Evelyn joined WPGC as one of the Money Girls
in early 1976 when Tim Kelly began doing mornings.

 

Evelyn Kelly today.

 

 

A simple gift changed Evelyn Kelly’s life forever. In 1963 she received a transistor radio for Christmas, and to this day she can remember vividly the "Top 63 of 63" flowing from that tiny battery-powered box. Evelyn entered the radio business through a combination of unforeseen circumstances. In high school she worked at a steak house in Englewood, Colorado.

In 1972 she wanted a job change and a former restaurant customer tipped her to a job at KTLK / Denver. Evelyn started as an assistant to the music director and it was there that she met Tim Kelly (one of the founders of Premiere Radio Networks). "I fell madly in love with him." She and Tim went to Chicago. Evelyn worked at WGCI and Tim was at WCFL. When the air staff at WGCI went on strike, Ev recorded a few voice tracks, which made her a scab. Tim received a death threat, she left the station and Tim joined the picket lines in front of WGCI during a freezing Chicago winter. Early in 1976 they went to WPGC. Two years later Evelyn worked at WNSR and WRKO / Boston as Beverly Hudson.

In 1978 they arrived in Southern California. She was Tim's sidekick at KFI. In 1981 they worked morning drive at WAKY / Louisville. They returned to LA and she did weekends at KIIS. For the next decade Evelyn worked on various countdown shows at Premiere Radio. She handled the weekly interviews and co-wrote the scripts for "Country Plain Rap Countdown." They have two children. Tim and Evelyn certainly defied the difficult odds of a married couple working together in the radio business.

When did she leave Premiere? “I wrote countdown shows until about 1999,” emailed Ev. “Additionally, I've been engaged in various volunteer activities. Since I had the opportunity to do so, I chose to stay close to home and hearth until our youngest child was out of high school. I think that Premiere programming, in particular, Dr. Laura, may have influenced me in this regard. As for Tim, Premiere was sold to Jacor in 1997, who then sold it to Clear Channel. Tim remained with Premiere throughout the Jacor period. He was a part of the Clear Channel reality until early 2002."

She is now in the world of real estate. “It's a business I have long been interested in. I was just starting to take classes back in 1979 and then, John Rook hired me at KFI. It stayed in the back of my mind, but a job in real estate - and holding open houses on Saturdays and Sundays - would have greatly interfered with so many of the activities our children took part in. Now that our youngest is 18, this is now longer a problem.”

Any hankering to get back into radio? “Not consciously. Oddly enough, I still have strange radio-oriented dreams of none of the carts being labeled, and being panicked about it, etc. And yes, (lol), I realize carts are a thing of the past!”

 

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