August 7, 1974: Following a contract dispute, Bruce Morrow, a.k.a. Cousin Brucie, delivers his last broadcast on WABC. He arrived in 1961, and helped to make it what it was advertised as "W-Amazing-B-C."
In 1964, the station at 770 on the AM dial had ridden Beatlemania, the initial wave of popularity of The Beatles, to advertise itself as "W-A-Beatle-C." In 1968, 1 out of every 4 radio listeners in New York was listening to it -- a 25 share. (Today, 1 out of every 17, a 6 share, is considered good.) As Dan Ingram, who also got to the station in 1961, put it, "We were the Number 4 station... in Pittsburgh." (Which is 400 miles from New York.)
But a change of management, and an aggressive pursuit from rival WNBC, at 660 AM (soccer fans might call it "tapping up"), led Brucie to leave. WNBC had lured Los Angeles legend Wolfman Jack to New York to their evening time slot, to compete with Brucie, but his schtick didn't stick in the Big Apple, and, as Brucie put it in his memoir, "The Wolfman left New York with his tail between his legs." So WNBC figured, if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
As his replacement, WABC hired George Michael, one of the "Boss Jocks" at their Philadelphia affiliate, WFIL, and later an announcer in Washington and host of NBC's Sunday night sports show, The George Michael Sports Machine.
The greatest disc jockey in New York history spent the next 3 years at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and just let his contract run out quietly, unlike his last WABC broadcast, which some callers in to his show said was as heartbreaking as the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn (where Brucie was from).
After leaving WNBC in 1977, Brucie and his wife Jodie would begin to build a network of small radio stations, and he returned to rock and roll radio with New York "oldies" station WCBS-FM from 1982 to 2005. He appeared in the period-piece films Dirty Dancing, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Across the Universe, and played the First Officer of space station Babylon 4 on the TV show Babylon 5.
In the 2010s, he had a show on Sirius XM's "'60s on 6" channel. In 2020, with management and format both having changed, he was reunited on WABC to do a Saturday-night oldies show.
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August 7, 1974 was a Wednesday. British actor Michael Shannon was born. This was also the day that the Republican leaders in Congress went to see President Richard Nixon, and told him that impeachment and removal from office were inevitable, unless he resigned. And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Shea Stadium. Pat Dobson outpitched Ross Grimsley. Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson each went 2-for-3. Munson added a walk and an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-3 with a walk.
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell did not play.
* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Jarry Park in Montreal.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline, in his last few weeks as an active player, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Jim Kaat outpitched Nolan Ryan. The Angels' run came on the 568th career home run of Frank Robinson. Ryan took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th. But with 1 out, Dick Allen singled, Carlos May reached on an error by 1st baseman Bruce Bochte, Lee Richard pinch-ran for May, Ken Henderson singled Allen home, and, after Bill Melton popped up, Bill Sharp singled Richard home.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Roger Moret allowed just 1 hit over 7 2/3rd innings, but needed relief from Dick Drago (who allowed a hit) and Bob Veale (who didn't). Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rookie Robin Yount went 0-for-3.
* The Kansas City Royals swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 and 5-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Over the 2 games, rookie George Brett went 4-for-8 with an RBI. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs in the opener, but 0-for-5 win the nightcap. Harmon Killebrew appeared as a pinch-hitter in the opener, but did not reach base. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI in the nightcap.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 8-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi hit home runs for "The Swingin' A's."
* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Hank Aaron appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jack Billingham pitched a 6-hit, no-walk, 10-strikeout shutout, outpitching Andy Messersmith. Pete Rose went 0-for-4, but Johnny Bench drove in both Cincinnati runs with a home run.
* And the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled.
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