Mike Kelly was born and raised in Kentucky before leaving for the Marine Corps after graduation. After his time in the service, he traveled as a walk-a-bout through Mexico, Central America, and then to Brazil.
From there he worked on fishing boats across the Atlantic before traveling, where he eventually landed in Ireland. While there, he worked as a plasterer’s assistant through the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Northern Italy; and was planning to travel across the Soviet territories but was stopped at the border of Romania since all foreign travelers were suddenly turned away. A month later, the Wall came down in Germany, but Mike had already returned to the United States, and had taken a job in Belfast, Maine as a lobster fisherman.
Traveling through the summer of 1992, Mike’s motorbike broke down outside Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Shortly after, he enrolled at Coastal Carolina University where he majored in Acting. After several years of acting and some success with minor parts in movies, Mike’s friend, who worked as a morning show side-kick, was called back to active service leaving the position open at WKRQ 102, which Mike jumped at the amazing opportunity.
Mike took to radio with a passion while working in both Myrtle Beach and Columbia, South Carolina, over the next 8 years, before returning to his home area of Cincinnati and taking a job with Susquehanna Radio until 2003.
Though Mike enjoyed being in his home town, after September 11, 2001, Susquehanna Radio faltered with the failing economy and the fear that many businesses endured after our country was attacked.
Mike was fortunate to be recruited to Kool 98 & KMIT radio in Mitchell, South Dakota where he has spent the last 15 years. Mike met his wife Sarah, and with daughter Olivia and son Jackson, has become a staple of Mitchell’s broadcasting and commercial production world. You can hear Mike every weekday on KMIT from 11 am – 4 pm.
Mike not only re-vamped the local Friends of NRA committee and built it into a Mitchell standard, but he also helped the South Dakota National Rifle Association build and maintain chapters both East and West River as well as North Dakota. He has also been an announcer and dedicated supporter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Elk Federation and more.
