Cousin Brucie blasts WCBS over the "oldies"

Sirius Satellite Radio's Cousin Brucie, who just recently resigned with the satellite radio broadcaster, blasted his former home of WCBS-FM for not truly returning to the "oldies" format.

Bruce Morrow said he talked with WCBS-FM about returning to the station, but decided to renew with Sirius because WCBS-FM wasn't planning to play enough '50s and '60s music.

"I'm very concerned that radio isn't doing enough to keep this early music alive," he said. "There are so many people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who still love it, and I don't think they should be written off."

Cousin Brucie feels that WCBS is making the same mistake they did when they dropped the oldies format in lieu of the "Jack" format back in 2005.

Morrow added that "they have every right to program what they want - and I have nothing against '80s music. But there's a real need for earlier music, too."

Sirius, he said, understands that.

"When I first talked to people here, like Mel [Karmazin], they gave me a commitment and they've kept it. In almost two and a half years here, I've never felt like I had more freedom on the radio."

Brucie held "informal" talks with WCBS, but decided to stay at Sirius instead.

"They wanted me to come back, help sign them on, and that made sense," he said. "But I told them they're still writing too many people off.

"Now the station has the jingles back and the advertising back. But it doesn't have me and it doesn't have the music."

[NY Daily News]