South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
HOT 105 deejay Freddie Cruz signs off after 34 years
The “King of Evening Radio” has signed off from South Florida’s airwaves.
HOT 105.1 FM’s evening deejay Freddie Cruz, who has been with the Hollywood R & B station for 34 years, hosted his last “Quiet Storm” show Thursday night. On social media, the station shared a video of Cruz behind the mike saying farewell to his listeners.
“It’s been a wonderful 34 years,” Cruz said — noting that he was retiring on the same day of the week that he started in 1985, when he debuted with the George Michael song “Careless Whisper” which he also played Thursday night. “It was a very special date... All you listeners out there, thank you so much for being so wonderful and kind to me. I am not going to say goodbye because I don’t like goodbyes so I’m going to say goodnight, love. I’m Freddie Cruz.”
Cruz also thanked his family including his wife, Karen, two sons and granddaughter. Son Freddie Cruz Jr. is a police officer who currently heads the public information office for the Miami Police Department. The radio jock met his wife through the station. About three or four months after he started working there, she would call and make song requests.
South Florida listeners knew the Cuban-born deejay as the “King of Evening Radio.” He was the original host of the station’s “The Quiet Storm,’’ which ran weekday evenings and played contemporary R & B and classics from the past three decades from artists such as Barry White, Luther Vandross and Anita Baker. Cruz was known for his warm, Spanish-accented delivery and he came off as if he were having an intimate one-on-one conversation with his listeners. His early promos read “Slow and sexy... the Quiet Storm... on Hot 105.”
“I think they like the voice, someone talking soft to them,” Cruz told the Sun Sentinel in 1997 of his loyal listeners who were mostly women. “Women are very sensitive, man. I make believe I’m whispering into her ear. You don’t have to scream... I don’t like a guy screaming in my ear. I can’t deal with that kind of radio.”
Cruz said he always selected his own songs instead of using computerized grids.
“I know what they like,” he once said of his listeners. “Stations rely on research and test marketing; I don’t believe in that. I can tell when they’re going to like something.”
As a tribute to Cruz, the city of Miami Gardens proclaimed Jan. 10 as “Freddie Cruz Day.” The radio host wore a crown during the event Thursday.