Cousin Brucie

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob left That's Podcast.
My guest this week is truly alleged the soundtrack of
my growing up, the one and only cousin Brucing. Thank you,
what a lovely introduction. Well so nice to not only
hear you, right, but also to see you. A pleasure,

(00:29):
and thank you so much for the invitation. Really do
appreciate it. I gotta tell you what a huge influencial.
I mean, I'm sure you know you hear this all
the time, but when I went to college, I had
a radio show and I immediately called myself cousin Bobby.
And there are people to this day who say, hey, couse,
so this is not something you know that I'm blowing smoke.
This is a real thing. So were you always Brucy? No,

(00:53):
My parents at time, especially when they needed a babysitter
I couldn't get one, had other names for me. I
don't want to say what they were, but yeah, it's
my name is Brucey. It's always been brucy. Yeah. And
so when you've been on the radio, from the moment
you're on radio, was also brucy. Yeah. Well no that's
not true. No, my real name is Bruce Morrow. Most thing,

(01:16):
most people think my name is Bruce Cousins. You see,
they think my last name is Cousin. Uh No, it's
but it's Bruce Morrow. I got my name actually. Uh.
I was on W Y and S in New York City.
Were like, here a nice story. It's kind of a
fun story. It's it's fun. Uh. So I'm in the
studio and uh security guarden. Those days we were allowed

(01:37):
to have people come up. We didn't think they were
gonna come inteer the radio station. So so he brings
in this a little silver haired lady. She walks and
he says, Mr Tomorrow, is this all right? To bring
her in? I said this, pre cousin Brucy, and uh,
I said, please bring her in. I love people. I
like people. She owed me open the door and it's
little silver haired, twinkly eyed lady walks in. She locks

(02:01):
on my eyes immediately, Bob cousin, Bob, if i'm me,
when somebody locks on eyes like I'm doing to yours
right now, whether we're we're on the screen, um, they
get you. That's the big secret of life. When you
want to talk to somebody, you want something luck on
their eyes, not they knows, not them. I'll hit the

(02:21):
eyes immediately. So she locks on my eyes and she
says to me, quote, excuse me, uh, sir. And I
knew she didn't know who I was. She wasn't sitting
hearing Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis or anybody else. She
said to me, do you believe her overlated? And I said, oh,
I'm a Brooklyn kid, so I know somebody's after something. Money, money, money, money,

(02:42):
So I said, yes, I do believe her overlated. And
I do believe that Bob all right somewhere along the line,
and she said, well, listen, I'm broke. And I said,
hold on one second, man, and I queue up my record.
And those days we played these little black things with
holes in them, and I used to queue up a record.
We didn't have any digital starts or anything. And I
said okay. She said, well, cousin, i'm broke. Let me

(03:05):
fifty cents to get home. And I looked at her
and she had these smiling eyes, and I said, sure,
I gave a fifty cents, right, And she said, thanks, cousin,
talk to you. She leaves. I never see her again
that night in the Brooklyn Battery tunnel. I lived in Brooklyn,
and those days I was on the way home, and
in the middle of that tunnel I hear cousin, cousin,

(03:27):
cousin brucie. That's it. I got it. I got my stick,
I got my handle. The next morning, I go in
and I speak to the program director, and he says,
are you crazy? You can't goin to the cousin bruci
There is the big apple man. This is New York City.
This is not Fargo, this is not Morgantown, West Virginia.
This is New York City. Forget it, I said, sir,

(03:49):
let me ask you something. When you were a kid
not so long ago, I was small enough to say
that to him, to butt them up a little bit.
Who did you like to go to Didn't you like
to go to your homes of your cousins. They had
the best toys, and your aunt and uncle will always
treat you nice with food and snacks. He said, yeuh,
all right, he said, I'll tell you what, kid, do
this sparingly tonight. Don't overdo it, because if you overdo it,

(04:12):
you're gonna be in trouble deep Well, that night, Bob
I went on the air. I don't think there was
more than three and a half words that went by
without me saying because I cousin them. I even wanted
to the bathroom. My cousin dom I did everything. I
didn't stop. That next morning, at six o'clock, I get
a call. It's the program director and he says to me, Bruce,

(04:32):
I said, yes, get your posterior midsection in here, quick,
get it in here. Now you're in trouble. I got scared, stiff.
I called my father. Now, I've never been fired. I
thought maybe he would hit me, and this guy would
smack me or something. I didn't know what they were
gonna do. So my dad goes in with me. He
was a street smart guy, grew up in East New York,

(04:53):
and uh, we're going together and Leeds says to me,
sit over the airpirs and I'm scared stiff. My father says,
next his desk and says, well, what's the problem. He said,
I told your son not to overdo it, and I'm
gonna tell you something. He didn't stop last night. The cousin.
I said, well, is that okay? He says, I want
to show you something, and then it's funny. He opens

(05:13):
It wasn't funny at that. He opens his desk raw
and he pulls out hundreds of yellow envelopes, hundreds, and
they're spilling off his hands all over his desk. Now,
these yellow envelopes were precursor to the email crieze, right,
They were called Western Union telegrams. He received hundreds of
Western Union telegrams wanting cousin Brucy. So my father smartly says, well,

(05:35):
what's wrong with that? Says I told him about too.
I'm firing him on the spot. So my father looks
at him and he says, but I'm gonna put him
on a seven year contract immediately. Cousin, cousin bry That's
a long story, but Cousin Brucy was born Bob. Okay,
that's okay. You are such a character. You know a
lot of people they're on mike or they're on stage,

(05:55):
personality is totally different. But we got on and you
were immediately Cousin Brucy. No, there is no you know,
can I tell you something? Maybe I shouldn't say this,
you can. You're gonna tell everybody. I'm told that. You
you tell what you want to tell, which is good,
so do I There was no cousin Brucey. It's Bruce.
It's Bruce, Bruce Morrow. Bruce Morrow is cousin Bruci. There

(06:16):
is no comic character. It's me. What can I tell you?
I sleep this way, I talk of my sleep this way.
I go to the bathroom this way, I take showers,
I get up and I'm me. Now. Am I unhappy
at times? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I'm just like everybody else.
I have my moments, but generally I'm a pretty happy camper.
I love life, and Bob, I love what I am doing.

(06:40):
Underline bold underline, I love what I'm doing. I'm happy. Okay.
So you grew up in Brooklyn? Yes? What I hesitated? Yes? Okay?
And were your parents were they born in America? Yes?
My parents were born in America. My grandparents one was
via these huh, that's why I walked so well, I guess,

(07:03):
and my grandma was Russian. My parents were both born here. Yes.
And what did your parents or your do for a living? Well?
My father, uh stole automobile caps, caps and my dad
was in the garment business. He manufactured and designed children's clothing.
And my mother was a Brooklyn housewife, took care of

(07:27):
the family, shopped and she was terrific, never really had
an occupation. My dad was the breadwinner, the right breadwinner.
And then how many kids in the family, my brother
and myself, And which one is older? Well, I'm younger,
but he's he's younger. And explain it. Now you figured
out out. I said, I'm younger, but he's younger. Oh,

(07:49):
I got it, now, I got I have heard it first.
What what does his life look like? Well, Bobby was
in marketing. My brother, Bob's in marketing. He's I guess
SMI tired. Now he's down in Florida. See, I don't
have the word retired him of my vocabulary. I refuse.
I don't like the what I call the R word.

(08:10):
I believe, as long as you have energy and you
have desire, and you have an enjoyment of what you're doing,
you should do it. You should do it. I mean,
if you can't get out of bed, you are having
a problem. That's another story. But I speak to people
all the time on the air who should not be
retired their board and they're angry there, hustile, And I

(08:31):
don't believe people should retire unless they absolutely after. Now,
weren't there moments though, when you were not on the
air you were on the business side of it. Yes,
I think you've done some research. I'm getting a feeling
I really hadn't. I said, I know your story, you know,
because I know I know Bob Sherman, a friend of mine,
hooked me up with him. And then of course you

(08:52):
work with Stiller men, so you know, said you're an
on air guy. I was wondering what motivated you, how
you felt when you were not in front of a mic. Yeah,
well I was never really through not being in front
of a mic. Um. I became a businessman. Bob Silliman
and I and we lost him about a year or
so ago, and uh, he and I formed the Silliman

(09:16):
Morrow Broadcast Group, and we bought radio stations and a
couple of television stations. And I used to fly in
a twin engine something or other um lego, I don't
know what it was. And we had a pilot and
he fly me to different my different radio stations with Bob,
and every day I'd be in a different market, I'd
go on the air, and then after the year I'd

(09:37):
go sell because you know, people love to meet characters
like us. They enjoyed people in you know, the business wheel.
They enjoy you know, saying hey, how you doing, price
heard you last night? They get a kick out of it.
So I used to fly to different markets almost every day.
I did that for about seven years. We we guarded
about well seven major radio stations. It became any more

(10:00):
than that a couple of television stations. And I enjoyed
it very much. I used to sit and I do
my shows on each station that I sit in the office,
and the kids would come in or pardon me for saying, kids,
but these are the people who were for me young
using young guys or gals, and they sit with me
and they'd make exchooses. Why I caught him making a mistake,

(10:21):
and I'd look him in the eye. This is Brucey
now in his jacket and a tie, which is not me,
and I'd say, no, listen, don't try to bowld me.
I invented what you're telling me. Don't tell me, don't
tell me that that's my story. I invent that stuff.
So that is what I want you to do. I
want you to make your mistakes. Feel good about that.
But Lord help you if you do it again, I

(10:43):
want you to correct your mistakes. So I became a
business executive and after a while, I don't know, I
just didn't didn't enjoy it. I missed my microphones. So
I continued doing a lot of Michael and work on
our own radio stations, selling and and they're going on
the air. And then day Joe McCoy and Rod Coraco,
these are two executives at CBSFM, called me and he

(11:06):
said to me, you know, Bruce, because it's time to
come home, time to come home to New York. And
I said, well, I can I own a d radio
stations and some television properties. I have some problems. She says, no,
you gotta come home. So they came out. They came
out to my station and Randolph, New Jersey, and we
found a little sandwich shop and we sat down and

(11:27):
we talked. And of course it didn't take much to
sell me. I'm a sucker. I mean, I'm an easy mark.
I really missed being on the air. And they talked me. Oh,
actually maybe I talked to him. I said maybe, how
about once a week? No, that's so much, how about
once a month? So I did it for a once
a month on CBS FM. The once a month became

(11:49):
twice a month, thrice a month, and then quadruple a month,
and I just fell in love with it again. And
then Bob and I, after a while we decided to sell.
It was during the DEAs to believe, when it was
still time to sell. That's why you see me smile,
by the way. I know I've got to ask you
that next. That's why I'm still a character. Let me
tell you we did knock Wood very very well, and uh,

(12:12):
you know, just everything worked out for me. But my
love from broadcasting, I believe is the most important part
of my life. I love what I do. I really
adore this audience. And when I get on the mic,
Bob Hope, I'm not answering all your questions, but when
you I get on the microphone, I feel them. I'm
not talking through a mic right now. Uh, this blue

(12:36):
white Snowbird or whatever it's called. I'm talking directly to
people at their homes. I know that I'm in bed
with people. I know that I'm showering with people. I
know that I'm taking a bathroom people, I'm shopping, I'm
in cars, I'm just walking with people. And I feel it.
I feel in my in my heart, I feel it
in my gut, and it comes across. I forget where

(12:59):
I am. I forget that them in a studio. That's
always the sentiser things and wires and all kinds of
glass between me. It doesn't matter. I'm at home. I'm
very much at home. Now. I'm not gonna answer the
next question. Let me see you answer it, because I
want to continue on this. Okay, Well, you know you're
doing telling great stories. But do you need the audience

(13:20):
to complete you? Or without the audience, do you feel
like something is missing and you get depressed. Well, I
need an audience, There's no doubt about it. I have
to feel the audience. Now, how do you feel an audience?
I mean, that's something that God's God given. It's something
that's in my soul. It's in my heart. I know
they're they're obviously the physical reaction telephones, emails now right

(13:44):
and uh, twitters and twitters and modyrs whatever they're doing today.
But I know the audience is there because as soon
as I say something, there is a physical reaction. But
besides that, quite wait, a physical reaction in you, No
physical reaction from the audience to me, I mean, you
see it, the screens light up, the telephones light up. Uh.

(14:07):
I'll tell you something I'm very proud of and maybe
you'll get a kick out of this. I broke the
telephone system last Saturday. I love that and I always
say that to be but come on, call me, let's
break the system. It broke. We had an overload. It
was wonderful years ago when I was a w ABC.
You know I left w ABC. Oh gosh, my forty

(14:28):
six years ago. Last time I was on besides now
and uh, we used today threatened to shut down the system,
the telephone system. I'd say bi monthly, every time I'm on,
I'd get telephone calls and then sometimes will be the
surge and it would break down the exchange today, Today's today.
You don't have to break down exchange, but systems do

(14:49):
get into ill repair, and they did that last Saturday.
So the question, the answer is I feel them because
I have a physical field telephones, emails, etcetera. And I
know this. I know this in my body. I can
feel it. Yes, But do you need it to complete you? Yes? Absolutely.

(15:09):
I am happy as when I have an audience. I
love being on the stage. I'm a ham I love it.
I love the feeling. I like the feeling of making
people happy. I know they smile. Some people probably get
mad at me, and why don't they say I wanted
to be quiet? Knock it off. I know that. But
of the people are loving what they're hearing, I'm I'm

(15:32):
reaching them. I'm crossing that bridge. So it makes me happy.
I love to be in front of an audience on
the stage show. I love doing Broadway. I love live television,
but my favorite is what we're doing now. I love
being on the air. I like I like my radio.
I love I love doing talk shows. You know my shows, Bob,
there's all with one breath. You know that right since

(15:53):
you started, uh, my shows have changed amazingly. UH. When
I first started, obviously, it was very mechanical. I was
in Bermuda, my first job when I graduated from New
York University, where I founded the radio station. By the way,
I went to Bermuda, I sent out my uh my demos.

(16:14):
So I spent the yuran Bermuda, and I came back
and had different jobs and became a producer and everything.
But when I went on the Era, the old days
w ABC and even CBSFM. It was really UH music, news, weather,
I did jingles, I did uh telephoned, uh exchanges, but

(16:35):
I it wasn't really a talk tipe show. It has evolved.
It has metamorphized, metamorphis sisto to bed word and to
uh you let it that I know you won't, but
it's okay. Uh. It has changed into a variety show today.
It is no longer UH music, time and weather. It

(16:56):
is now brucie and variety and music and people want
to hear ideas. The audience of you has become so
amazingly hyper sophisticated that they demand certain content and playing
records as a jukebox is not enough, and giving him
a weather break once in a while with a temperature
reading is not enough. They want to hear ideas, They

(17:19):
want to hear other people. They want to hear exchanges
like you do. You are a communicator. I have become
a communicator and I'm very proud of that. I love
to talk and the the connection I have and is
a big word with me. Connection capital c underlined. My
bold with my audience is amazing. What has developed over

(17:41):
the past many years. So I have this connection, and
I've learned how to use it. Well, it was easy
for me to learn because it's me. Okay, let's go
back to Brooklyn. What kind of kid were you? You
are a loner? Were you the leader of the band?
You remember the group? Well, I'm gonna shock you now,
maybe not. You probably know this. I was a shy kid.

(18:02):
I was always kind of a semi leader because I
was always big. I was always the tallest in my class,
or one of them. Anyhow, I was kind of shy
in class. I would make a deal with the teacher
not to call me. I get my bees and my
cs C plus is, but I didn't want to stand
up in front of class. I was shyny. I was
a very shy kid. One day, a very astute teacher,

(18:26):
my English teacher, Mrs fry Lesher, and I believe it's
a PS two oh six in Brooklyn, New York. I
love that love that school asked me to try out
for a hygiene play. Now, you're probably too young to
remember the word hygiene. Not that you don't have hygiene.
I didn't say that, said don't go after me, right,
I didn't say that. We used to have hygiene plays.

(18:47):
Because in those days we couldn't have sex education. It
was not permitted the word high sex, or maybe it
was education. So we had hygiene place and one day
I did Finally she convinced me to try out, and
I won the part of a cavity. Are you laughing
at me? All right? I won the part of that part. Yeah,

(19:10):
And it's a good line. A lot of people still
think I am one. And I was on that stage
that day. You let't forget it. This is in my
heart and my body. And they had me dressed up
as a big tooth with a black spot somewhere in
the top, and I sang something like, uh, I never
brushed my teeth. Amy doesn't let me brush my teeth,
you know, I kind of think. And something happened to

(19:31):
me on the on the stage that day. I looked
out of a little window, you know, the window that
bad tooth, and I saw the audience laughing, and I
felt the heat and the warmth of the audience coming
at me. I never stopped. I never stopped from that
day because I knew this is what I wanted to do.
I stopped my Uh, I was gonna maybe study medicine, right,

(19:53):
I was maybe gonna become I didn't know about being
an astronaut, but I wanted to be a pilot. I
never thought of this, and on that stage, the heat
and warmth and reception of that audience, I realized what
I was going to do for the rest of my life.
And here where we are today. Yeah, so you were
in high school? Were you in the school plays? Yeah?
Doing school plays and what he called public school too,

(20:16):
as I said, PS. Two six. So I started really
in elementary school, and then I graduated to high school.
And while I was in high school, I wanted to
audition to what they call the Old City Radio Workshop,
and that's where my radio career really started. Well, but well,
let's let's slow down for a second. Since you love
the heat of the audience, did you contemplate going the

(20:37):
Broadway or being in the movies or was it always
radio now? At one time, I always like radio because
it was fun. It seemed to be an easier way
of life. But I went to drama school. My girlfriend's
mother convinced me to go to drama school, and I
was going to become an actor. I enjoyed being on
the stage, and I realized pretty quickly that I don't

(20:59):
think an actor's life was for me high didda e
d No, it was not for me. Uh. When I
got to the last part of high elementary school, radio
and television pointed its way to me. It was pretty
obvious what I wanted to do. Okay, So you're talking
about the All City all see the Radio Workshop in Brooklyn,

(21:20):
New York or the New York City Board of Education
system they used to have. I hope they still have
it because this is where I got my education, really
honestly and everything. I won the audition and I stayed
with them for about three and a half years. This
they had their own radio station. It was called w
n y E FM w n y E f M,

(21:40):
and it was housed in studios at Brooklyn Technical High
School downtown Brooklyn, and I stayed there for three and
a half years. I did shows, I did acting, Okay,
but just where could one hear that station today? No? No,
back then? Was it over the year watch? Was it
a wired situation? No? No, no, that was out. That
was something that was later that was an over the

(22:02):
air broadcast station. I don't remember ninety probably the lower
two point one or something. That's where they have you
know a Board of Education frequency and uh, we were
actually on the air and I played I remember Paul Bunyan.
I played all different kind of dramatic parts. I wasn't
doing music in those days. I did reporting, I did
uh poetry readings. But my biggest advancement was playing Paul Bunyan.

(22:27):
It was me, it was not it was it was typecast. Okay,
this was while you were in high school. Yeah. And
so then you decide to go to college. This is
a business where many people did not go to college.
How did you end up going to college? Well, my
parents offered me a car. That was a little incentive,

(22:50):
right to offered me a car if I went to
college because I wanted to go out. I wanted to
go on the stage. I wanted to study a little
more acting. I still had the acting bug and I
wanted to go on radio because I had that bug too.
But they convinced me that college would be the right
way to go. So I remember I was the recipient
of a beautiful two door Uh. It was a Ford

(23:13):
at two door Ford and it was green and white
cream topped. It was a beautiful car. How did I
am radio? It was brand new Oh yeah, Oh, that's
quite an attentive Mario was. My parents were really great.
I mean that was an expensive carmer those days. Probably course,
at least three dollars, I don't know, Probably more like, okay,

(23:36):
so you start school where college? College? Now you're gonna
embarrass me. See, you know you are a very smart,
shy guy. You sly guy. I know what you're doing here,
all right? I went me you, I know what you're doing.
I went to Brooklyn College, right. I lasted there for
six months. You're gonna embarrass me now, but I'm gonna now,

(23:58):
I'm I'm in it. I gotta tell him. I went
to Brooking College for six months. For some reason, I
couldn't find the classes. Yeah, they kept moving the classes.
So I I left obviously, or maybe I was requested
to leave. I don't know. It was maybe a combination

(24:18):
that too, Bob cousin Bob Um. I started talking to
people who went to New York University, and it sounded good.
It sounds like I wanted to do something there. So
I enrolled at n y U. And what was there
In the first year. I decided they needed a radio
station and then we didn't have when we had a
radio club, you know, was held at an Arizat studio

(24:40):
and we had a microphone and uh a little control
room and we practiced radio. But it wasn't going anywhere
but into somebody's web corps or something or wire recorder
in those days. So I decided I was gonna go
this is this is typical me. Now, I was gonna
go see a dean. I looked up to dean, my dean,
and uh, I was gonna go ask him to get

(25:03):
me a radio station for the college. We needed a
radio station. It really was important part of the community.
So it was snowing. It was a bad snowy, nasty day,
muddy snow, slush, and I tripped into the dean's office
with my gloshes. Now, in those days, Bobby probably remember,
we used to wear these over shoes called galoshes. Terrible.

(25:26):
I mean, you know, forget it. So I went in
and I didn't take my glashes off, and I brought
in a lot of slush with me. He looked down
at his beautiful new carpet, and I knew right away
he looked back at me once again the eyes he
was not happy. He says, what can I do? For you,
Mr Morrow, And I said, well, sir, I want to
build a radio station. We need a radio station, the

(25:47):
community needs one, the college needs one. So he looked
at me and said, you know what, I think it's
a good idea. I'm gonna get you twenty eight dollars.
Get out. Literally, he didn't want me. I'm I messed
up his office. He gave me eventually twenty eight dollars
to professor my professors. I went and board wire. I

(26:08):
bought a used Dina box phonograph, and we had a microphone,
and I formed the club of people who really wanted
to be on the radio. I took the wire from
the back of the console, dropped it four stories out
of window, and I connected it with solder to the
back of two radios in a lounge in the green

(26:29):
room down there upstairs. We had microphone and a Dina box.
I went over to London Records at r C A,
and I begged them for their catalogs. I had, you know,
Cosmo music, and I had Semi pop music, had all that. Well,
we started doing shows. We did news, we did music,
and it went to the fourth four stories below the

(26:49):
two radios. But we were on the air. That's how
it started. That's my career. That's how the career started.
I knew that to really gets this out of me. Okay.
And then was at the extent of the radio station
during your whole college career or did they ultimately get
it over the year broadcast? Yeah they did, they did.
Uh what was it called carry a current? I think

(27:10):
they did carry according after a while. Yeah, carry accurrent
is not really over the year. We never had a transmitter,
so to speak, but we somehow the technicians we now,
we hired a technician. He the UH cabled us into
the electrical circus throughout the college, and the electrical circus
carried this UH the signal. So we were on the air.

(27:31):
I saw it selling time to local sponsors. I got
a lot of records. We had newscasters, I mean a group.
I had a radio station and it worked. And today
that radio station uh w n y U FM is
on the air and gets all kinds of awards. Yeah. Absolutely, okay,
So what do you study in college? Uh? I studied

(27:56):
UH radio I UH. I very rarely went to class.
The My professor's all excuse me, because they knew what
I was doing. And everybody wanted a radio station. Albeit
even though it was only two speakers at the time,
I was kind of excused. So my college career was
really building that radio station. But I learned finance, I

(28:18):
learned history, I learned geography, I learned sociology, I learned psychology.
I had the best, the best education of my life.
My parents paid a lot of money for that education,
but it was well worth while. Right but you, but
you did graduate, you did get a degree. O start
somewhere behind me and something. In fact, I even have
a a an honorary degree. I have a pH d.

(28:40):
You know, it's Dr Cousin Bruce. You know. No, I'm
very proud that I graduated, n y U. It was
tough at times. It was tough of times because my
head was always outside the classroom wanting to do things.
But I did it. I graduated, and uh, I'm very
proud of that, very proud of n Yu. You graduated.

(29:04):
What was the next step in your career? Well, when
I graduated, I sent out demo tapes or if you
remember those days. But we didn't have uh, you know,
we didn't have the Internet or anything. We had to
send tapes out. So I uh, sent out eight tapes
under the under the supervision of my professor's Professor Falk,
Professor Emerson. Funny while I'm talking, I remembering names here,

(29:27):
And I sent these tapes out to different radio stations. Now,
I've always, Bob, I've always wanted to be a warm climate.
I don't like being cold, and I don't like being
I don't like to this day. And so I sent
them out to warm climates, which is a very bad
thing to do because you're really narrowing the pickings. So
out of about eight tapes, I got four or five

(29:48):
back that said, kid, you're very very nice going to
your father's business. All right, forget it. And a couple
of them came back very positively. One was in Panama City, Florida.
Perfect nice weather, you know, a little cool once in
a while, nice weather. And one day the owner of
the radio station called, and once again, my dad was

(30:09):
standing by Dad and he's on the phone. I'm on
the other phone, and uh, he gets on him. Yes,
he said, this is Mrs so and so of whatever
the radio station was, and still there by the way,
Panama City, Florida. We'd like to offer your son a job.
So my father answered, I was like throat stopped, and
he said, yeah, well, what's the job. Well, we'd like

(30:30):
to give him a job, and uh, he'd work in
both our businesses. My father said, really, what both businesses? Well,
he said he was very cagy the guy. He said,
he'd been on the air for about four hours. He'll
do a two hour show and then he'll go out
and sell for two hours out small stations. Right, we'll
pay him eighty five dollars a week, and we'll help

(30:51):
him get settled and everything. Eighty five a week. And
then my father knew something was wrong and he said, okay,
that sounds all right for this time, because he was
going to supplement myself. I'll read what's the other business?
My father very shrewd once again, so the older of
the stations as well, Mrmorrow, we also own a car wash.

(31:11):
What are you laughing at? That's serious stuff. Listen, how
would you like that? He said, he'll work four hours
in our car wash. Now, my dad and I looked
at each other and we said, no, no, I wasn't
gonna carry eight hundred towels down to Florida. So we
turned that one down. About a week later, I received

(31:32):
a call from I guess the station of my dreams,
z B M, or as we say, z B M
z B M in Bermuda. Down in Bermuda Paradise for
two I met my loved one deep in the Blue
remember that song? Alright, anyway you do not recognize all right?
I go down to Bermuda, and I really had my

(31:53):
education there, Bob. This is where I learned radio. You know,
you can stay in college and high school and read
books and go to a broadcast school all your life,
but until you're on the professionally, until you're on that
radio and doing it and you feel that feeling in
your belly and you're so scared, right because it's so new,
you don't know what to do. That's when the education began.

(32:16):
So one year and a little bit of a couple
of months in Bermuda and I did everything from well,
I I brought rock and roll music down to that
quiet island. They used to call me the Hammer. By
the way, I still have listeners down there that right
to me. Email me. They love it, uh, that hammer
because they never heard anybody speak with the cacophony of
the music that we were playing. Suddenly they were hearing

(32:38):
Fats Domino and Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, and
yet that whole thing drifters, and they were getting a
whole new beat this once quiet Calypsonian Island, and the
Hammer was on the radio with him. I did shows,
I did stage shows. I started a show called The
Search Party. That's where I got in trouble. I mixed

(33:00):
black and white audience once again. I love my audience.
I was dead, so I was really wanting to have
an audience in front of me, even in those days.
I knew it. And they didn't like this too much.
They didn't like the idea of mixing audiences. So at
night I used to get threatening. When I was on
the radio, I used to get threatening phone calls. It

(33:20):
got so bad. And this is the old days of
the Beater's not today that things have changed. I used
to walk home with a lead pipe at the ready
in my pocket, real big pipe, and I used to
put it under my shirt because and every time a
palm tree would sway, I jumped ten feet in the
air getting ready for something. So they threatened me right

(33:41):
until I got home, and I used to get into
my little bed that I paid. I think, uh, ninety
dollars a month. I was on the eve of on
the eve of a roof, and if I got up,
I'd smashed my head on it. But I gotta tell
you some that was probably the most important poignant part
of my education, my radio education. I left there, go

(34:04):
away before you go there? Yeah, what's what's happening with
you in romance along the road here? What? Wait a minute?
Oh wait, I'm not gonna talk about that. You gotta
we only get me in trouble. I can't. I can't
afford a divorce this year. No, I guess uh I
did you have dates in high school? In college? Did

(34:26):
you have relationships? Sure? Oh, absolutely had a lot of girlfriends.
I thought you were talking about one specific one in Bermuda.
It was that I had my research. Does not go
that day, Thank goodness. Hold on a second, okay, okay, yeah, yeah,
of course you did have one specific person in Bermuda.

(34:48):
You were not homesick, well, I was homesick. I was homesick,
but there were times it was not homesick because we
were making nice. We had a good time. My uh
my two door forward, which I had pre Bermuda, was
now being used for another kind of education. I didn't
know there was a back seat there. Okay, but you

(35:10):
took the Ford to Bermuda too, No, no, no, I said,
I used the Ford pre Bermuda for you talking about girlfriend. Okay,
so that how do you get out of Bermuda. Well,
that's kind of a story that twenty century Fox bought
in my book, right, and that was that could have
that was almost a movie. Uh. There was a church

(35:32):
in Bermuda outside of Hamilton's that burned down, and this
church was in dire needs of funds they had to rebuild.
So I decided very wisely, I think to this day,
to hold a big record hop and a dance at
a huge hall in Hamilton's harbor. So we hired this
hard It could have held thousands of people. And uh,

(35:54):
I was going to raise money to read help rebuild
the church, which I did. I raised some funds. Um
after this was over, I was invited to leave. I
was invited to leave Bermuda. Now once again, I love
Bermuda and I've been back a couple of times since.
At this time, Bermuda was kind of living in a

(36:15):
different world. They weren't in today's world. They really didn't.
I think if you weren't uh British Anglo Protestant Um,
you were not acceptable. They had a lot of different
laws which have changed, you know. So I was right
there in the middle of all this stuff. So, as

(36:36):
I said, I got a letter and I suggested that
I leave. Okay, let's let's let's let's hold back for
a second. To what degree if you encountered anti Semitism
in your career, very little to none. Honestly, No, I've
discovered I've encountered anti humanism many times. I've never had

(37:00):
the unhappiness of anti Semitism or anti anything. The only
anti I really had was in Bermuda. That was just
not nice. It wasn't right. Okay. So if you were
raising money for the church, what was their problem with you? Well,
I was helping a black church. It was a black church. See,

(37:20):
that's what happened. So they were invited to leave. Yeah,
I started to leave, and I accepted it. I left,
and uh I went home and I got a job
in Miami. I probably had another job before that. I know,
it's getting a little kind of mushy now. Uh, I
get a job in Miami and I go to w

(37:41):
Y n Z in Miami, broadcasting from high you top
the beautiful Biscaine Bay, overlooking beautiful, beautiful Florida. So I
was in the there for W Y and Z for
about a year. One day I'm walking on Biscaye Boulevard
out here speak about things that you never forget. I
suddenly see Santa Claus under a palm tree. It's not

(38:03):
in December Christmas time, wearing Bermuda shorts and a T shirt.
And I said, boy, you're out of here. That was
I got enough see Santa Claus and shorts, you know.
So it was time to leave, and I left in
the I got jobs, So I got his producers jobs,
and I went to W I and S in New York.

(38:25):
When you how long were you off the air from
Remuta to your next job? Maybe three months? Pretty quick.
Do you ever think it might not work? No? I
never did. I always had. You know, I'm very lucky.
I have great faith in me. I believe in what
I do, and I ain't a feard. I'm not afraid.

(38:48):
I'm not a scaredy kid. I'm a Brooklyn kid. Nothing
scares me. Okay, So when you leave Miami, do you
continue to stay on the air or there are times
when you're behind the mic, behind the MICU of the
first jobs, I was at Mutual Broadcasting as a producer
and then Fate stepped in. This you're gonna like, I

(39:09):
am hired a w Y and as my dad parents.
My mother had a friend who was parents parents of
a young lady who worked at w I and S.
In those days, w Y and S was music. It
wasn't an old talk or all news stations. So they
hired me as a producer. Once again, Fate here it
is mom Ba bamb Homema bam home. Fate steps in.

(39:34):
There's a strike after calls a strike. Now what happens
when there's a strike, all of the on air personalities leave,
They go out and they pick it or they just
leave and uh. Then the other unions like what was it?
Navid was something? I believe it was NAVID, the engineering unit.
They could not cross the picket line, so we were

(39:57):
without operating personnel. So what are you do? Well, as
a you know, a broadcaster, you do what comes dentually.
You get everybody that works for you that's non union
and you put them on the air and all the
ancelory jobs that's what you do. So they knew I
had experience. They put me on the air. Okay, but

(40:17):
did your the people broadcasting were on strike. Did they
see you as a scab or did they excell Let's
put it this way. At first, well I was that's
after the fact. But I went on the air, So
just no preceding. That went on the air, and I
stayed on the air for quite some time. Cousin Brusci
was born on the air. That's what happened. My enthusiasm,

(40:38):
my energy was now developing, and they kept me on
the air. Now, when the strike ended, they gave me
a contract. I stayed on the air. I went on
the air. Uh. The union members, well, at first they
were kind of cold, I remember, but after a while
they warmed up. I'm a very kissy, huggy guy, and

(40:59):
they saw the young guy, young kid. Right, I wasn't
doing anything wrong. I was doing what I was instructed
to by executives. So I had no choice either that
or I was gonna be fired. So one on the year.
So after a while they warmed up to me. Right.
How long was the strike, Oh, I don't know. It
was a pretty good one. It was a pretty long strike.

(41:21):
I mean, it wasn't years or anything. I think several months. Okay,
so what year are we in? All right, now, you're
gonna have to use your research. I really, my research
is my whole life. But it's obviously pre w ABC. Wait, okay,
let me let me switch it a little bit. Because
something you've mentioned, you have a love for being performing,

(41:43):
You liked the connection with your audience. To what degree
was the music important to you at that time? Absolutely everything?
The music I believe was my connection. The music was
in my absolute absolute bridge to that audi. It's I
was playing that music and I sounded like that music
because I learned how to sound like that music from

(42:06):
Alan Freed, who was my mentor back in the old days.
Alan Freed probably the granddaddy of Top forty and rock
and roll radio when I was a kid, when I
was in high school, I used to go once in
a while up to w y and S where he
was on. Came out of Cleveland and came to Wyns.
Pressed my nose against the glass, and one day he
noticed me because I came up pretty often, and he

(42:27):
signaled me to come in with his hand, come on in,
and he went in. He says, kid, you like this?
I said, yes, sir. He says, don't do it going
to your father's business. It's boring, boring, and you know something,
Thank god I didn't listen to him, right. I was
so enamored because this man sounded like rock and roll,
but I sounded like it. And the music, to answer
your question, was the entire absolute bridge to where I

(42:50):
am today. Okay, Now, Alan Freed ultimately went up the
river as a result of Paola. To what degree did
Payola permeate the business? This back then completely? But fortunately
for me, I was a kid. I took Payola once
and I'm gonna admit it to you know, you're gonna
be shocked. Are you ready for this? All? Right? I

(43:12):
accepted a cherry and an apple pie from somebody once
he came up. This man who was a record promoter,
offered me, wanted me to play one of his new records,
and I he knew I could get it past and
the music meeting, and uh, he gave me a cherry
pie and an apple pie. I didn't know it was Payola.

(43:32):
It was pie Ola. I don't know what the heck
it was. They were very good pies. I witnessed those
days of payola, program directors, music directors, getting television sets,
cases of booze cars. I mean there was one guy
and even had a wedding. Uh, an amazing thing happened.

(43:53):
I had no idea. I was so young. Nobody really
ever approached me. I could have, I could have probably
followed it, but I never did. I just told you
that apple pie and cherry pie. That was okay. So
how long were you all? You went directly from w
I n S ten ten wins to w ABC. Correct? Uh, yeah,

(44:14):
I think you know, I think that's pretty right. I
think how long were you at ten ten wins before
you went to ABC? And what was that transition about? What?
It was? Two years? Two years at w I n S.
It ended kind of unhappily. There was a DJ named
Murray the K and Murray wanted my hours. And I
was a young guy. I didn't know how to protect myself.

(44:36):
I was still you know, my early early twenties, and uh,
Murray was a season veteran and he wanted those hours.
And you're talking about quantity or specific time time, which
was when oh I was on from uh, I think
ten to midnight in those days. Why did he want
those hours because he was on at night later and

(44:57):
he wanted the extra hours, So we wanted the hours,
and he was very friendly with the sales manager and
then they made a deal. So I was put on
a different time and eventually I left, but I was
I was really forced forced out. So murray, Uh it was.
It was not a happy moment in my life. And eventually, unfortunately,

(45:17):
uh it came to pass whereby he paid the piper
for that, paid the piper with his with his life.
Nothing to do with me, But that's another story he developed. Yeah,
he got very sick, right, But staying with you, how
did you did you quit? Iron asked? Or you were
you recruited by ABC? Or do you look for another job?

(45:38):
How did that transition happen? You know, I just want
to think. I don't think I was let go. I
looked for another job. I looked for another job and
at the time, but see none I went. I'm pretty
sure I went to W Y and Z before I went. Yeah,
I'm pretty sure that. You know what. There's so much
going on with my chronology. It's like word but as

(46:00):
you're talking and sort of lights up a pinball, A
little glimmer. Um, I got a job from Wins and
Wins in Miami, Florida. That's where I went. So I
went out of Florida. I was pretty I was known
by that in Florida because New Yorkers, you know a
lot of New Yorkers are there, right, and that's how
they advertise it. So a guy named Rex rand Oldness

(46:22):
radio station w Y and C. I think this is
where this came in because we talked about this came
terrorists before and I went down there and I spent
that year. That's where this happened. While I was down
there that year, I was recruited for w ABC. That's
when they were starting out to look and see what
they wanted to do. They were becoming they were the
seven Swinging Gentleman that they became the All Americans. And

(46:45):
I got the job there. I got the job. There
was Rick Sklar already the program director. Yes she was.
Rick was my program director. I think what I got there.
There was a guy leaving in transition, but Rick was
my program director and uh he called me into his
office one day and uh, I was on the air

(47:05):
and he goes into his draw and he pulls out
a folder when these vanilla folders and the en folder
was a star. And he said to me, Bruce, this
is Rick Slane. This is your star. This is you
from now on, and he gave me the break. I
went on the air seven to ten. Okay, and so
immediately you were at seven to ten. Let's see, right,

(47:29):
how long after you went on ABC did the Beatles break?
Oh many years after, because I think I'd say two
to three years later. I was starting to get records,
uh from England with them before they broke, you know,
with Swan Records VJ. And we bring him to music
meetings and we all said, well, tell a bunch of Brits,

(47:51):
make him believe that the Everly Brothers and Chuck Bury
we were very, very genius as we turned them down
right until we started noticing a lot of things happening
in Europe, Riots and what was going on with the Beatles.
They were growing popularity until eventually they were ready to
come over here and I get very involved with them.
I introduced them at Chase Stadium with wall wa wa wa,

(48:13):
this is what I want to hear. So let's slow
down a little bit. When the Beatles break in sixty four,
do you immediately, when do you sense that this is
something different? This is just not another act and other
than the Beach Boys in the Four Seasons, pretty much
gonna wipe everybody else off the radio. Kind of a
fun story. First of all, it took a little time.

(48:34):
Uh it was another great group and they were making
a lot of noise in Europe, and nothing really happened
till that become part of market one. Well we find
out they're gonna be coming over here, and uh uh
we started playing Beatle records. I remember the very first
Beatle record I got. I mean officially, because I had
other ones that were non official. We s get bootleg records,

(48:55):
of course, but officially, I gotta want to hold your head.
That was delivered to me by an armed security guard
with a promotion man with him. He had an ant
this is true, this great story. He had a had
to shade case, handcuffed to his right wrist. I always
remember the right wrist, right wrist. And the promotion man

(49:16):
who escorted the security guard said, you can't have what's
in there. That's a record, the first Beatle record for
you exclusively until nine o'clock. I don't know what the
nine o'clock was But then I realized at nine o'clock
he hands me the record. Mob. I played that record
eight times that night. Now here's what happened at nine
o'clock on AM radio. The atmosphere that the signal bounces

(49:40):
off reaches pretty high, and by the time it bounces back,
I'm reaching over forty states. That's why I got my
national limits. While that record is on about a hundred
and someone around radio stations AM radio stations all over
the country are copying recording the song that I'm playing.
That was my eclusive. They knew exactly what they were doing,

(50:02):
so huh. The next day, being a pretty good businessman, right,
I developed a thing called blocking out the sound. I
recorded something called because of Brucie Exclusive Exclusive. Every ten seconds,
I would play that thing on the air, destroying the record.
Nobody can copy anymore on my records Exclusive Exclusive Brusie Exclusive.

(50:23):
And uh, that was the end of the Beatle battle
of the broadcast airways. That stopped that for a while.
They grew tremendously in uh popularity. Give you a good example,
and this is I'm gonna this is not made up.
This is pretty close. Little Joey from the Bronx would
call me two weeks before the Beatles came to New

(50:45):
York and Joey would say, hey, Brucie, Hey man, we're
digging your show because we really like it. When you
play a record for me, my girl the name of Susie.
Play somebody every brothers. Two weeks after the Beatles come
listen this same kid. Hello, is this so Brucie, This

(51:05):
is suburb of bronx Shire on the Grand Course Shire.
Would you play a record for me and me bird?
Her name is Lady Suzanne. Now what I'm trying to
say here is that everybody became an anglophile. People started
developing the accents. They talked to me. Everyone was a
brit They dress, they look, they get quaffed, they dye

(51:27):
their hair, they do everything. And everybody was aware of
the mother country. That's what the Beatles did. So the
Beatles when they came over, not only gave us music
at that time, but they also gave us language, dress
and how we behaved ourselves. Everybody was suddenly speaking with

(51:47):
clip tongue. They also thought with king author. So what
was your relationship with Brian Epstein? And also the four
individual Beatles who all had a great relationship with them.
Brian just to call me every once in a while
we'd have a nice talk. But the Beatles I I
really got involved with. I met them at UH at

(52:07):
idle Wild Airport that became JFK. We were there at
that first press conference, which was kind of that was
a little rough. The press corps was not nice to them.
They were the boys were a little snippy, but the
press corps was kind of out to get him because
you know, the press represented mom and dad. There was
not nobody cared about the kids. There was no youth market,

(52:29):
so to speak at this time. UH. Then they came
up there with me. There's a very famous picture of
me with the boys broadcasting at W A Beatles c
Bob w A Beatles see right Chime Time, which I'm
still doing today by the way, which is really makes
me very happy. So I got involved with him many

(52:51):
times at UH where they were staying in hotels and
I saw some wild, wild things, those hells out. I
used to broadcast their arrival, say to a Warwick hotel
and uh Rick Sklar was our program director who has
a book called UH Rocket in America. I think it's
called good Book and has a story about that, and

(53:11):
my books have this story too. He held me out
by the seat of my pants. We didn't have any
real wireless um wireless equipment in those days, so he
held me out by the seat of my pants, my belt.
If he let go, I would have been a lot
of trouble. I was on like the eighth floor of
the of Warwick Hotel and I broadcast I'm arriving. The

(53:32):
kids five thousand, six thousand supposedly were herded across the
street sixth Avenue by what is now the Hilton Hotel,
and they were behind police Marricaye's horses, wooden horses. The
boys came up the one way street I think fifty
fourth Street to be Shepherd and immediately into the Warwick
Hotel when that car came, and I was broadcasting because

(53:56):
every kid in that audience had the radio tuned to
Duble Do a Beetle c that was that was their news,
that was their news station. So they said, the boys
are here. They comes, it's coming up the one way
and I was. The horses went down across the street,
the wooden horses. I also saw police horses being knocked
out of the way by this this delusies Suzami of

(54:20):
people coming across the street. It was like a tidal wave,
and they came and they rushed the entrance at Warwick
Hotel now at the Warwick Hotel. Some of them got
through and a couple of individuals grabbed the boys used
to grab their hair, hoping to get a snippet of hair.
They grabbed shirts, hoping to get a piece of fabric.

(54:40):
One grabbed He's saying, Christopher's medal. Great story, you want
to hear a great story. This is this is how
I got involved. You'll love this. This young girl and
I'll give you her name in a couple of moments
because I stole him in touch with her grabbed Ringlar Star.
But she did. There was an accident, right, It was
an accident. She grabbed the Saint Christopher's Medal and had it.

(55:02):
She didn't even know she had it, put in a
purse or something. About an hour later, Ringo and Paul
and I think John was there, and I don't remember
George there. They came in and I said to Ringo
and this is by the way, Uh, there were this
film and this and there's a lot of h I
have audio of this, and I said, ringo, I was
very nervous. I was very young and very nervous. You know,

(55:25):
a little insecure would have the beatles in front. I
didn't know what to do. I knew we had a
news story here, and I said, you don't look too good.
That's what I said to him. Foolish, but it was true.
He says, I don't feel too good because of Brucy.
Somebody called me St. Christopher's middle. I said, you kidding?
You got my auntie gave it to me, and I said,

(55:45):
stupidly was a real gold. I mean, what a stupid
thing to say. I mean, I was nervous. Come on,
you know, it was like the moment that on the
moment and he says, he, oh, I only wear a
real goal causing Brucey. That's how he asked me. He
suddenly got is snipping his back, so I said, let
me ask you something. If I can get your St.

(56:05):
Christomas metal back right away, Bob, the wheels started turning
right and you know what I'm gonna say. I said,
would you be willing to meet that person to give
them a kiss? And you'd hear outside you hear the crowd,
thousands of screaming right, And he said, yes, I want

(56:26):
that St. Christmas medal back, all documented stuff by the way,
And I said, whoever found I took it? Whoever found
the St. Christmas mean, you're not in trouble. I want
you to call me at this number as soon as
I get off the air, and we're gonna make arrangements
for you to meet Wringle and get a kiss, and
he's gonna give you a thank you. Well, sure enough,

(56:48):
I get off the air and people went wild outside.
You hear the audience went crazy. I get a call
from Mrs McGowan. I believe Ms McGowan. They lived in
the Bronx. That's the mother of a child. The child's name,
the young lady's name was Angela mcgewan. Angela and I
still talk once in a while, and I think she
lives down south somewhere. Well, mother said, uh, my daughter,

(57:13):
is she in any trouble? I said no, Mrs McGowan,
and this said, she didn't become a hero overnight. Uh,
this is what I want you to do. I got
ahold of Rick's carr. We got a suite of rooms
at the hotel across street, away from away from uh
you know, the Warwick And he said, I want you
to bring Angie there and she can bring a couple

(57:34):
of friends, right or one of them friends and at
eight o'clock we're gonna come and get you or whatever
the time was. Well, it happened. She got there with
Angie was scared, so for a couple of friends. They
shepherded her over very carefully to uh our eight floor
where Ringo came in and Paul and we reunited Angie

(57:54):
the St. Christopher's Medal and Ringo star. He talked to
her on the air hugg during gave her a kids.
She then gave him the Ringo in the St. Christopher's Medal.
There's the St. Christmas Medal story, and that really cemented
my relationship with him and with Sir Paul. Okay, did

(58:17):
they see you primarily as the DJ or were you
actually friends with the Beatles? No, I'd I'd say most
of us a d J. I don't. I don't think
we've ever. I got pretty friendly with John, but you know,
I never I don't think we were friends. Friends. I'd
say business friends would be more like it. And they
were very fond of me. Look I made them a

(58:38):
lot of money day, played their music, talked about him constantly.
I mean never stopped. I mean you couldn't go anywhere
in those days without one of the boys appearing. I
remember this is I guess I can say this. I
remember going to the bathroom at some hotel and in
one of the stalls, right there was pictures of John
and Paul right in there. You couldn't go anywhere without

(59:01):
a representation of the Beatles. The Beatles arrived, but here
was a very important PostScript that I want the audience
to know. The Beatles just did not happen right, because
the Lord didn't come down and say, my children, I
shall be got the Beatles to the right. You've been good.
I'm giving you something. No, it happened with a lot

(59:22):
of money, a lot of hype, a lot of promotion,
a lot of sweat, a lot of guys like me
promoting the Beatles. Did we ever think that they were
going to become a sociological phenomenon surpassing their music. No, no,
we never thought. Nobody was that smart. We were not
that smart. I never thought that would happen because by

(59:44):
the time I introduced him at Shase Stadium, I'm jumping again, right.
I introduced him with with that Sullivan Schase Stadium. The
people were there really to be with him. The music
was almost secondary because you couldn't hear it anyhow. Okay, now,
when the Beatles arrived, there's sort of a fight in
New York to own the Beatles. Your nemesis, Marie the

(01:00:06):
Case says he's the fifth Beatle. To what degree were
you conscious of the conscious of that and trying to
win the Beatle war? Very conscious? Now, First of all,
the Beatles never liked this fifth Beatle because the fifth Beatle,
thinks spread about four or five other jocks quote in
the country. Uh, they adopted that moniker. They never liked that.

(01:00:28):
The Beatle battle was tremendous. We became w a Beatles
c We put out cards and prices, and I mean
we did everything. We gave away tickets to their concerts,
We gave away Beetles, sweaters and mufflers and gloves, anything
Beatles we would do. So we were very connizant of
the UH and aware of what was happening with the

(01:00:49):
other radio stations. And uh, we were hell bent on
winning this one. And I believe we did. And I
think well, first of all, the year's size of his
radio station, which I was always very proud of, fifty
thou watts clear channel and in the other stations in
town could not even hold a candle to it. It
was small. I used to call them tea pots, right,

(01:01:11):
and they were tiny compared to this. So just how
sheer power alone gave us the upper hand? No, I
just certainly remember because there were three. It was w
m c A, w ABC in ten ten wins. I
was always an ABC guy. But as you say, winds
Win News and then m c A fitted out. We
know that radio. In radio, you live and die by

(01:01:31):
the book. The ratings when you went on ABC, how
are the ratings? Did the Beatles uh improve your ratings?
Personal ratings? And how are your ratings relative to the
other jocks? Well, but the ratings on w ABC were
always amazing. It took a little while to establish. But well,
I don't know what that there's a statistic comes in

(01:01:51):
my mind. One in four radios were always listening to
custom Brucey. Now, if you think of that, you translate
that that is cannot be done. It cannot happen. Went
on the beach if you want on any beach, Jones Beach,
Brighton Beach, Conyana. You remember this if you climbed over bodies.
Everybody had a radio, and I'd say four out of

(01:02:13):
five radios were listening to w ABC even before the Beatles.
Now would answer you a question Beatles came on. Uh,
did they improve the ratings? Oh? I mean, I don't
know how money the percentage, but tremendous because everybody was
listening for a new Beatles record, new Beatles record. I
knew we'd have them first. Just because of the size

(01:02:34):
of this station. We got all the exclutions and okay,
you were bookended by Dan Ingram and Scott Muni. Did
you become the star of the stage? When did you
realize you were such a star? Were you the star
of the station? And were the other jock's jealous Well,
you know, in those days w ABC, it looked like

(01:02:54):
we were one happy family. That was never the case.
We were a professional family. We're never a happy family.
Some of the guys gets to get together with others,
but there was always professional jealousy. I never looked at
myself as the star of the station, albeit maybe the
executives and the salespeople did. Uh. I just did my job.

(01:03:15):
I did my shows, and I love my audience. I
never had really time to really think about being a
star or you know, getting getting involved. All the television
stuff came to me, the newspapers came to me. I
did my Palisades Park shows, which gave me a tremendous,
tremendous leeway on everybody else. Everybody loved going to Palisades Park.

(01:03:36):
But so you know, Bob, I never really and did
this day this. This might sound a little corny in
my bath, I don't look at myself as a radio star.
I'm cousin Brucie. I'm doing my thing and I'm keeping
this audience. And I know they loved me because I
love them, right. That's so, That's as far as it goes. Now,
if somebody is going to make a marble model that

(01:03:58):
for me, uh and put it in Time Square someday, great,
I won't know it. Well, maybe I will, I don't know.
Maybe I will be able to come back. I'll make
a deal if I can. I know how to make deals.
But I don't know. I just do my thing, and
I'm really not interested in how do you say being
a star? Facts? Kind of interesting. Anytime a young person

(01:04:19):
comes to me and I give a lot of advice.
I'm an advice guy. I like to help people, right
and uh, if one of them says to me, hey,
I want to be a recording star, that turns me
off right away. I want to become a recording artist.
I'll talk with him for an hour. Ep So the word,
the word star, I don't know what that means. I

(01:04:40):
think I do my thing. I love it, I have
my heart, my soul in it, and to this day
I am as excited. Uh. But that, like says Brucey,
you're on the air, my little heart pounds and I
have that little butterfly on my stomach and I'm so happy.
I am happy, to a matter of fact, on the air,

(01:05:01):
I'm back at w ABC. I'm home now. How did
that happen? Wow? A complete circle. But I'm so happy
this has happened because I have that feeling again. I
haven't had that feeling in quite a while, but it's returned.
It's good. Let's go back to the sixties. Historically, even
to today, radio is not a lucrative profession. So you

(01:05:24):
were on the biggest station. You had a huge audience,
how are you doing financially? Very well? Remember you know
when you're in this market now, and we were making millions. No,
we were making times more than anybody else anywhere in
the country. L A does pretty well, maybe a little
bit of Chicago, but New York City always was very

(01:05:45):
good to me, and it were good to most of
the guys today. Can I skipped today for one minute? Today,
Cousin John, who bought this man, who purchased this mega station, this,
this all, this of power right, offered me the best
contract of my career. So I'm sitting here today saying

(01:06:07):
to my wife Judy, I got the best contract I've
ever had. I've always done well. I mean, cousin Bruce
is very very happy sold by radio stations. Television stations
always made a lot of money with radio. So you're
looking at a guy. That's That's why I'm smiling, and
I feel good. I can do what I want for
any risk of my life. This is out of love.
So I was very happy they paid me well. Could

(01:06:30):
they have paid me more? Of course, you always think
you're worth more than you get. But I've always been
managing very well over my career. I mean when I
came back. I guess some bermuda. I decided that day
and look that I'm never gonna be I'm never gonna
be poor. I'm gonna have money and I'm gonna make
it doing what I want to do, being on the

(01:06:52):
radio and it and it worked. So yes, I lived
in Connecticut, certainly didn't have a driver's license, and only
wished I could go to Palisades Park. How did that
come together? That was, I'd say, next to the Beatles
introducing with Chase Stadium, probably the most important part of
my life. Um, while I was at UH because it

(01:07:12):
was W I and S. That's where it really started.
Or the owner, Irving Rosenthal, was very friendly with the
owners and the executives of the radio station. And I
was on at night and people like you say, I
was there, their boy. I was there. Rick gave me
a star. I was their star, and he asked them

(01:07:35):
if I can be, you know, covering to Palisades Park
and do shows. Well, long story short, I stayed at
Palisades Park doing shows, producing them put in it together
and him seeing them for over a decade and a half.
And that was an important part of my life to
this day. I do Palisades Park reunions because the Palisades
Park is ingrained in my audience. And no matter where

(01:07:58):
that audience is, they know Palisades Park. They know it.
And we used to be there on weekends. Rain storm, thunder,
didn't matter, snow. We'd have that show. That show we'd
go on and we had every every major star there
lip sinking lip syncing records. We couldn't afford to pay
people to have a live man, so those days it

(01:08:20):
was socially acceptable to lip sync. So I stayed there
for a year and a half and I love it
to this day. Well you can list to my shows
and you'll always hear somebody saying, Brucie played Palisades Park
by Freddie Boom boom cannon. Right course, can you sing
the commercial? Can you sing the jingle? Right? Palisades has
the fun? Palisades is the place. Come on over, remember

(01:08:43):
that and this one, of course, and say you're some
one you're like, take let's see, uh, skip the bother
and skip the fuss. Take a public service bus, public
service shower is great. Take it right up to the gate,
so we said, And people still remember those commercial Palisades
as a place we grew up. We all grew up,

(01:09:04):
and I was a babysitter for thousands of young people
and adults, and it come over in those sunny Saturdays
and Sundays and we'd have one great free show time. Okay,
now today's DJs, of course, the classic example being Ryan
Seacrest there on the radio. They're doing television because traditionally

(01:09:25):
you're only on the radio for like four hours. In
your days at w ABC, you were on the air
for four hours, seven to eleven. What was the rest
of your day, looking like well, I would do uh appearances.
I even taught at New York University for a while.
I taught. I always delivered lectures. I'd be invited to schools.

(01:09:47):
I'd be invited to people's homes for dinner, for lunch.
I'd be invited to bomb Mitzvah's confirmations, baptisms. I became
part of a family. And this is what I realized
that this is more than just microphone and a guy
who was a DJ. I never liked that word just jockey.
I'm a I'm a radio guy. I'm a broadcaster. Um.

(01:10:10):
I realized very early in my career that this was
gonna go much further than playing records and giving time
and weather. This was gonna become part of family. I
was going to become part of people's lives. Okay, So
if someone reached out, you would always respond just about um.

(01:10:30):
You know what I always say is ten percent of
the public is certifiably insane, literally should be institutionalized. But
you never know which ten percent? Do you think percent?
Maybe I know, no, you're know what I'm talking about.
It We've all had bad experiences. So since you were
so open, I would assume you occasionally had a bad experience.
I had to listen. I've been attacked a couple of times,

(01:10:54):
you know, physically, Earth's Earth's let's life threatening. Once there
was a woman that decided that I destroyed her life.
I mean, we're we're open to everything, but fortunately for me,
hasn't happened too often. This woman decided that I wrecked
her life. That I was in the windshield of a
car every time she opened her refrigerator. I was there.
I mean, whoa a little what? Well? One day I'm up.

(01:11:17):
I think it was at NBC d's and have these
Uh that's when I was in my NBC days. I
miss was on that I was on. Uh interesting days.
He used to have these guided tours at Rock and
Fellow Center a NBC. I don't know if you have
a one on one of those things, and one day
I did you. One day, there's a woman outside the
glass with the scissors, a large, not a little like

(01:11:40):
you know. Cuticle says, it's a large son of a
gun turkey carving scissors right, and she's gone with our
hands up in the air and using this as threatening
and pounding on the glass or needless to say, we
had her removed very quickly. That was the first time.
The next time I met her again, I was doing
a live performance. I'm doing a live performance and at

(01:12:03):
the end of the performance, people come up for autographs.
She came running on the stage with a knife, a knife.
I literally grabbed her. I'm a pretty pretty big guy,
and I have good reflections. I'm a Brooklyn kid, you know,
bot on the streets. I grabbed her wrist, held him back.
Guards came over, We had the police come in. Her
mother then came in to talk to me. And I

(01:12:24):
have her name, but I don't even want to mention
her name. But I remember that name very well. Let
me tell you. That was scary. Uh. The mother promised
to have her institutionalized if I didn't press charges. Now
I might get a press charges. Sport woman is so sick.
I'm in a refrigerator, and maybe I go in a refrigerator,
but I wasn't in there, so I never heard from

(01:12:45):
her again. The next problem, Oh wait, I'm not dead.
I'm gonna give you. I mean, it's not well. Our
lives are not easy. People think, oh boy, they make
all this money and a corne air for a few
hours and play the Beatles and the Everly Brothers and
and uh Elvis and they go home. No, I'm in
the h local Supermark with my kids. I'm a regular

(01:13:09):
guy and I go out and people always people nine point.
I just hey, Bercy, hey, cous hey, Cousin's very nice
to be really nice. I'm walking down on the aisle.
My kids are on the side of me, looking, you know,
to buy things. And suddenly I looked down the aisle
at the beginning of the aisle and I see a
man with a love of jacket, kind of strange looking,

(01:13:29):
big guy. And I see him on zippers jacket and
he's walking towards me, and he puts his hand in
the side the jacket as if he's gonna grab something.
All right, you just pulled back. I said to the kids,
leave now, daddy, I leave now. I got where my
kids quick because the Lord of him and he's walking
towards me, and he's walking towards me, and he's reaching

(01:13:52):
and reaching and reaching, and I'm ready to meet my maker.
I figured I was gonna finally see the golden microphone
in the sky. And he pulls his hand out of
his jacket says, hey, can I give your load of
grandfrom this? So it's now the damage was done. I
don't know what my blood pressure went to. Let me
tell you, I was kind of scared. I was kind

(01:14:14):
of scared. So you know, every single day, you know,
when you when you're out in public, you never know.
You said that ten percent, that's a big percentage. Ten percent.
You never know what's gonna happen. So am I on guard? Yeah?
Part of me is always always waiting for something. I
watched my my love is there. But there's that maybe

(01:14:36):
ten percent of me that's looking around for watching for
that woman again with the scissors. I don't know. So
it's it's not easy just it's not an easy life.
Let's go back to if I somehow got through to you,
you would come to my house for dinner if I
like you, not only when it comes to your house.

(01:14:59):
I might even do a show from my house. I
has to do shows. If I like somebody, we go
to somebody's house and they have a black party, people
would come in and be wild. We do shows in
the house. I mean, I would go to everybody's house.
You know, that's impossible. We had tens and tens of
how many hundreds of thousands of people listening one time,
but every once in a while somebody would get to
me and I before I befriend them. I still have

(01:15:22):
friends from those days to this day listening to me
on my shows today. That's still that's still have my
heart and I know them. You know. Look, I love
my audience, and there's a guys, you know how many
millions are listening, but there's always that little cadre right
that have been with me all my life. And when
I go to their house for dinner, I go to

(01:15:42):
their weddings, I go to their kids baptisms. Yeah, they're
part of my life. And that's when an audience has
to be part of your life. Now, going back to
the sixties, all young kids teenagers had a transistor radio
and I vividly remember doing my homework with my blodder
and the transistor right next to me. But the key

(01:16:03):
night was Tuesday when you did the countdown dollar. How
did you end up getting the countdown? Well, I guess
that program director decided that's where they can look when
I was on at night. You know, during the day,
during the morning, you had commuters, you had people going

(01:16:23):
to business, you had some of the moms that it
then it became mom time, right, and then it became
maybe coming back from business time at night that's when
the kids were listening. So who would a survey A
Sylvan that called the Silvan Dollar Survey appealed to. Now
these were a little so in the audience of those
These are little slips of paper maybe three inches wide

(01:16:44):
by maybe six inches deep right length, and it would
say top forty and don't have a picture of the
All American of the year, it's what would call and
it would have a print out of the top songs
numerically listed in order of how they ranked ranked of
that particular week on the back of that particular slip

(01:17:04):
wasn't add uh huh. They never lost a beat. They
knew they could sell that because we gave out thousands
of these things. They were in record stores, supermarkets, anywhere
you can. You know, layer lay a bunch of papers down.
They were, They were taken and people love them. People
love them. I still get them to this day and

(01:17:25):
I love to see them. It was really good. But
I got it because they programmed it, because they wanted
the teens. I had all the teams. It's so funny
that morning drive time became the slot because I grew
up when, of course evening radio was the key. Now,
as the sixties evolved, really things change culturally, things change musically.

(01:17:45):
We have the British invase and then we have the
San Francisco sound. As the sound evolves, are you still
a fan of the music, Yes, very very much. I
love the music. Uh, the Motown sound, of course, the
Brits sound evolved amazingly and I did a lot of
television shows for ABC Television and NBC two. I was

(01:18:05):
sent over to UH to England and I did a
lot of shows in those days, talking and being with
the great stars of England. Motown the same thing San Francisco,
you name it, the New York Sound, the Los Angeles sound, Boston,
wherever the sound was evolving, I was sent and I
would go and Uh. I was always very cognizant of

(01:18:28):
what was going on in music. I love the music.
I was never a hip hop fan. As hip hop
started developing, I didn't understand it. I never really I'll
admit this, I never really understood jazz. Uh. I like
jazz for Rainy Dave, very soft jazz, but I've never
been a jazz fan. I never appreciated it. Maybe someday

(01:18:49):
I will. I have plenty of time. But hip hop, No,
that's not what I wanted. It's not where I wanted
the music to go. Uh, not what I wanted. I
wanted my R and B sound. I wanted to be
comfortable with what I was listening to, and I wanted
my audience to be comfortable what they were listening to. Obviously,
you can't stop progress, you know. I always said every

(01:19:11):
decade of music, fifties borrows from the forties, the sixties
borrowed from the fifties, and it's always like a transition
period of music from the preceding time and it evolves
and it transforms into what we're listening to. Well, it
was so by the eighties. By the late eighties, it
was getting a little bit out of my reach. I

(01:19:33):
didn't really understand what was happening. Albeit I like a
lot of the music today. I enjoy listening to it because,
you know why, I hear a lot of my sixties
and that music. I hear a lot of the stuff
that I helped develop and what's going on today. Music evolves,
and it revolves, and it makes a circle, it comes back,

(01:19:53):
it changes quite a bit. That's what the Beatles did.
Beatles took our music of the fifties and they gave
it a sick cease flavor, you know, with a different,
different accent, different feeling, and a different genius. They had
genius in it. And by the end of the fifties
and sixties music, the whole industry was changed. Technology changed,

(01:20:14):
distribution changed. There's a big word record distribution, records. People
still buying a lot of records. Was distribution change. Has
distribution change. We got larger radio stations, got more powerful
and more powerful and reaching people, and we started getting
wonderful producers and poets into the music. Industry, and things

(01:20:36):
started growing. So by the late sixties we were really
going to town. Everything was going well. Okay. So if
one listens to your show, one of the features is
you frequently have stars of the past come on the radio.
Are there two or three of these people that are
genuine friends that you've maintained a relationship or was it
more of a professional relationship. No. You become very close,

(01:20:59):
very good, very institute. Bobby become very close to some
of them, think a lot of them. I become extremely
close to Tony Orlando. I love Tony Orlando. Um, I'm
gonna I don't want to a friend anyway, because I
have so many friends. I lost a dear friend, Leslie Gore.
I lost, sir. You know, we've lost a lot of

(01:21:21):
great stars. I'm friends with Charlie Thomas, the Drifters, I'm
friends Gosh, Bobby Rydell Dion. I'm friends with Paul McCartney
and Ringo. Sir Paul, I mean we're hugging friends. Who
are hugging friends? We uh whenever we get together, whenever
we see each other. In the days when we were
allowed to get together all right and see each other,

(01:21:43):
we were very very close. Um uh, Tommy James, you
know I'm gonna let out. I'm gonna leave out so many,
but so many people that are are the air, that
are you we called stars, I recognized stars I've become
very close to and they've become very close to me.
Now talking about your personal life, you reach literally millions.

(01:22:04):
Are those your friends or do you have one or
two if any best friends in your regular life other
than your wife? Oh yeah, I have a very dear
friend my one of my best friends. Well, Joe McCoy
is one of my very dear friends. Joe was program
director of CBS FM, very important part of my life.
Les Marshak, who was the voice of the Macy's Thanksgiving

(01:22:27):
Parade that we're gonna have again somehow virtually looks like uh. So,
I have a lot of very close friends of mine
that you know, we we uh we get together with
and now of course Michael Michael and Barbara the Alertsmans.
So we we have a very wonderful personal life aside
from my other personal life. See, I don't I know

(01:22:50):
it upsets my wife sometimes because we'll be eating uh
and a restaurant and people automatically come over to my
table and sit down because they know me. They feel
on part of their families. It's not some bozo on
the radio a thousand miles away, but it's somebody who's
part of their lives. And I accept this. And I

(01:23:11):
see Jody's uncomfortable with it sometimes she's used to it now,
but I love it. I love the idea that they
feel that I'm really part of their lives. And I
know I am. I know I am, so I accept this.
It's an important part and I think I think that
is what's so important. When I go on the air
at people know I'm talking to them. You know, Bob,

(01:23:34):
I'm talking to you right now, one on one. Now
you know me for a little while. I think you've
listened to me for a few years growing up, and Unstan, well,
thank you. I appreciate that. But I talked to you
personally when you were a kid. I never talked at you.
I always talked directly to you, and I maintain that

(01:23:54):
is a religion with me. It is one on one.
I can be at a radio station and I know
there are a lot of people that sting out there,
but I'm talking directly to that one person. It's personal
it's sensitive. That's what radio was. Now, you mentioned your
present wife your first wife. Did radio and your success

(01:24:15):
impact that relationship and calls it to end? Uh? I
don't think so. It might have had a tiny bit
to do with it, but no, I just think I
think my first marriage, we we outgrew each other. I
don't think radio, if I go back and think about it,
I don't think radio had anything really to do with that,
at least I hope not. I never That's funny. I

(01:24:37):
never had that thought. Uh. Jody, my wife is my partner,
she's my my best friend. She's on the air with me.
The audience loves her. Jody gets a huge amount of email.
How long? How long have you been together with Jody?
We're married now forty I think forty three years. And
how did you meet her? Briand date blind date some

(01:24:59):
friends of our He introduced each other to each other,
and Jody met me. I came out of the I
think it was CBS, I guess came out of the
radio station that day, and there was It's been a
romance ever since. And we went down a little literally
and it's uh. Jody was born here in New York
and she was a teacher. And it's funny I met her.

(01:25:20):
Years before I met her, my brother was dating her.
We keep things on the film. I didn't know this,
and he brought her up. Bobby used to bring his
dates up to the radio station to make some points,
you know, so he can have a good time. And
it was cheap. And it was cheap also, you know.
So he brings up this uh young lady who was
a teacher happens to be Jody, And I didn't know.

(01:25:41):
And Uh, she was teaching UH in law Old City
or something, And I asked her what she did. Always
talk to people when they come in the studio. I
will always talk to them, you know, I said, I
am so related to people that again I'll resist. So
she said she teaches at UH. I forgot the name
of the school in Long Island City, and I said
on the air, I said, your teacher is here, Miss

(01:26:03):
Berlin is here, and whoever's in miss Berlin's class tomorrow,
you do not have to do homework. I'm choosing you
from more work. Is that alright, Miss Berlin? Yes? Well,
the next morning she walked into the school. Remember four
every five radios, they went crazy. Well, a little that
I know, maybe fifteen or twenty years later, Jody and

(01:26:26):
I got together on this blind date and we were married,
and I remember that incident when she came up with
my as my brother's date. Fortunately she did not like
my brother. Okay, So as the sixties progress, the FCC
changes the rule so you can't simulcast on the FM

(01:26:47):
what you have on a M. As a result, all
all the stations that you're talking about had an FM component.
Now you ultimately were on the FM a certain amount.
Scott and he went first. You know, there was w
o R, then there was w A b CFM. There
was ultimately any W or Scott changed. Tell me about

(01:27:08):
that transition. That was a tough time. I really didn't
understand it. I didn't pay too much attention at the beginning.
And then we saw numbers, you know, like you said before,
our important ratings are numbers were eroting. And suddenly this
uh up start called FM, which really has been a
round since. I feel to go back in your history,

(01:27:29):
probably find it in the twenties, I mean, experimental and everything.
World War two stopped the development of it, and then
suddenly we're now back in the sixties and FM starting
to make some points. We were making all the money
because we had the most listeners. FM was getting a

(01:27:49):
reputation of being a radio radio without commercials, alright, radio
without commercials for a good reason. They didn't have any listeners, right,
but well, you know, so look sponsors clients by when
you when they know that Cousin Brucie has listeners. Cousin
Brucie had half of the listeners, I'd have half of
the revenue coming in. Well, a little by little, low

(01:28:11):
FM was developing and they started getting numbers. AM was
really starting to get hurt. And that's when I realized,
you know, this was getting to a time what we
have to think about changing our lifestyle. And AM radio
started going down the tubes a little bit terrestrial radio.
I don't know if I AM ever really recovered. Part

(01:28:33):
is gonna recover now, Oh boy, it's gonna recover now,
I'm telling you all right. So, uh, I started buying
radio stations. I started, I went to the CBSFM and
I did. I did a lot of things to rejuvenate
my career because all I cared about I wanted to
be on the radio. I didn't want to lose my audience.

(01:28:55):
That audience was now growing up having kids. They were
my kids, I would their godfather, and that's what happened.
So I was became aware of it slowly. The Needles
just say, the radio landscape is completely changed. Since the sixties,
there were a handful of dominant UH stations in every market.
You could break a record regionally. Ultimately that was changed

(01:29:20):
by MTV and today we have the Internet. Records tend
to break first on the Internet and then go to radio.
In addition, statistics tell us the younger generation tends not
to be addicted to the radio as much as their forebears.
So I ask you, obviously, you will survive no matter what.

(01:29:40):
But in general, what is the future of radio? I
think the future of radio is terrific, and I think
I think the audience has become so sophisticated that I
don't know if they care if they're listening in a
pod and iPod uh uh, if they're listening uh to
uh Internet radio or what have a device they're listening

(01:30:01):
to it today. I think the audience wants content. So therefore,
if you give them content, no matter what device you're on,
whether it be a m FM, satellite, if it be
a pot in your ear. You know, I have a
I have a prediction. In fifty years infants are going
to be born with transistors and resistance behind the right

(01:30:23):
of Earth, and you're gonna be able to think, get
me cousin brucie, and that's all they need. They got
it a little silly, but that's what's happening today. You
have Alexa, you have Google Assistant. People listen to me.
Now with Alexa, you have Syria you can listen to.
You have I Heart Radio. So there's so many ways
of garnering communication. But the most important thing I think

(01:30:47):
today the audience is that sophisticated. They want content. Give
them content. They will go whether it's a M f
M or whatever it is, they will find you because
they want to listen to something that they hear in
their lifestyle. Okay. Now, MTV ultimately evolved played fewer videos,
primarily for ratings, but then as the twenty one century

(01:31:10):
came along, the people in MTV said, even though people
are clamoring for the days of yesterday, we know that
video is now an on demand item. Okay, so we're
not playing videos. Music is an on demand item. You
talked earlier. You talked earlier about your present show that's

(01:31:30):
more of a talk show. So I ask you, in
addition to yourself, what works on radio today. Well, once again,
I keep going back to that word content. I think
what will work on radio today is that you give
people what they want, which is not just playing a
stream of music like a jukebox, but that they can't

(01:31:50):
get anywhere. They don't need radio radio. When you say
the word radio, radio to me means communication one on
one or to a group. If you want to do
a podcast type thing, that's fine, you're getting a special audience.
But I believe my kind of radio and radio at
large is reaching out for people with ideas and with lifestyle,

(01:32:14):
entertainment and information. You put that in that pod, I
think you'll always capture an audience. Uh. I. Recently, if
I may went back, I completed my circle. I went
back to w ABC Radio. I left there forty six
years ago. Now forty six years ago was a very
different form of broadcasting. As I said, we did music, news,

(01:32:35):
I did weather and things like that, very little talk,
just a lot of jingles and stuff like that. And
also there were no devices. You listened to a local
AM band, you listen to it, and then FM came in.
Today we have such a variety of how to listen
to communication on and this is just a tip of

(01:32:56):
the iceberg because seems like every week something else came out.
So I come back to w ABC and what am
I doing? Now? Am I doing the same thing? No?
Am I doing some of it? Yeah? Because people want it.
You know, how I decided what to do on my
current shows in w ABC, I used the Internet. I

(01:33:17):
use my cousin Bruci Facebook page and other things that
the U other the bulletin boards and things like that.
And the question was what am I gonna do with
this show? So originally I said, you know, but in
the press had a lot of press when it was announced.
I'm coming back to this to seventies seven. I think
I'll be doing uh, fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. Well

(01:33:41):
all hell broke procluse bombs. They wanted You're not doing eighties.
No eighties for you. Everybody's doing eighties. Hell are the eighties, Percy.
We want fifties, sixties and seventies. We want your echo back.
What I don't want echo? It's coming here. Twenty one
I'm gonna do. Hey, everybody gets a I don't want
to do. I'm doing echo vox popular the people's voices heard.

(01:34:06):
They want jingles. I swear to god I can play
as many jingles as as records. They'll be happy. They
want the records. Now, what is this, teddy? They want
to jingles? This tells you they want that connection to
the past. Everybody today we are in a bubble. We
all want to escape. I am part of that escape,
Bob all right. My music is that escape. My jingles,

(01:34:29):
my reverb as part of that escape. They want to
go back and they want to leave this bubble that
we're in for those few hours. And when I go
on the air today, I don't know if you've heard
me yet, but when I opened a show, first thing
I say, Becausins, here's the deal. You can't listen. You
can listen to me. There's no politics on this show. None.

(01:34:52):
There's no talk about COVID none. You have a problem
that you really need solved, and it's personal. I'll talk
to you, but I'm talking politics no matter what. And
if anyone talks politics, you're out. And I said, now,
if you can't go by those rules, go get some
ice cream somewhere, leave me alone. And that's what I do.
And I go on and everyone loves it. They love

(01:35:13):
the idea to escape our streets right now. And Bob,
you are as you are like I. You would like
to run away a little bit too, We all would. Okay,
speaking of running away, you're now on the air one
time a week. What is the rest of Brucie's week
look like? What was Shodi wash to answer that? I

(01:35:35):
go shopping order supermarket. I have been in the pharmacy
more than they've ever been in these four months in
my whole life. I don't know what we're doing. We're buying.
I have no idea. We're in the pharmacy. So what
we do is it's home. Jody and I go for walks. Well,
I love to hike. I keep it. I keep in
great shape. I really, I'm in good shape. Still feel
very powerful, so I stay young. I watch what I eat,

(01:35:58):
I don't drink too much. I miss visiting friends. I
missed the personal relationship of hugging. I'm a hugger. I'm
a toucher. I like touching, touching people. I like skin. Right,
we can't touch anymore that is breaking my heart. Um,
I watch television a lot, were watching series we stream.

(01:36:19):
I go on my computer constantly. I answer my mail,
which takes me a huge number of hours. The emails
are great. Everybody's requesting this is from last Saturday's show.
I don't know if you can see it. No, it's
really it's I'll flip it for those people. And these
are printed out emails, a huge stack. That's one one day.

(01:36:40):
What am I gonna do with these things? Am I
gonna answer? You know? You know I'm gonna answer everyone.
I'm gonna play everyone they're requesting. But it's gonna take
me for Christmas? Is it's it's but so that's my point.
The response is terrific. People want content, they want to
find what they would like to listen to. I'm gonna escape.

(01:37:00):
I have that bridge and uh we have three hours
now once a week. We'll see what happens for that.
I have a feeling. Let's go back to the vall
for one more time. How did the four seasons end
up doing your jingle? I have no idea, however, all
I know is I received a phone call from Bob

(01:37:21):
Gordion and Frankie Valley and they said, I have a
present for you. Guys, I have a present for you.
About a week later, they came up with a five
inch reel of real to real tape. A lot of
the audience might not remember what tapers that little uh.
It's on a plastic reel, round reel and it's like
maybe a quarter inch stick and you played it on

(01:37:41):
a tape recorder. They brought me this thing and they said, play.
This is for you. It's a gift. That's how it happened.
They gave me a gift. Now that gift has followed
me everywhere I go, no matter if I even do
a guest spot out of station, if I do interviews.
You probably have that song the four season singing, right,
go go cousin, Brucy, that was a beautiful gift. How

(01:38:04):
I came about and you know, I never really found out.
It's a very good question, Brucy. This has been wonderful.
You're a fount of knowledge. In addition to telling your story,
there's a lot of wisdom. I learned certain things. You know.
I love talking to you. I look forward to talking
to you in the future. This has just been wonderful. Well, listen,
this is only part one. You think you hurt stories

(01:38:25):
listening more stories, We'll do part two. Bob, Really, I
know about you. Your reputation really precedes you. You have
a great, great reputation. I congratulate you. I love to
meet people who love broadcasting, and you are a broadcaster.
And I'm thrilled to be part of your your family. Now, well,

(01:38:48):
to hear that from cousin Brucy himself, I'm cpelling. It's
like unbelievableing. That's Greek. I know that work. Listen. I'm
not gonna let you do any more. Stick right now
until next time. This has been Bob Left since

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Bob Lefsetz

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