Bruce Hathaway
Bruce Hathaway (1938 – Januuary 28, 2017) was a figure for six decades in radio in San Antonio, Texas. His heyday was the golden age of Top 40 hits. At KTSA in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he worked alongside another San Antonio radio icon, Ricci Ware, who died in October 2016, three months before Hathaway's death of a heart attack.
Hathaway and Ware both hosted high school dances, Swingtime, and other teen-oriented television programs. As the music format changed to talk radio, both Hathwawy and Ware were considered "politically incorrect." The San Antonio Express-News compared Hathaway to a local version of national personality Wolfman Jack with thick black hair and a trimmed beard. Margaret Mose, formerly a columnist for The Austin Chronicle in the capital city of Austin, called Hathaway "one of a kind, a true Texas legend. His voice is the soundtrack of my teen years."[1] Former KTSA disc jockey J. J. Rodriguez said he would never "forget working all nights, and Hathaway was the morning man" in the 1970s and 1980s. Rodriguez said that Hathaway was also encouraging him in his career development: "if I had to sum him up in one word, it would be 'kindness' ... We need more Bruce Hathaways in this world."[1]
KENS-TV sports reporter Gary DeLaune said that Hathaway "knew more about San Antonio muisic history than anyone I ever met. Celebrieis loved him Ringo Starr called him every year on his birthday." DeLaune hosted with Hathaway a Saturday morning program called Happy Days on San Antonio radio 810 AM.[1] In the early 1980s, Hathaway partnered with Blanquita Cullum on The Bruce & Blanquita Show on KTSA. Cullum called Hathawy "truly bigger than life ... He had so many stories to share about the people he had known, John Wayne, Roy Orbison, and Kenny Rogers.[1]
Music writer Joe Nick Patoski said that Hathaway "was so much more than a San Antonio radio disc nockey. Bruce was San Antonio."[1]
Hathaway was survived by a daughter and a son.