There’s something about Cousin Brucie. People either loved him or weren’t crazy about him. Here’s Bruce Morrow at the peak of his popularity on WABC.
Notice how fast Morrow is talking. Its hard to keep up with the pace of this show. And, that’s exactly what this is. A SHOW! There are more commercials and talk from Cousin Brucie than there is music, at least so it seems on this recording, which sounds suspiciously like it was recorded from WABC-FM 95.5 (See Dan Ingram’s Program recorded the same day as this). One other thing which sticks out like a sore thumb, Morrow is overmodulated and his voice is a bit distorted. It sounds like he was too close to the mic or they ran the board very hot. The FM processing was unable to compensate as well as the AM side.
The audio is crisp and sounds like it went through an optimod (did they even have those things in ’69?) on its way to the transmitter. With the exception of some tape white noise, this is almost perfect. Notice, just like the Dan Ingram aircheck mentioned above, there’s no reverb on this recording. Another telltale sign that this had to be recorded from 95.5
As most people know, Bruce Morrow would go over to 66 WNBC in 1974, a station which he said at the time was his ultimate goal to work for. After NBC, it was on to station ownership, and most recently, satellite radio. Love him or hate him, Cousin Bruce Morrow is another radio legend whose career inspired hundreds of people to go into the radio business, and many thousands of listeners to remember him for all time.
Sounds like it was recorded fast because the music is sped up and I do not recall WABC doing that…
I wondered. I can time/pitch correct and should have the first time.
I remember Cousin Bruce well before ’69, more like, from 1963 or 4. Then as now, I could just about get the station. I lived in Tiverton RI
“Movin’ and a-goovin’
Havin’ a ball
with Cousin Bruce”
The lack of reverb might also indicate this is a studio aircheck perhaps sent to one of our boys in Vietnam.
If you were 18 you had no trouble keeping up with him. He was fantastic and the heart of the station. When he left, it was over. I recruited him to Sirius — and it is a great marriage.