cover image Cousin Brucie!: My Life in Rock 'n' Roll Radio

Cousin Brucie!: My Life in Rock 'n' Roll Radio

Cousin Bruce Morrow. Beech Tree Paperback Book, $0 (255pp) ISBN 978-0-688-06615-4

In the 1960s, broadcasting from WABC-AM in New York, fast-talking Cousin Brucie was considered the world's most popular disk jockey, with 250,000 fan club members and millions of listeners. Born Bruce Meyerowitz in Brooklyn's Flatbush, he came up the hard way, from stations in racist Bermuda and throbbing Miami, to New York's WINS and ultimately to WABC. This friend of Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Carole King and other stars helped introduce the Beatles to American audiences. In a run-through of his hectic career, Cousin Brucie and Baudo, his long-time broadcasting associate, examine the pieces of his life, from station to station, program to program, marriage to marriage, trailing off in the sadness, fear and dread of his popularity decline after 1974, his later success, and his conviction that personality radio can make a comeback. Photos not seen by PW. (October 13)