Goodbye 'Cousin Brucie'

This column was written by CBS News Early Show Co-Anchor Harry Smith.

I started my career in broadcasting as a disc jockey. I wasn't very good but, I worshipped the disc jockeys of my youth -- the guys on the radio in the sixties. They played the latest records. Their pictures were on a weekly sheet that listed our favorite stations' top forty hits. About once a year we'd go to a dance where one of the star DJs actually played the records and bantered in between the songs. So cool. The guys were very approachable. I always bent their ears for a couple of minutes whenever they came to our school.

So I read with sadness today that the immortal "Cousin Brucie" -- the penultimate DJ -- lost his job to a format change at CBS FM in New York.

Bruce Morrow helped bring the Beatles to American teenagers -- the British invasion crossed over his bridge. He had a Saturday night oldies show on the radio that went on for years. From doo-wop to Bo Diddley, Cousin Brucie knew it all.

Back in the day, it was the DJ who taught us what was hip, what was new, what was coming next. More recently they served to take us back in time, happily leading us through the memories of our ill-spent youth. I suppose just as the 45 rpm record became obsolete, the DJs days would have to be numbered too. What a bummer.

By Harry Smith