Bruce Drennan (born May 1, 1950 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sportscaster based in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. A former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) announcer,

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) announcer, and

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

personality, Drennan hosted sports talk shows on

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and carries a news/ talk/sports format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Oh ...

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – 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 flags ...

and

Bally Sports Great Lakes Bally Sports Great Lakes is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel, which is a sister network to Bally Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professional, ...

throughout his career in Cleveland.All Bets are Off renamed Drennan Live - Fox Sports Ohio.com

Broadcast career

During the early 1970s, he had been an evening sports talk show host on WMRO 1280 in

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

. Drennan first emerged on the Cleveland airwaves as an afternoon sports talk show host on

WBBG WBBG (106.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Youngstown, Ohio, market with a country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the ear ...

AM 1260. His opinionated "tell it like it is" style made such an impression that he was hired as a

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

for

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

television broadcasts. Drennan held this position from 1980-82. During this same period, Drennan also called the play by play of

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

basketball games on

WUAB WUAB (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power Telemundo affiliate WT ...

channel 43, working with former Cavaliers star

Austin Carr Austin George Carr (born March 10, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, and Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is known by Cleveland ...

. 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 Pete Franklin (September 22, 1927 – November 23, 2004), 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 ...

. 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

AM 850 to host the station's morning drive sports talk program.

Arrest

In September 2004, Drennan's home in

Strongsville, Ohio Strongsville is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city population was 44,750. The city's nickname 'Crossroads of the Nation,' originated from the Baltim ...

was raided by

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

and

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

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 A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

and served five months in federal prison.Drennan arrest and return to broadcasting - ESPN.com

Comeback

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 Bally Sports Great Lakes is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel, which is a sister network to Bally Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professional, ...

, which he hosted until 2021.Dreenan hired by STO - WKYC.com
In 2022, Drennan returned to WKNR to host a Sunday morning show.
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Signature Calls and Catch Phrases

*''I Love Ya Cleveland!'' - what he opens and closes each sports talk show he hosts with. *''Ducks on the pond'' - when the bases are loaded in a baseball game

Awards

*Two-time winner - Best Cleveland Sportscaster (Cleveland Press Club - 1997, 1998) *1999 inductee - Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame

References

External links

SportsTime Ohio's official ''All Bets Are Off'' page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drennan, Bruce 1950 births American people convicted of tax crimes American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Cleveland Indians announcers Radio personalities from Cleveland Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters Living people People from Strongsville, Ohio