Former Cincinnati Reds play-by-play broadcaster Thom Brennaman will step into the morning show slot at iHeartMedia’s 700WLW starting Monday, following Mike McConnell’s retirement announcement earlier this week to cap a fifty-year career.
McConnell told listeners, “Three years ago when I signed my present contract, I pretty much made up my mind it was going to be the last one and told management over a year ago. I’ll miss a lot of aspects of it but look forward to it at the same time. No regrets as I’ve done this for a long time.”
McConnell joined WLW in the 1990s as the successor to Randy Michaels, where he remained for 25 years. He would take a five-year hiatus in 2010 to join WGN-AM in Chicago, returning to the Queen City in 2015 to take over mornings after Jim Scott’s retirement.
Brennaman returned to broadcasting last year after a four-year absence following his dismissal in 2020 after he made a homophobic comment on a hot mic during a Reds broadcast.
Brennaman told listeners on Thursday, “The journey here the last four years, almost five, hadn’t been easy. But if there’s somebody out there, once a day, once a week, once a month, that thinks they screwed up really bad, maybe I can somehow along the way, try to make them understand that you keep the faith, you keep on getting up and hopefully good things are going to happen. And this is a really good thing.”
