Senator Charles E. Schumer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2005

Schumer To NY Radio: Bring Cousin Brucie Back, Calls On New Yorkers To Cast A Vote To Keep Him On The Air At www.schumer.senate.gov

Schumer: Cousin Brucie is a New York Institution

Last week WCBS-FM, the home of Cousin Brucie’s (Bruce Morrow’s) radio show for over 20 years, announced they would be switching formats, from oldies to a new format called Jack that doesn’t use deejays. Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on New York radio broadcasters to put Cousin Brucie back on the air and called on New Yorkers to help with the effort by casting a vote on his website at www.schumer.senate.gov

“Cousin Brucie is a New York institution. We grew up with him, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers turn on the radio on Wednesday and Saturday evenings to hear his shows,” Schumer said. “Cousin Brucie is one of the few voices who has stayed with us for decades and losing him puts a hole in the heart of thousands of New Yorkers. There is no one who is more New York than Bruce Morrow.”

Since WCBS-FM made their announcement last week Schumer’s offices have been flooded with calls by concerned constituents begging Schumer to do something to help Morrow. Schumer has posted an online poll in an effort to keep Morrow on the air. On Schumer’s website listeners will be able to cast a vote and see a running tally of New Yorkers in support of keeping Cousin Brucie on the air. The poll will be active starting today.

Schumer and Brucie are both Brooklyn natives who attended Madison High School in Brooklyn and though Morrow graduated before Schumer, he was revered by Schumer and his friends who listened to him on countless evenings while they played basketball in Brooklyn and the Rockaways.

“There is no one who spins the golden oldies like Cousin Brucie,” Schumer said. “Whether it’s the Four Tops or Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, New Yorkers have always counted on Brucie to bring us songs of a Golden Era.”

Morrow adopted the moniker Cousin Brucie in 1959 when he was working at WINS. After leaving New York for a few years for Florida, he returned to New York and worked at both WABC and WNBC, eventually landing at WCBS in the early 1980’s and has stayed there ever since. Morrow was inducted to the radio hall of fame in 1988. In 1994, he became the only on-air personality in New York with his own street, Mayor Giuliani proclaimed West 52nd Street “Cousin Brucie Way.”

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