One of KYA’s famed Buffalo, NY imports in the early 1960’s (along with Gene Nelson, Tommy Saunders, Peter Tripp, Johnny Holliday and Larry Brownell), Russ “The Moose” served as captain of the “All-Night Flight” on “Super Freak 1260”. His overnight act presaged the later emergence of free-form shows more often heard on the FM band.
His local career also took him to KFRC (on two occasions), KSFO (three times), KNBR (once) and back to KYA (for a total of four stints). A native of Syracuse, NY, Russ became a schoolteacher and served in the Navy during the Korean War. He started in radio in Syracuse in 1956 before moving to Buffalo’s top-rated WKBW.
A legend among his fellow Bay Area broadcasters, Russ Syracuse passed away in 2000 at the age of 70 and was memorialized by Ben Fong-Torres (BARHOF 2010) in this piece entitled “The Moose on the Loose”.
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