Thom Brennaman set to become WLW radio host, to take over Mike McConnell's role
A familiar voice will wake up Cincinnatians on 700 WLW-AM.
Thom Brennaman is set to take over Mike McConnell's hosting role, which ends Friday, April 4, the radio station revealed Thursday. McConnell announced his retirement last month. The show runs from 5-9 a.m. each weekday morning.
"We came to Cincinnati when I was 10 years old because of my dad," Brennaman, who starts his new role Monday, April 7, told Enquirer sports columnist Jason Williams. "So I've had some family or my own personal connection to WLW for 51 of my 61 years. WLW is a big deal. I hope I can live up to the people who've done this job before me."
Brennaman, a former Reds and NFL broadcaster for Fox Sports, has worked with Cincinnati-based Chatterbox Sports since 2022, hosting "Dialed In with Thom Brennaman." He joined The CW as the network's lead voice for nationally televised football games in 2024 and has occasionally filled in as a host on WLW.
"Mike has done an amazing job. So for us to have the opportunity to move on from a legend like Mike McConnell to a polished, professional, seasoned broadcaster like Thom Brennaman was unbelievable for us, and we are thrilled to death," D.J. Hodge, division president at iHeartMedia, told The Enquirer.
"(Brennaman) grew up listening to WLW," Hodge added. "He worked doing sports on WLW in the mornings with Jim Scott in the late 1980s, so to be able to bring Thom home into this position and to go from legendary Jim Scott to legendary Mike McConnell to now building that legendary status with Thom Brennaman, we are incredibly excited."
The son of baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman was dropped from Fox's NFL broadcast team in 2020 after using a homophobic slur during a game between the Reds and Kansas City Royals. Thom Brennaman penned an open letter after the incident, apologizing for saying "something hateful on the air," and he resigned from the Reds' broadcast booth.
"I'm a better man today than the guy who sat up there in August of 2020, I'll be a better broadcaster today than I was in August 2020 because of this whole experience and this whole journey," he told Awful Announcing in 2022.
McConnell announced in late March he was retiring after 50 years in radio and over 10 waking up Cincinnati each weekday morning on WLW.
"Mike and Thom did a great job of talking after the announcement, and you could hear the chemistry and you could hear the mutual respect they have for each other," Hodge said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Thom Brennaman hired as radio host for Cincinnati's 700 WLW
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