Bruce Palmer
“Cruisin’” Bruce Palmer is a classic kind of guy, especially when it comes to music. As the morning show host on 100FM “The Pike,” Palmer hits the airwaves at 6 a.m., and for four hours dips into the archives for the best in ’60s, ’70s and ’80s music that appeals to Boomers and Gen-Xers for whom those decades represent, well, their youth, as well as for their kids raised on VH1 who just like retro stuff.
Home …
Dead-center on the Rhode Island-Connecticut border (though I’m a Philly-boy born and raised.)
Position …
Morning show host on 100FM
“The Pike”
Passion …
Classic cars and classic hits. Really! My personal collection includes about 50,000 records and 12 old cars. My wife is thankful it’s not the other way around.
Pet Peeve …
CBS’s cancellation of The Dukes of Hazzard back in 1985. I still yell at my TV set to this day. And while I’m on CBS … Bob Barker replaced by Drew Carey? Are you guys kidding?
Best advice you ever received …
Never look directly at Turtle Boy. It can scar you for life.
One thing you know for sure is … It is physically impossible to keep a 1960s-era Ford from leaking power steering fluid. I swear, when I’m out driving my ’69 Torino GT fastback, the DEM follows me around with a containment boom.
How long have you been doing radio shows? …
I flipped my first “on-air” light in Pennsylvania back in ’83 and I’ve been on in much of the Northeast by this point, including Providence and Boston. My tenure at the Pike began a year and a half ago and I’m having a blast. It‘s great to finally work for a company that respects its employees. In total, I’m fast approaching five years in Worcester radio.
What do you love most about your job? …
Two things, plain and simple: the music I play and the chance to be a part of the daily routine for literally thousands of listeners every morning. That, and free t-shirts til I can’t get my closet doors closed anymore.
What aspect of your job could you do without? …
Getting up at 4 in the morning. It’s a time of the day reserved for cockroaches and car thieves.
If someone was to turn on your iPod/CD player/radio, what would we hear? ...
Turn on the iPod and you’ll hear nothing. Don’t have one. Let’s face it: I’m not the most technologically-advanced guy. My idea of “cutting edge” only recently moved off 8-track players. When I pop a CD in for personal listening, it could be anything from ’60s to ’70s rock to big band to the Rat Pack — I love Sinatra. Turn on my radio and you’ll hear the Pike of course. I think they wrote that stipulation into my last contract.
Thoughts on Michael Jackson’s death? …
It makes me wonder where my Neverland Vacation Package refund will come from.
Favorite music to listen to when you’re pissed off? …
“Billy, Don’t Be a Hero” by Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods (’74). I love a happy ending.
What is one thing you love about Worcester? ...
It’s the only city in America where all the cars operated by a company named “red cab” are white. Worcester is truly the city that invented irony.
If you weren’t a radio personality, you’d be a...
A Chippendales dancer for the blind.
Last concert you went to …
John Cafferty at the Stadium Theatre down in Woonsocket, R.I. this spring. But my new favorite concert venue is the Hanover. I saw Foreigner there during opening month back in May ’08 and fell in love with the place.
Favorite thing to do when you are not on the air …
Drive. And sleep. Hopefully, not at the same time.
