Bruce Hooley makes WKNR listenable. IMO he is far and away the best sports talker on air in Cleveland. His act is network level. No matter who he teams with on air, his content & presentation is consistently compelling. He seems to me to be the ideal total package of investigative sports journalist and entertaining talk show host. No one at trust fund radio comes close to this guy. Keep up the good work Bruce!
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Bruce Hooley is Good!
- Thread starter Capulet
- Start date
Bruce Hooley is another example of giving someone on the air a shot that has never been on the air here in Cleveland before. But what do I know? They should have given Bruce Drennan his 50th shot at an airshift on radio instead because he is known. ;D
CleveRadioInsider said:
Don't think Drennan would ever set foot at WKNR or any other station in town. He only has STO to keep him busy.
Hooley, though, has also proven that WKNR can have good talent on the station that is also listenable. Hammer and Fedor are those who people CAN'T stand, but the world will end before those two leave.
Cleve I don't think 92.3, WTAM or WKNR would hire Drennan. Drennan has burned bridges pretty much everywhere he has gone. 92.3 would seriously take that into account and not even consider him. Notice that 92.3 steered away from LeCharles Bentley when he became available? Drennan's last gig is at STO. He has to know if he burns that one it is OVER for him once and for all. He has been given many chances at many stations.
That is true. You are correct on the account of Drennan. I did hear LeCharles one day on 92.3 the day after he left WKNR. Many were hoping he would resurface, but as you pointed out, it doesn't seem likely.
I do remember seeing Drennan for a day on 19 Action News back when they started their Sunday morning news around 2004, which was the same time he was in deep trouble. After only a day, he was not brought back. Didn't really add much. (On a side note, I remember seeing Carmella DeCesare - don't think I spelled her name well - give "The Buzz" on the same day. Pretty dreadful.) I think I read in Roger Brown's PD Sports column that Chuck Booms quit 19 after Drennan was appearing.
I do remember seeing Drennan for a day on 19 Action News back when they started their Sunday morning news around 2004, which was the same time he was in deep trouble. After only a day, he was not brought back. Didn't really add much. (On a side note, I remember seeing Carmella DeCesare - don't think I spelled her name well - give "The Buzz" on the same day. Pretty dreadful.) I think I read in Roger Brown's PD Sports column that Chuck Booms quit 19 after Drennan was appearing.
Bruce Hooley was never exactly an unknown quality in Cleveland.
He was the Buckeyes beat reporter for the Plain Dealer for a lot of years, and did a lot of TV on ONN (and those shows would often be shown again on FS Ohio and STO)
The only reason he wound up here was because was he laid into Jim Tressel during the height of "Tattoo-Gate" and Dispatch Media (owners of the Columbus Dispatch, WBNS-TV/AM/FM, and ONN) didn't want to disturb their cozy relationship with OSU, so they showed Bruce the door.
Craig Karmazin saw a chance to snag the man who was "too hot" for Columbus, so he did it.
Quite honestly, it wouldn't shock me down the road (if he keeps up his quality work), that Hooley gets a Rizzo-type deal (complete with a small percentage of ownership).
Bruce Drennan is poison as far as radio PD's go, so that's why you'll never see him do radio again.
STO was looking to fill airtime when they first started, so they gave Drennan a show, and to his credit it has done well, and Bruce has become pretty much the face of STO and "All Bets Are Off" is by far their signature program. BD has a nice cushy deal with STO, so he probably doesn't want to do radio anymore.
He was the Buckeyes beat reporter for the Plain Dealer for a lot of years, and did a lot of TV on ONN (and those shows would often be shown again on FS Ohio and STO)
The only reason he wound up here was because was he laid into Jim Tressel during the height of "Tattoo-Gate" and Dispatch Media (owners of the Columbus Dispatch, WBNS-TV/AM/FM, and ONN) didn't want to disturb their cozy relationship with OSU, so they showed Bruce the door.
Craig Karmazin saw a chance to snag the man who was "too hot" for Columbus, so he did it.
Quite honestly, it wouldn't shock me down the road (if he keeps up his quality work), that Hooley gets a Rizzo-type deal (complete with a small percentage of ownership).
Bruce Drennan is poison as far as radio PD's go, so that's why you'll never see him do radio again.
STO was looking to fill airtime when they first started, so they gave Drennan a show, and to his credit it has done well, and Bruce has become pretty much the face of STO and "All Bets Are Off" is by far their signature program. BD has a nice cushy deal with STO, so he probably doesn't want to do radio anymore.
CleveRadioInsider said:
Amen to that. Convicted felons are not good hires. :'(
You're right. After the conviction and prison time, there are not any operators that want this dirt on their doorstep, regardless of if a car dealer likes him.
Drenons lucky he has a gig. He's a loser. After the TV gig evaporates, Drennons done here.
vjm said:
And STO is still looking to fill airtime. Chuck Galeti, anyone?
vjm said:
Well, thats Hooley's version of why he isnt on the air in Columbus any longer. The other version of that story is that he had been running a personal vendetta against Tressel for years and once Tressel's situation did blow up, he piled on so bitterly and with such irrationally-personal attacks against the man that they were left with no choice but to let him go.
Heck, the station didnt worry about its "cozy relationship" for the previous years when he was railing against OSU and Jim Tressel. Now that Tressel was gone, why would they care at this point?
He ruined himself in Columbus, dont blame the station of OSU themselves.
Ron Lee said:
This. The man is an bitter ass with pretty much everyone he deals with, whether other members of the media or just regular people, and it came through loudly on the radio. He thrived off that contrarian attitude both on the OSU beat for the PD and when he was on 1460/97.1, and for a while he got away with it. It's pretty obvious not a lot of people on this thread listened to his show down here, but to be fair, I don't listen to his show up there (Rome is all I listen to on 850, and even that is rare).
I dealt with him personally as a fellow member of the media on a handful of occasions around OSU and other Columbus-area events, and that was more than enough.
I like Bruce Hooley on the air whether he is a bitter person outside of his show or not.
Yeah, I'm not sure how much any baggage re: his supposed personal dealings off-air, or his treatment of Tressel in C-bus, translates to his role on the radio in Cleveland.
The important thing for Hooley is to entertain and keep an audience.
The important thing for Hooley is to entertain and keep an audience.
Bruce Hooley tells it like it is with Cleveland sports teams (especially the Browns) and does not worry about whether or not the teams like his opinions or not. Far too many talk show hosts (Jeff Phelps, Michael Reghi) are too scared to criticize the teams they are covering for fear they might not get a job with them at some point.
CleveRadioInsider said:
Agreed......everything Hooley was critical of Tressel down in Columbus was correct. Hooley took aim at the beat writers and the blogs and message board operators who covered OSU. Hooley's approach was that of a journalist asking questions while the others were cheerleaders.
Hooley is the best thing to happen to WKNR since Peter Brown left.
Adam the Bull is also refreshing to listen too. He is not a die hard Cleveland fan so he can look at things objectively. I was listening this afternoon and he was completely fair in his criticism.
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