When Bruce Morrow, the octogenarian disc jockey, announced recently that he was leaving SiriusXM after 15 years, his fans mourned the loss, filling his Facebook page with memories of how his booming voice has entertained them since childhood.
Many assumed he was retiring, putting a cap on a career that lasted more than 60 years.
Not so fast.
Mr. Morrow — or Cousin Brucie, as he is more often called — has decided, at 84, that there is time for another gig. So he is returning next month to his roots, to WABC-AM (770), where he worked for 13 years starting in 1961 when John F. Kennedy was president and D.J.s used turntables.
“I needed a new adventure, something to tickle me a bit,” Mr. Morrow said in a phone interview from his home in Ulster County, where he has been living during the pandemic.
“Some people think, My gosh, at this age aren’t you going into retirement?” he added. “I have more energy than anyone I know!”
The man who hired him, John Catsimatidis, the supermarket mogul whose media company bought 77 WABC radio for $12.5 million last year, has his own nostalgic memories of Cousin Brucie.
“I grew up with the guy,” Mr. Catsimatidis said in a phone interview.
He still knows the words to one of the jingles for Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey, where Mr. Catsimatidis brought a first date and where Mr. Morrow hosted live concerts for over a decade. Mr. Catsimatidis, owner of the Gristedes grocery chain, proved it by singing into the phone: “Skip the bother and skip the fuss. Take a Public Service bus.”
He went on, happily, singing some more.
Mr. Morrow adopted the persona of Cousin Brucie at one of his first radio jobs, at WINS in New York. During his first stint at WABC, he experienced one of the highlights of his career, introducing the Beatles at Shea Stadium along with Ed Sullivan in 1965.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The New York Times