During The Jesse Kelly Show Wednesday, the eponymous host detailed his rise from Marine to syndicated radio host.
Kelly talked about his time in the Marines, his construction job background, his failed political aspirations, and unemployment before describing how he get his radio start.
In 2017, Kelly began writing his thoughts on social media. A Facebook post he made got into the hands of conservative radio host Michael Berry, who invited Kelly on his show to discuss his thoughts. The pair struck up a friendship, and Berry eventually asked Kelly if he would be interested in a media career.
“You don’t want to do what I did,” Kelly said, noting he’s often asked by people what the best way to get started in the media is. “What I did was yet another horrible risk and gigantic leap of faith in a long history of risks that have flamed out for me time and time again. This one just happened to work.
“I got a one hour show at 7 o’clock at night. 7 o’clock to 8 o’clock at night. A one hour show on the great KPRC in Houston. And it just took off. And I have no idea why. Soon, it turned into a two-hour show from 5:00 PM-7:00 PM. Now that’s drive time. Oh my gosh, this might work. Soon, a smaller national syndication company, Key Networks, gets ahold of it. I’ve been on the radio like a year and a half or something like that, at this point. This never happens. Boom, I’m on in like 10-12 cities thinking I got it made.”
Kelly then said things broke his way, and he got the break he wanted once he began working in radio.
“Then the phone call every single person who does radio wants — the phone call from Premiere Networks — was ‘Hey, we want you to step in and do a show for us’. And that’s how I got here.”
Kelly’s story came to light Wednesday because he said still continues to be asked by people how to begin a radio, television, or newspaper career. He also said “the news sucks today”, and wanted to spend more time on encouraging people.
