Bruce Morrow

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Bruce Morrow (born Bruce Meyerowitz on October 13, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American radio personality, known to many New York metropolitan area listeners as Cousin Brucie.

1 Career
2 Books
3 Charity Work
4 Programs
5 Honors
6 External links

[edit] Career

Morrow's very first stint in radio was in Bermuda at ZBM-AM, where he was known as "The Hammer".

Morrow then began his state side career at New York Top 40 station WINS in 1959. In 1960, he moved to Miami for a brief stint before returning to the New York airwaves the following year on AM 770 powerhouse WABC, another Top 40 outlet. "Cousin Brucie" became a legend on WABC's teen-oriented evening shift.

In August of 1965, he had the distinction of introducing the Beatles during their historic Shea Stadium concert[1].

Morrow had a close relationship with Elvis who called him at home on a regular basis. Elvis credited Morrow for his success on radio. He has been instrumental in starting the careers of a significant number of major broadcasters, most significantly Ronn Owens KGO (AM), San Francisco, twice nominated to the Radio Hall of Fame and considered the top local talk show host in the country.

He remained at WABC until 1974, when he jumped to rival station WNBC; after three years there, he left the airwaves to team up with entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman to become the owner of the Sillerman Morrow group of stations, which included WALL; WKGL, now WRRV, in Middletown, New York; WJJB, now WCZX, in Hyde Park, NY; WHMP in Northhampton, MA; WOCN in South Yarmouth, MA; WRAN in Randolph, New Jersey ("New Jersey 1510" now dark); and television station WATL Atlanta. The group later purchased WPLR in New Haven, CT.

In 1982 Morrow returned to the DJ role with New York's WCBS-FM, a popular oldies station. Initially in 1982, he filled in for Jack Spector every third Saturday evening for the Saturday Night Sock Hop program. Following Spector's resignation in 1985, Morrow took over the show and renamed it the Saturday Night Dance Party. The station also added his nationally-syndicated show Cruising America. In 1986, he added Wednesday evenings where he hosted The Top 15 Yesterday and Today Countdown. In 1991, the Wednesday show became The Yearbook, focusing on music from a year between 1955 and 1979. When Cruising America was canceled in 1991, Morrow continued hosting locally a show called Cruising with the Cuz Monday evenings until the end of 1993. After that show ended, he hosted the Saturday night and Wednesday night shows there until the station's change to the adult hits format called Jack FM on June 3, 2005. Shortly thereafter, he signed a multi-year deal to host oldies programming and a weekly talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Morrow was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.

His voice can be heard in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing; he also had a bit part in the movie, playing the magician who sawed Baby (Jennifer Gray) in half. He also appeared in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and had a guest appearance in the 1990s Babylon 5 television series (in "War Without End" (Part 2), playing the first officer of Babylon 4).

[edit] Books

Cousin Brucie: My Life in Rock 'N' Roll Radio (1987)
Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era (published November 1, 2007)

[edit] Charity Work

For the last two decades, Morrow has actively worked for the Variety Children's Charity in support of disadvantaged, physically challenged, sick and needy children.