of Cousin Brucie, I'm sure they are making efforts to fix the issue by this coming weekend.

 

[davideduardo]

I worked at a place where the boards always took left channel for everything, to prevent phase cancelation. Works just fine for a talk station. Bad idea for music.

Of course the purists would recommend using only mono music anyway, since the remixes are awful.

I presume they are counting on a lot of streaming, as they are promoting it heavily. That requires stereo.

Of course, trying to find clean copies of the original mono releases may be difficult. So few AM stations are playing 50's and 60's oldies, and those that are generally are not rolling in cash, I doubt anyone is putting together mono libraries for sale to radio.

 

[Big Weed]

I tuned in at 6. That brief collage of original tapes was what I was looking for. Clearly back then , the ample supply of hits am radio was supplied with powered its popularity and success. That format no longer exits . I was disappointed after about 15 minutes . Came back a little later, there wasn’t enough compression, ( for a while there I thought it was simply computer generated- maybe it was ) . But it sounded nothing like it once did. I can say this because I have tapes of that station from the 1970s and plus a 15 minute block of his show. The difference is obvious.

 

[TheBigA]

But it sounded nothing like it once did.

AM Radio itself doesn't sound like it once did. There have been a number of side by side comparisons between off-air recordings done in the 60s and the same done now. The bandwidth has shrunk. The noise floor has increased.