Thom Brennaman
Encyclopedia
Thomas Wade "Thom" Brennaman (born September 12, 1963) is an American sportscaster
, and the son of current Cincinnati Reds
radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman
.
, where he was president of the Beta Kappa Chapter of Beta Theta Pi
fraternity. He entered college uncertain of whether to follow in his father's footsteps and become a broadcaster. While at Ohio U he joined station WATH, developing his own love for radio. After graduating in 1986, Brennaman worked as a sports reporter/anchor for WLWT-TV, the NBC
affiliate in Cincinnati. During this same period, he worked as the television play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds
along side Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench
. In the early 1990s he did Chicago Cubs
broadcasts, and in 1994 he was hired by Fox Sports
to call the network's National Football League
and Major League Baseball telecasts. He served as the first television voice for the Arizona Diamondbacks
, and left after the 2006 season
to join his father Marty
in Cincinnati.
In 2006, Brennaman was named as Fox's lead play-by-play announcer for the Bowl Championship Series
. In addition to calling the BCS National Championship Game
, Brennaman called the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
. On both broadcasts, Brennaman worked with former University of Wisconsin–Madison
head coach Barry Alvarez
(only in 2007), and former University of Tennessee
defensive back and current broadcaster Charles Davis.http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5819706 Brennaman also called the 2008 Sugar Bowl
and the 2009 Orange Bowl
.
Additionally, the Big Ten Network named Brennaman as their lead play-by-play announcer for college football games for two seasons beginning in September 2007.http://www.uiuc.edu/resources/announcement3.html He would return to calling NFL games for Fox in 2009, working primarily with Brian Billick
but also filling in as lead announcer while Joe Buck
did the MLB playoffs. Prior to that, Brennaman had been the voice of the Cotton Bowl Classic on Fox from 2000 to 2006.
owner Robert Castellini
hired Brennaman through the 2010 season to announce 45 Reds games on FS Ohio television and 45 games on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network
, flagship station being 700 WLW
. His father's contract with the Reds was set to expire after the 2010 season. Currently, both Thom and Marty continue to broadcast for the Cincinnati Reds.
, All-Star Baseball
2002, and All-Star Baseball 2003-2005 for Gamecube, PlayStation 2
and Xbox
. He has also done college basketball
announcing for CBS Radio
and Fox Sports Net
cable. He is also a spokesman for CBTS, a Cincinnati Bell
company, in television commercials.
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, and the son of current Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman
Marty Brennaman
Franchester Martin "Marty" Brennaman , is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the radio voice of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network.-Early life:...
.
Broadcasting career
After graduating in 1982 from Cincinnati's Anderson High School Thom attended Ohio UniversityOhio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
, where he was president of the Beta Kappa Chapter of Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
fraternity. He entered college uncertain of whether to follow in his father's footsteps and become a broadcaster. While at Ohio U he joined station WATH, developing his own love for radio. After graduating in 1986, Brennaman worked as a sports reporter/anchor for WLWT-TV, the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate in Cincinnati. During this same period, he worked as the television play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
along side Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench
Johnny Bench
Johnny Lee Bench is a former professional baseball catcher who played in the Major Leagues for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983 and is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame...
. In the early 1990s he did Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
broadcasts, and in 1994 he was hired by Fox Sports
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
to call the network's National Football League
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
and Major League Baseball telecasts. He served as the first television voice for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
, and left after the 2006 season
2006 Major League Baseball season
In , the Major League Baseball season ended with the National League's St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series with the lowest regular season victory total in history. The American League continued its domination at the All-Star Game by winning its fourth straight game; the A.L. has won nine...
to join his father Marty
Marty Brennaman
Franchester Martin "Marty" Brennaman , is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the radio voice of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network.-Early life:...
in Cincinnati.
In 2006, Brennaman was named as Fox's lead play-by-play announcer for the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
. In addition to calling the BCS National Championship Game
BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
, Brennaman called the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
2007 Fiesta Bowl
The 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game played as part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season...
. On both broadcasts, Brennaman worked with former University of Wisconsin–Madison
Wisconsin Badgers football
The Wisconsin Badgers are a college football program that represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football...
head coach Barry Alvarez
Barry Alvarez
Barry Alvarez is a former American football player and coach and currently the Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons from 1990 to 2005, compiling a career college football record of 118–73–4...
(only in 2007), and former University of Tennessee
Tennessee Volunteers football
The Tennessee Volunteers football team are an American college football team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville . The NCAA Division I team is also a member of the Southeastern Conference ....
defensive back and current broadcaster Charles Davis.http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5819706 Brennaman also called the 2008 Sugar Bowl
2008 Sugar Bowl
The 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl Game was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the Bowl Championship Series for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was the 74th Sugar Bowl...
and the 2009 Orange Bowl
2009 Orange Bowl
The 2009 FedEx Orange Bowl game was the 75th edition of the annual college football bowl game known as the Orange Bowl. It pitted the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia Tech Hokies against the Big East Conference champion Cincinnati Bearcats on January 1, 2009 at Dolphin Stadium in...
.
Additionally, the Big Ten Network named Brennaman as their lead play-by-play announcer for college football games for two seasons beginning in September 2007.http://www.uiuc.edu/resources/announcement3.html He would return to calling NFL games for Fox in 2009, working primarily with Brian Billick
Brian Billick
Brian Harold Billick is a National Football League game analyst for Fox, and is also an analyst for the network's Bowl Championship Series coverage. He was previously an NFL coach, most recently with the Baltimore Ravens from January 19, 1999 to December 31, 2007...
but also filling in as lead announcer while Joe Buck
Joe Buck
Joseph Francis "Joe" Buck is an American sportscaster and the son of legendary sportscaster Jack Buck. He has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards for his play-by-play work with Fox Sports.-Education:...
did the MLB playoffs. Prior to that, Brennaman had been the voice of the Cotton Bowl Classic on Fox from 2000 to 2006.
Move to the Cincinnati Reds
On October 3, 2006, Cincinnati RedsCincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
owner Robert Castellini
Robert Castellini
Robert Castellini is an American businessman from Cincinnati, Ohio. On January 19 2006, he became Chief Executive Officer of the Cincinnati Reds, leading a group that purchased a majority share of the MLB franchise from previous CEO Carl Lindner, Jr....
hired Brennaman through the 2010 season to announce 45 Reds games on FS Ohio television and 45 games on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network
Cincinnati Reds Radio Network
The Cincinnati Bell Reds Radio Network consists of 68 stations in 7 states that air Cincinnati Reds games and related programming.. The announcers are Marty Brennaman, Thom Brennaman, and Jeff Brantley. In 2010 the longtime voice of the Louisville Redbirds/Louisville Bats, Jim Kelch, was hired by...
, flagship station being 700 WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
. His father's contract with the Reds was set to expire after the 2010 season. Currently, both Thom and Marty continue to broadcast for the Cincinnati Reds.
Other ventures
Brennaman has also contributed voice-over work for several video games, including Microsoft Baseball 2001Microsoft Baseball 2001
Microsoft Baseball 2001 is a baseball game made for the 2000 MLB season. It used the Baseball Mogul engine, which required players to act as general manager of an MLB franchise, forcing players to deal with realistic payroll constraints and city-related issues along the way...
, All-Star Baseball
All-Star Baseball
All-Star Baseball is a baseball video game series developed and published by Acclaim Entertainment. The series began in 1998 with the release of All-Star Baseball '99. The announcers John Sterling and Michael Kay have been added during the ballgame from 1998-2000 for N64...
2002, and All-Star Baseball 2003-2005 for Gamecube, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
. He has also done college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
announcing for CBS Radio
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
and Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
cable. He is also a spokesman for CBTS, a Cincinnati Bell
Cincinnati Bell
Cincinnati Bell is the dominant telephone company for Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The parent company is named Cincinnati Bell Inc. Its incumbent local exchange carrier subsidiary uses the name Cincinnati Bell Telephone Company LLC,...
company, in television commercials.