Bruce Drennan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 1, 1950 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
Bruce Drennan (born May 1, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American sportscaster based in Cleveland, Ohio.
A former Major League Baseball (MLB) announcer, National Basketball Association (NBA) announcer, and sports radio personality, Drennan hosted sports talk shows on WTAM, WKNR and Bally Sports Great Lakes throughout his career in Cleveland. [1]
During the early 1970s, he had been an evening sports talk show host on WMRO 1280 in Aurora, Illinois. Drennan first emerged on the Cleveland airwaves as an afternoon sports talk show host on WBBG AM 1260. [2]
His opinionated "tell it like it is" style made such an impression that he was hired as a color analyst for Cleveland Indians television broadcasts. Drennan held this position from 1980 to 1982. [3] During this same period, Drennan also called the play by play of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball games on WUAB channel 43, working with former Cavaliers star Austin Carr.
After being replaced on the Indians telecasts, Drennan was hired by WHK AM 1420 in Cleveland to host a sports talk show.
In 1984, Drennan was hired by WWWE AM 1100 as morning drive sports anchor and weekend talk show host. In the late 1980s, he took over WWWE's long running Sportsline evening sports talk show, replacing Pete Franklin. Throughout the 1990s, Drennan worked on and off for WWWE (which in 1996 became WTAM) as a morning sports anchor, and towards the end of the decade returning to the evening slot to host Sportsline.
In 2001, Bruce moved to WKNR AM 850 to host the station's morning drive sports talk program.
In September 2004, Drennan's home in Strongsville, Ohio was raided by FBI and IRS agents as part of a sports-gambling investigation. He subsequently lost his job at WKNR because of the investigation and served as host on an online radio station.
In April 2006, Drennan was charged with two counts of filing false tax returns. He later agreed to a plea bargain and served five months in federal prison. [4]
In 2007, after his release from jail, Drennan returned to broadcasting as the host of the sports talk show All Bets Are Off With Bruce Drennan (renamed Drennan Live in 2014) on SportsTime Ohio, which he hosted until 2021. [1] [5] [6] Bruce now does a weekly show for the BIGPLAY Network called Bonus Time with Drennan. In 2022, Drennan returned to WKNR to host a weekend show. [7]
Pete Franklin, nicknamed "The King", "Sweet Pete" and "Pigskin Pete", was an American sports talk radio host who worked in Cleveland, New York and San Francisco. He is widely credited with pioneering the more aggressive, acerbic and attention-grabbing form of the genre, which has since been adopted by generations of sports media personalities, and bringing it to a multinational listening audience.
WHK is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, carrying a talk format known as "AM 1420 The Answer". Owned by the Salem Media Group, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio region as an affiliate for the Salem Radio Network. WHK's studios are currently located in the Cleveland suburb of Independence while the transmitter site resides in neighboring Seven Hills.
WTAM is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and carries a news/talk and sports radio format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio, and is a clear-channel station with extended nighttime range. WTAM is also Northeast Ohio's primary entry point station in the Emergency Alert System.
WKNR – branded as 850 ESPN Cleveland – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flagship station for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network; the Cleveland affiliate for the Ohio State Sports Network, and the radio home of Je'Rod Cherry and Tony Grossi. The WKNR studios are currently located in the East Bank of The Flats in Downtown Cleveland, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of North Royalton, And due to the 4-tower array at the site, WKNR’s daytime signal can be heard as far as Mansfield, and even as far as Newark and Zanesville. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WKNR is available online.
WCCR (1260 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, known as "AM 1260 The Rock" and carrying a Catholic–oriented religious format. Owned by St. Peter the Rock Media, Inc., a nonprofit corporation which has applied for 501(c)(3) tax–exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, WCCR serves Greater Cleveland as the local affiliate for EWTN Radio. WCCR's studios are located in the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights and the station transmitter resides in neighboring Brecksville.
WJMO is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Cleveland, Ohio, and featuring an urban contemporary gospel format Owned by Urban One, the station covers Greater Cleveland. In addition to a standard analog transmission, the station streams online. WJMO's studios are located in suburban Independence, while the station transmitter resides in the Cleveland suburb of Parma.
WEOL is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Elyria, Ohio, and features a talk and sports radio format. Owned by the Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Co., WEOL services Lorain and Medina counties and the western parts of Greater Cleveland. The station is the local affiliate for The Ramsey Show, Kim Komando, Fox Sports Radio and ABC News Radio, and the Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Ohio State radio networks.
WHKW is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, featuring a Christian radio format. Owned by Salem Media Group, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio region. WHKW's studios are located in the Cleveland suburb of Independence while its transmitter site is in neighboring Broadview Heights.
Mike Trivisonno was an American radio broadcaster, known for hosting his own self-titled afternoon talk show on Cleveland radio station WTAM AM 1100. He was widely referred to simply as "Triv" by callers and the Cleveland media.
WARF is a commercial radio station licensed to Akron, Ohio, known as "Fox Sports 1350 The Gambler" and carrying a sports format. Owned by iHeartMedia, WARF serves the Greater Cleveland and Akron metro areas as an affiliate of Fox Sports Radio and VSiN. The station also carries play-by-play of the Cleveland Monsters and Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball, and Spanish broadcasts of Cleveland Guardians home games.
Joseph Tait was an American sports broadcaster who was the play-by-play announcer on radio for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and both TV and radio for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. With the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s and illness during his final season, he was the Cavaliers' radio announcer from the team's inception in 1970 through the 2010–11 season. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Neville A. Chandler Jr. was an American Cleveland, Ohio-area sports broadcaster.
Michael Joseph Reghi is an American television play-by-play announcer and radio sports talk show host. He was the television play-by-play announcer for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball from 1997 to 2004, as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association from 1993 to 2006. As of 2022, he is the play-by-play television announcer for Akron Zips men's basketball home games carried by ESPN+ and ESPN3. He also calls play-by-play for MAC football on those same networks along with select other games.
Kenneth R. "Casey" Coleman Jr. was a sportscaster and radio personality in the Cleveland area for nearly 30 years.
Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is an American sportscaster and radio talk show host based in San Diego, California. He was co-host of the "Hacksaw and Hayworth" show on from 6:00am–9:00am Pacific Time Monday through Friday on XEPRS-AM, known on-air as "San Diego's Sports Leader, The Mighty 1090" and he worked alongside producers Bobby Wooldridge and Alex Padilla. Hacksaw is also a regular contributor to SanDiego.com.
The year 1972 in radio involved some significant events.
Nick James Mileti was an American author, lawyer, businessman, sports entrepreneur and sports franchise owner who was, during the 1970s, the owner of the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Crusaders, the Cleveland Arena, the Coliseum at Richfield, and radio station "3WE" WWWE AM/1100.
The University Hospitals Cleveland Browns Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 24 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Cleveland Browns, a professional football team in the National Football League (NFL). Andrew Siciliano is the team's lead announcer, Nathan Zegura serves as commentator and Je'Rod Cherry is the sideline analyst/reporter. Jim Donovan served as lead announcer following the team's return in 1999 until his retirement prior to the 2024 season.