Listen to Backtrax USA The 90s Sundays at 7am on 96.7 YES-FM!
Kid Kelly started his radio career earning a salary of just $130 dollars a month, sleeping in a 1970 Chevy Nova bought for $200 and washing at McDonald’s. He was able to improve his life by renting an illegal apartment (a store front window painted black) where heroin addicts shot up at the front door. He lived on unsold chicken wings from KFC for .99 cents per dozen which were only available if they had not been sold by closing time. He kept them cool in his car trunk which he used as his “refrigerator.” He moved around on the East Coast hoping his paycheck wouldn’t bounce, once getting locked out of his studio by the health department due to flea infestation.
Kid Kelly is credited as the first to launch the ‘80s music phenomenon (now known as Classic Hits) by the Wall Street Journal (Rodney Ho Columnist) and by VH1 (Rebecca Rankin Report). He has produced a “Best Of Backtrax” CD and also programmed/heard on an airline music channel on United Airlines and Air Force One.
Kid Kelly was the VP of Pop Programming for SiriusXM from 2003 to 2020, where he was responsible for laying the ground work of 30+ radio stations. He was also creator and program director for North America’s then most listened to Top-40/ Pop channel called HITS 1. All major records labels including Columbia, RCA, Warner Brothers, Interscope, Capitol, indies and trade publications nicknamed Kid “The King of Pop” and a “music visionary” as he helped blaze trails to launch the careers of then unknowns: Taylor Swift, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Shawn Mendes, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Bebe Rexha, Kesha, and Meghan Trainor.
Kid is currently still heard nationwide on hundreds of radio stations with his Backtrax 80’s and Backtrax 90’s syndicated shows.