MG Kelly on KTNQ – Not to be confused with the rap artist of the same name, this is “Machine Gun” Kelly (Gary D. Sinclair) . Kelly is an American Disc Jockey (Presenter) and a minor Hollywood Actor. Kelly was also the announcer for “Wheel of Fortune” in 1988-1989. “Wheel” was and is hosted and syndicated by Pat Sajak.
M.G. Kelly had been on crosstown KHJ since 1976. In ’78, KHJ ‘s PD, John Sebastian, was taking the station in a more AOR direction and in the process, asking Kelly to basically lighten up on air. Then, on March 17, 1978 Sebastian fired him 5 minutes before his airshift. (corrected information) There’s no reason given, but according to M.G. Kelly’s website, he says just 3 hours later, he was on KTNQ. Yet this aircheck proves otherwise. It was the next day!
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This aircheck represents the Gunner’s first show on Ten-Q.
For those of you in radio, do you remember your first day at a new radio station? Just finding where the mic pot was on the board was sometimes a challenge, nevermind finding that ‘sweet spot’ where your voice sounded just right and not over-modulated. M.G. Kelly tackles his first hour on the job with only one somewhat glaring error… just before the end of this aircheck, Gunner cracks the mic with a mighty KH…. Don’cha hate it when that happens?!
What an awesome aircheck. Machine Gun Kelly. One of the best and funniest jocks I’ve ever heard!
Our thanks to our FIRST contributor to the archives @ Airchexx, Matt at BigAppleAirchecks. Thanks for so many years of support!
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Corrections: Machine Gun Kelly arrived at KHJ in May of 1974 from KTSP, Minneapolis. He did 6-10 PM for just a couple of months before Brother Tom Dooley got fired on the air the afternoon of President Nixon’s resignation speech.
Gunner moved to afternoon drive (3-6PM) immediately, and stayed there until John Sebastian (who was taking KHJ in more of an AOR direction than AC) fired him 5 minutes before his airshift on Friday, March 17.
Gunner’s website says he drove to TenQ and was on the air three hours later, but this aircheck (where MG says it’s Saturday a couple of times) proves it was a day and three hours.
MG won Billboard’s Personality of the year award with an hour from June of this year, but he joined The Real Don Steele in bailing out when Storer announced plans (never realized) to take TenQ Country just six months after his arrival (the news prompted interest from a buyer, who took the station Spanish on July 31, 1979).
KTNQ was the station that introduced me to radio. I’ve been looking this station up for quite some time. I remember sneaking a quick listen on my father’s radio, National Panasonic Hi-Fi ALL TRANSISTOR R-441B. I still have the radio to this day.