jaybird drennan - Inducted 2004

Of his on-air delivery, The Akron Beacon Journal said "if God his own self were to come down and pay you a visit, He probably would sound a whole lot like Jerry William Drennan". During Jaybird's 27 years as morning drive air personality for WSLR in Akron, Ohio, he pioneered Country radio in Ohio and paved the way for successful Country stations in Akron and Cleveland. He has been called the best known and best loved personality the market has ever seen.

Born December 9, 1928, he grew up as the son of a sharecropper on peanut farms in Texas and New Mexico. He worked at stations in markets in those states including Tucumcari, Clovis, Hereford, Perryton, and Lubbock before moving on to Colorado Springs, Colorado and Turlock, California. Jay Drennan passed away on December 10, 2006 from a blood clot that formed after surgery for a broken ankle.