KRMG Morning News host Joe Kelley leaving for Florida
BY NOUR HABIB World Scene Writer
Friday, November 02, 2012
11/02/12 at 4:10 AM
Joe Kelley, KRMG news director and host of the station's Morning News, is leaving to be the morning host at Cox sister station WDBO in Orlando, Fla.
"We have never imagined leaving Tulsa," said Kelley, who said he fell in love with the city when he moved here.
Leaving town was never part of his "strategy," said Kelley, who has been with KRMG for nearly eight years. "I don't even have a resume or audition tape."
But when WDBO's 40-year morning host veteran Jim Turner retired, the company chose to move to Kelley to the larger market.
"At first I hesitated and didn't take it too seriously," Kelley said. But when he and his wife flew to Orlando, a city he had never visited before, Kelley said it "quickly became apparent that it was an opportunity I could not refuse."
Kelley's last day at KRMG will be Nov. 16. He will start at WDBO Nov. 19.
Kelley, who got into radio completely by accident while he was a teenager, said he has stuck with it because he loves the immediacy of the job.
"Every moment in time is a deadline in a 24-hour news environment," he said. "I just love the thrill and excitement."
Kelley said he thinks his best accomplishment in Tulsa has been his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening conditions.
The organization started Stories of Light, a radio-thon fundraiser for the organization, seven years ago. About $30,000 was raised the first year of the event, and last year the fundraiser brought in $225,000.
Kelley has timed his departure from the station to allow him to participate one more time in Stories of Light, this year scheduled for Nov. 13-15.
KRMG announced Thursday that afternoon host Dan Potter will replace Kelley starting Nov. 19.
Original Print Headline: KRMG Morning News host leaving
Nour Habib 918-581-8369
nour.habib@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Joe Kelley: Cox Communications is moving him to Florida to replace a retiring morning host for sister station WDBO in Orlando. Kelley's last day at KRMG will be Nov. 16
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