Tony Bruno

This article is about the talk show host. For the musician, see Tony Bruno (musician).
Tony Bruno
Bruno and Robin Austin at an event for the National Italian American Foundation in 2010
Born
Anthony Joseph Bruno

(1952-06-13) June 13, 1952 (age 72)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materTemple University
Occupation(s)Sports radio host, radio/TV personality
Years active1970–present
PartnerRobin Austin
Children3
Websitewww.tonybrunoshow.com

Anthony Joseph Bruno (born June 13, 1952) is an American sports talk radio host. He has worked for national American sports broadcasters including ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Premiere, and Sporting News Radio.

Early life

His father served in both the American and Italian Army where his met Bruno's mother, a Sicilian Native. He has one older sister and one younger sister. He graduated from St. John Neumann High School, then from Temple University.[1]

Radio career

WCAU, KFI, and WIP

Bruno's first talk show was on WCAU in Philadelphia as the morning host.[2] When WCAU abandoned talk in 1991, Bruno moved to Sports Talk as a co-host of WIP's Morning Guys show with Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti.[2] He later joined ESPN's new radio network in 1992 as one of the first hosts. He remained at the network until 2000. In 1996, he stated on air he would walk from Bristol, CT to Syracuse, NY if the Orangemen beat Kansas in that year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament—which they did, by a score of 60–56.[3] He was ready to make that walk, but his bosses at ESPN refused to let him.[4]

Fox Sports Radio

In 2000, Bruno moved to Los Angeles, launching the Fox Sports Radio network. Bruno hosted The Tony Bruno Extravaganza morning program with Andrew Siciliano. During this time, Bruno was frequently a guest host on Fox Sports Network's The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Prior to heading west to California, Bruno hosted a morning show on 620 WDAE in Tampa.

Sporting News Radio and KNBR

In 2006, he signed with Sporting News Radio. The Tony Bruno Show appeared on Sporting News Radio and on XM Satellite Radio weekdays. He hosted there from 2006 to 2008, in the same morning show time slot. He was carried on XM Sports Nation for most of the show's run on Sporting News. Bruno also did a daily half-hour with Gary Radnich on the Gary Radnich Show on KNBR in San Francisco.

In January 2008, it was announced that Bruno's show on Sporting News Radio had been cancelled, though KNBR hoped to have him continue working with Radnich.[5] He did return to working with Radnich, until August 1, 2011, when Radnich announced KNBR management has decided to drop the half-hour segment with Bruno after 16 years.

New show and return to Fox Sports Radio

On September 29, 2008, Bruno got a new show called Into The Night with Tony Bruno, which featured his Executive Producer Tim Cates and introduced Robin Austin. It first aired live on the West Coast from 7 to 10pm on am 570 KLAC, the top ranked Sports station in Los Angeles. After one month exclusively on KLAC, it was syndicated around the country on November 3. Bruno aired the show from various major sporting events.[6]

On July 30, 2009, Premiere Radio Networks announced it had partnered with The Content Factory to distribute Bruno's show across the Fox Sports Radio network beginning August 10.[7] Bruno's contract was not renewed, and he left in September 2011.

Return to Philadelphia

On January 18, 2010, Bruno, paired with Harry Mayes, and returned to a daily show from noon to 2 PM on ESPN until June 26, 2014. [2]

On October 13, 2014, Bruno debuted the Tony Bruno Show podcast.

On January 30, 2015, he announced his return to WIP in Philadelphia.

Bruno retired from radio in July 2015 but still continues his live podcast every Wednesday night.[8]

Sirius XM and SportsMap

The Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes returned to Sirius XM on April 6, 2020,[9] and aired every weekday from 3pm to 6pm EST, on the Dan Patrick Radio channel 211,[10] alongside co-host Harry Mayes. Bruno's program was also among the offerings of the SportsMap Radio Network (the former Sporting News Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio and SB Nation Radio), after it ended its cross-branding agreements and brought all programming back in-house in July 2020. The show was cancelled by both Sirius XM and SportsMap in late-August 2020 after Bruno made fun of LeBron reading only the 1st page of any book he was pictured with on air & a journalist at Deadspin wrote an article claiming that Bruno disparaged National Basketball Association (NBA) players as illiterate.[11]

Other work

Madden NFL

Bruno is the host of EA Sports Radio, a show that has appeared on the 2005, 2006, and 2007 versions of the Madden NFL video game. The show has Bruno listing statistics and accomplishments from the previous "week" of play. In addition, he "interviews" players and coaches, takes calls from listeners, and even asks trivia questions.[12]

Personal life

Bruno is divorced with three grown children, Anthony, Chris and Deanna. He lived in Venice, California, for 11 years, then moved back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 2011. He recently moved to Cape Coral, FL and lives with his longtime girlfriend, now fiance and producer/manager Robin Austin.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Archives". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  2. ^ a b c "Sports talker Tony Bruno resigns from 97.5 The Fanatic". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  3. ^ "Syracuse vs. Kansas Box Score, March 24, 1996". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  4. ^ "Tony Bruno Out at 97.5 The Fanatic". Philadelphia Magazine. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  5. ^ "Morning Buzz: More radio days ahead for Tony Bruno?". January 29, 2008.
  6. ^ "THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT".[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Tony Bruno Returns! Tony Bruno Joins JT "The Brick" As FOX Sports Radio Delivers Head-Turning, One-Two Punch To Its Evening Lineup". Archived from the original on 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  8. ^ "Bruno Ends Show, Quits Radio". Radio Ink. 8 July 2015. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  9. ^ JAKIB Media Partners (2 April 2020). "'The Tony Bruno Show' to debut on SiriusXM". Phillyvoice.com. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Dan Patrick Radio". Sirius XM Radio. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  11. ^ Keely, Sean (September 6, 2020). "Tony Bruno's SiriusXM radio show was victim of cancel culture after SiriusXM caved to the mob". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  12. ^ "Jill Arrington Joins Madden 2005 Team - Gameindustry.com". Game Industry News. 2004-07-01. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  13. ^ "Tony Bruno Finds Philly's Good Life at Dockside". April 24, 2015.