{"id":30068,"date":"2022-07-25T12:43:57","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T18:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=30068"},"modified":"2022-07-25T13:17:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T19:17:38","slug":"the-brennan-brothers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/the-brennan-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Brennan Brothers: Bill, Cyril and Dan"},"content":{"rendered":"

How often do you come across a true genius? How about three?  All in the same family? Even without seeing IQ test scores, it\u2019s evident by their legendary smarts in management, engineering, and marketing, that Bill, Cyril, and Dan Brennan were broadcasting geniuses who made untold contributions to our industry. The ABA takes great pleasure inducting the three Brennnan brothers into the Association\u2019s Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

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Dan Brennan at the mic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Brennan dynasty started on a dairy farm owned by the boys\u2019 parents, Cyril M. and Mary Brennan. While working at the Brickyard, Alabama farm, Bill took a radio repair correspondence course and began selling radios around the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d sell these radios for just a dollar down and a dollar a week,\u201d says Jim Brennan, Bill\u2019s oldest son. \u201cThey were always breaking, so he\u2019d pick up the radio and repair it and that grew into quite a business.\u201d Enough of a business, in fact, to finance his electrical engineering degree which he earned at Auburn University in 1939.<\/p>\n

After graduation, he was offered a scholarship to Harvard where he received a Master of Science degree in Communication Engineering. \u201cIt took him one year to get a two-year degree,\u201d says Jim. \u201cAnd when he came back, he went to get his engineering license from the state, and they told him they didn\u2019t have anybody that could qualify to test him!\u201d  <\/p>\n

Cyril G. Brennan was born on the farm in 1920. Even as a toddler, he began to show an interest in radio. An entry in his baby book says, \u201cHe likes to play with all kinds of electrical things \u2013 plugs, sockets, wires, blown bulbs, etc. He can connect them up easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cyril in front of WVOK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cyril skipped a couple of grades in elementary school and graduated from high school when he was sixteen years old. About this time, the senior Brennan sold the farm and Cyril stopped worrying about milking cows at 4 a.m. for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

By now, older brother Bill worked at the National Union Radio Tube Company in New Jersey. Cyril joined Bill there and also got a job at the tube company. Both acquired knowledge that would serve them well in the future.<\/p>\n

A year later, Cyril enrolled at Auburn University, but found he already knew what they were teaching. It was just as well because it was 1946 \u2013 wartime – and he was called up for military service and sent to the Army\u2019s Eastern Signal Corps Training Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war was basically over,\u201d explains Cyril\u2019s daughter, Donnie. \u201cAt the end of the day, the Army would let him and his friend, George Blaskow, take all this stuff they were using in the signal corps. They\u2019d mail the boards back to Alabama and that\u2019s how they built WVOK.\u201d<\/p>\n

WVOK was a team effort. The Brennans worked with another legendary broadcasting family, the Benns to make the station operable. Billy Benns and Bill Brennan met in engineering school at Auburn and were the best of friends.  Much earlier, when Cyril M. was in school, he was friends with Iralee Whitaker.  Iralee married William Benns, Sr. and became Billy\u2019s mother. So, the two families were already connected in a couple of different ways.<\/p>\n

It took some quick-witted maneuvering through the FCC\u2019s rules and regulations, but in October of 1947, Birmingham gained a new radio station, WVOK, the Voice of Dixie. One of the new station employees was 18-year-old Dan Brennan, Bill and Cyril\u2019s younger brother.<\/p>\n

In the mid-forties, the Brennans moved from Alabama to Florida where Dan graduated from high school. However, the construction of WVOK brought the family back to Birmingham where Dan got a degree in Business Administration from Birmingham Southern.  He then began his on-air and sales career.<\/p>\n

As the years went by, the Brennans\u2019 presence on the radio dial increased. WBAM in Montgomery went on the air in 1953. WAPE, a Jacksonville, Florida power-house, hit the airwaves in 1958. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, WFLI was up and running in 1961. The family also owned and operated a television station \u2013 WSLA in Selma, which went on the air in 1960.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy\u2019s main contribution was he obtained the licenses,\u201d says Jim about his father, Bill. \u201cHe financed or arranged the financing for the stations \u2026 he was the one that started it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bill in front of WVOK sign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill was also instrumental in the engineering side of the business. While at the tube company in New Jersey, he learned about extended electrical performance curves of certain tubes and this knowledge was put to good use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey built these stations from the ground up. They did it the old-fashioned way,\u201d says David Israel who was the general manager of WAPE AM\/FM from 2006 -2010. The Brennans no longer owned the stations, but David became friends with the family while doing research for a possible book about the family\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people were buying equipment from the manufacturers,\u201d he explains, \u201cbut the Brennans were one of the few still building their own transmitters which allowed them to really create a unique sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyril\u2019s talent for building transmitters was especially astounding. \u201cThe stations each had a unique sound to them because Cyril got in there and redesigned certain sections of the transmitter to the frequency it was operating,\u201d says David. \u201cTheir sound had a richness that is almost unparalleled to this day. It was warm, rich – they had a great presence on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the transmitters were so powerful, they threw off a lot of heat. Cyril figured out how to use water to cool the tubes, so a source of water (a fountain, a pond and even a swimming pool) was incorporated into each station\u2019s design.<\/p>\n

While Bill and Cyril were working behind the scenes, Dan was front and center. In addition to being a popular on-air personality, he was a top-billing account executive and produced all the stations\u2019 content. In fact, his natural proclivity in marketing took programming out of the studio and into the community through live concerts called the \u201cShower of Stars<\/a>.\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI could go back through just a litany of concerts,\u201d says Dan\u2019s daughter Debbie. \u201cThe Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, even Elvis and the Beatles!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy wanted to bring the audience what they wanted to hear,\u201d she explains. \u201cHe had them all. And he was adamant that the concerts were promotions strictly to support the community, bringing live music to the south \u2013 and that was a big deal back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Beatles concert took place in Florida, not Alabama, we have to include the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 1964 and this was their second U.S. concert,\u201d says Debbie. \u201cDaddy had them sign a contract for $52,000! And the Beatles would only play if the audience wasn\u2019t segregated. That\u2019s why they came to play for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

 \u201cA hurricane came through and the Jacksonville station was off the air. My dad had to buy airtime on other stations to tell people the Beatle concert was still on. They had to nail down the drums and microphones. My dad introduced them and I was on the front row!\u2019<\/p>\n

Sometimes really intelligent people lack people skills and common sense. This was not the case with the Brennan brothers.<\/p>\n

Jim says his father, Bill, was delivering milk when he was still a kid. He had to know how to interact with others and as a grownup, that interaction led to a desire to help others.<\/p>\n

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Bill Brennan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think it was back when we were building WBAM, we had a man who would pick up and deliver laundry \u2026 a black man. And one day he came by and told dad that he\u2019d really like to get into radio, and asked if he could have a job,\u201d Jim says. \u201cDad told him that instead of having a job in radio, why didn\u2019t he start his own station? He told the man to save up $10,000 and then come back and see him. You know later, the guy knocked on the door and said, \u2018I saved $10,000!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy got his lawyer up in Washington D.C. to apply for a license in Huntsville and then he donated the transmitter and studio equipment and the guy started his own station. It was quite successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyril\u2019s daughter, Donnie, credits her father with having a generous supply of common sense. \u201cMy dad was the perfect father. He was always there for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI was head nurse for a while and was having trouble with 32 nurses under me.  They all wanted more hours and were always fighting. I was a mess. I asked dad one night what I should do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cyril Brennan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe told me to get a stick out of the backyard and pass it around the room and let each one of them talk. Nobody else can talk while they\u2019ve got the stick. And you know, it worked! He was a good man. A really good man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debbie talks about how her father, Dan, not only loved music, but he also loved others who loved music and would do just about anything to help them further their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d take bands all around the state to let them perform at local schools for exposure,\u201d says Debbie. \u201cOn Saturday mornings, local artists and musicians were invited to the station to perform live. He wanted to give everyone a chance. When WVOK-FM (later WRKK, K99) was on the air he produced an album featuring popular local bands. I still have a few boxes,\u201d laughs Debbie. \u201cWant one?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir people skills were amazing,\u201d says David. \u201cIn talking to people who knew the brothers, when you ask about them, people just light up. People speak lovingly about these guys and that\u2019s not usually the case when you\u2019re talking about businesspeople.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were in show business, but it was also a family business. Their stations were legendary, but I think that reflected the brothers\u2019 love of the business and their ideas to create things that were bigger than life in all of their communities,\u201d continues David.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there will ever be any entrepreneurs like them again in the broadcast industry. The brothers were unique gentlemen in a unique period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often do you come across a true genius? How about three?  All in the same family? Even without seeing IQ test scores, it\u2019s evident by their legendary smarts in management, engineering, and marketing, that Bill, Cyril, and Dan Brennan were broadcasting geniuses who made untold contributions to our industry. The ABA takes great pleasure … Continue reading The Brennan Brothers: Bill, Cyril and Dan<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30068","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30068"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30098,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30068\/revisions\/30098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}