Dallas Radio Has Lost a Legend, Linwood Henderson, Better Known as Cuzzin' Linnie

It's likely you never knew Linwood Henderson by his real name; few did. For decades, since the late 1960s, he was better known by his other name: Cuzzin' Linnie, or Cousin Linnie to the uninitiated. His was an estimable career that stretched all the way from KLIF (when it was...

By Robert Wilonsky

July 1, 2011

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It's likely you never knew Linwood Henderson by his real name; few did. For decades, since the late 1960s, he was better known by his other name: Cuzzin' Linnie, or Cousin Linnie to the uninitiated. His was an estimable career that stretched all the way from KLIF (when it was The Mighty 1190) during its go-go rock-n-pop days to KXXK ("For Groovy Grown-Ups") to KKDA-AM (Soul 73, from which he and Al Lipscomb and John Wiley Price were unceremoniously dropped in 1998) to KNON. And he was the first disc jockey in Dallas to break radio's color barrier -- the "first guy to play soul on a rock radio station," says KNON's Weird Warren Harris, who'd worked with Linnie for a decade.

He's been ill for a more than a year; a Friend of Unfair Park directed me in May to this message board, which said only that "hospice has now been called in, and arrangements are being made." Then, a couple of weeks ago, came this sad news: "His organs are starting to shut down and they are just going to keep him comfortable until something happen." Moments ago, Harris sent me the following note: "A LEGEND of Dallas Radio has passed away. Cuzzin Linnie passed last night peacefully in his sleep."

I'll update this item when funeral arrangement are made available.

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