Longtime ‘Quiet Storm' Radio Host Freddie Cruz Retires From Radio

Longtime radio host Freddie Cruz has signed off of the South Florida airwaves for the final time Thursday night.

The HOT 105 personality hosted the “Quiet Storm” show for 34 years, which played classic R&B songs including hits by Whitney Houston, Barry White and Mary J. Blige.

The last song Cruz spun to end his final broadcast was “Careless Whisper” by George Michael, which he says is also the first song he played on the show in 1985.

“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful 34 years,” Cruz said in closing. “I decided to retire on the same day that I started, January 10.”

Cruz is known for his warm, raspy Cuban-accented voice that soothed listeners’ ears between songs for more than three decades.

“Growing up, my mom played the radio station at night just to hear your voice,” one fan reminisced during a Facebook live of Cruz’s broadcast farewell.

“I grew up listening to you as a teenager at 19 now 50,” another fan posted in the comments among hundreds of others.

Cruz ended the show by thanking his listeners, friends, family, and co-workers that he has worked with during his decades-long career in radio.

“I’m not going to say goodbye because I don’t like goodbyes,” Cruz said. “I’m going to say goodnight, love. I’m Freddie Cruz.”

Cruz was born in Cuba and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey before relocating to South Florida in 1973. He began working in Miami at the Spanish station WFAB 990 in 1975, and hosted the first on-air “Quiet Storm” on January 10, 1985.

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