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Bruce Kelly (born Bruce Grimes, June 11th, 1956 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American radio personality. He was the original program director, format creator and morning personality on The 80s on 8 from XM Satellite Radio in Washington, D.C. from September 2000 to November 2005. Kelly was also the first "live" human voice heard on XM or Sirius Satellite Radio during XM studio's beta test launch in May 2001.

In November 2005, he resigned from XM to care for his ailing 79 year old father, who fully recovered in May 2006 after a series of strokes.

On April 30th, 2007 Lincoln Financial Media announced Kelly as the replacement in morning drive on WMXJ for South Florida media icon Rick Shaw, retiring after 50+ years on air in the market. His stint at the station lasted only for his initial one-year contract amid decidedly mixed audience reviews. Friday, April 25th, 2008 was his last Majic show. Miami Herald Station management blamed "flat" ratings, however an ironic twist surfaced with the next ratings book in May showing prior to Kelly's dismissal, the show had improved from 10th to 5th place in the prior quarter in the key demographic of listeners aged 35 to 64. Miami Herald

[edit] Media coverage

Throughout his career, Kelly has frequently been the subject of national headlines, including the following:

• the 1987 removal of Evan Mecham as governor of Arizona
• 1989's "Radio Relief", in which all Phoenix radio and TV stations participated in a fund raiser to benefit victims of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
• a 1991 April Fools' Day hoax involving the "accidental death" of cartoon character Bart Simpson
• in 2000 as the Washington Redskins on-field/booth announcer, he became the only NFL announcer in history to be fined ($60,000) for interrupting play during a home playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kelly has also been featured in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Arizona Republic, The Boston Globe, and Nightline, in addition to dozens of local TV, magazine and newspaper features.

[edit] Publicity stunts

Starting in the mid-1970s, Kelly continued a long-held radio tradition of over-the-top publicity stunts for the benefit of local charities. Some of the many stunts that attracted national media coverage include:

• 1976 — In front of a crowd of 10,000 and dressed in a white tuxedo, jumped into a vat containing 20,000 gallons of orange flavored Jello at Kings Dominion
• 1983 — Over the course of three days, sat in every seat (59,000) of Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium
• 1984 — In less than 72 hours, completed the entire Boston Marathon (26.2 miles) on a custom-made pogo stick
• 1990 — Demolished over 3000 Milli Vanilli LPs and CDs with a steamroller in protest over the duo's Grammy award being revoked due to controversy surrounding their lack of actual singing on the recordings
• 1997 — Became the first heterosexual to be Grand Marshal of a nationally recognized gay pride parade, after numerous gay public figures declined, most notably Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe

[edit] Other career highlights

Kelly was #1 rated in WRVQ Richmond, 96-X and WHYI Miami, WPGC Washington, D.C., WBZZ Pittsburgh, WHTT-FM Hot Hits Boston, and most notably, fifteen consecutive years as the dominant morning radio personality in Phoenix, from 1985 through 1999, on KZZP, Y-95, and KKFR.

In 1990, he was honored by Billboard magazine as the CHR personality of the year.

Kelly is an alumnus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the student radio station, WUVT-FM. He is also a graduate of T.C. Williams High School.