I forgot all about him, he was very entertaining. RIP, sir.
I loved listening to Bruce W. when concluding a call he often would say: ‘thank you, my friend.’
He was very genuine.
I never understood why he only rented automobiles (probably worked in his market).
I listen to him in the 80s and then about 10 years later started hearing him again on Sunday afternoons. He had a good relaxing show, very informative. I remember him speaking about small airplanes with somebody, and describing how he got into a serious accident with one. He told the person to avoid becoming a pilot if he was not willing to stay current
“Welcome to my world...”
Interesting bit I found in an article about NBC Talknet:
On December 5, 1982 Williams crashed while attempting to land his airplane in Princeton, New Jersey. Tunick: “He was critically injured and nearly clinically dead when he arrived at the Medical Center of Princeton. One week later Bruce was back on the air from his hospital room and did his show from there for a week before he was released and originated his program from home for the next three months. We were told at the time this was the first national radio show to originate from a hospital.” (Williams later said he was in a coma for 20 days following the crash, making his return to radio more like a month after the crash.)
Mr Williams’ career almost came to a sudden end in 1982, about a year into his national Talknet program. Bruce was a private pilot, flying his own plane. He had to abort a landing and failed to clear some trees at the end of the runway. Seriously injured in the ensuing crash, he broadcast from his hospital bed and later his home, during a months-long recovery.
He was also an Air Force intelligence specialist during the Korean War—can’t remember if he was a linguist or an ELINT specialist.
Very talented broadcaster who offered common sense advice, based on life experiences and hard knocks. RIP.
Lived it when he got a call from someone considering buying a timeshare.
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. But thanks for calling. This is Bruce and this is Talknet.
I really enjoyed the Bruce Williams Show. I remember one caller who inherited land he’d never seen. A few years later, he went to see it and a carpenter was doing the final touches on a new house. Turns out they built the house on the wrong property. Bruce asked if he ever wanted to live there and the caller said he thought about retiring there. Well, Bruce suggested he make an offer on the house, perhaps materials only.
I fondly remember ‘Cousin Brucie’ from the 60s on WABC in NYC. He played what is now called Classic Rock.
RIP Cousin. We spent some great times together.
Grew up listening to him in the 1980’s. His show was a three hour personal finance class on the air, every evening. In many ways far more valuable than the college course I took at the graduate level.
If this was the Bruce Williams carried on Boston’s main radio station a good number of decades ago, he was very fair to me even though we disagreed on the Vietnam War (I was a supporter) when I called in to his show.
Old School. Nice guy. RIP.