Kelly Ford has been a force in the country music radio space for decades. Known in New York and beyond for her morning shows with 94.7 Nash-turned-New-York’s-Country before its format change in 2021, she has once again found herself clinking metaphorical rocks glasses with the country listeners of the greater Big Apple on her new show with Long Island’s 103.1 The Wolf alongside her work with Backstage Country, which broadcasts on over 80 radio stations nationwide.
With a career that has brought her a ton of recognition for being a dynamic woman in the business and the successful feat of raising three children on a morning show schedule, she will tell you herself, “Being a mom is my most important job, but it’s not my only job.” Kelly Ford is a woman and a mother among many other things – in particular, one of the best at what she does.
While the Louisville, KY native is a staple in the genre (and has the CMA, ACM, Gracie, and Marconi awards to prove it), Ford actually got her start doing news before discovering her niche in Country music. It may have all subconsciously started when Louisville DJ Bill Bailey did a St. Patrick’s Day broadcast out of her childhood home, but an internship in college sealed her fate.
“The official conscious choice was at Western Kentucky University,” she says. “I’m from Louisville, and I knew I was going to go to an in-state school. They have a really good broadcasting program. I knew I didn’t want to do a normal office job, so I double majored in communications and political science. I wanted to go to the Peace Corps, and I ended up on rock radio.”
For Ford, being on-air was (and still is) about good storytelling. “I was all about news at first. I loved telling stories with audio, and I think that’s always served me well, even in my shows,” she explains.
Her first job at WLRS in Louisville, which Ford describes as an “iconic heritage station,” is what had her looking down the line at a career in broadcasting. “It was so cool – my first job was on a station everyone grew up listening to.”
It wasn’t until she moved to Denver that working in Country really came onto her radar via a job at KYGO, and even then, she remained unsure of her place in the genre.
“I was doing news in the morning [on KYGO],” she details. “I didn’t like Country growing up in Kentucky. It was a different time. Rock was so great in the late ‘80s.” Ford admits she was sure the pivot from rock to Country meant the beginning of the end of her career.
“That was the same year a little guy named Garth Brooks came on the scene. The rest is history,” she jokes.
Ford stayed with KYGO for 20 years. Her fun, quick-witted, and sharp personality eventually brought her to New York, where she helped to usher in a new era at Nash FM alongside Jesse Addy.
“Jesse and I just hit the streets. It was brand new. It was so fun building something.” Ford believes “you win people over one at a time,” and remembers the rush of building up her East Coast Country brand alongside beloved colleagues, remarking that her recent start at The Wolf has felt cool in a lot of the same ways – getting the chance to build something.
Ford then joined Westwood One’s nationally syndicated morning show Ty, Kelly, & Chuck. She continued to grow alongside the brand with her own morning show on what became New York’s Country with Audacy – until things began to shift at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
“The world shut down. We had a great run – we left it all on the table and I’m really proud of what we did,” she says. “All of radio has been changed forever by Covid.”
Ford spent the next few years dabbling in a variety of industry-adjacent endeavors, first with a start-up app, then with a podcast, and even getting into radio sales for a bit. “It was a cool time to slow down and think about what I want out of life. Where do I want to be? What do I value?”
The job opening on Long Island was a no-brainer move for Ford. “I get the New York Country listener. I understand them. I appreciate them.”
Raising three children on a morning show schedule (and during a time when her pregnancies raised speculation about her quitting her job) alongside the recognition Ford has gotten for her work over the years has carved out her undeniable mark as a female powerhouse in the industry. But the reality of getting a “female” qualifier in front of her accomplishments remains a little boring for Ford. She’s a powerhouse.
“Anyone who talks about any one thing is boring to me… People are complex,” she says.
A self-described “girl’s girl,” Ford says, “The older I’ve gotten in life and in the business, I understand that sisterhood is super important… but I don’t love to talk a ton about being a woman in the business because it’s a no-win situation. Just like everything, I want to be the best,” she declares.
“While I have won three Gracies, and they mean more to me than anything, I wish there weren’t Gracies,” she explains. “I don’t want to complain; I just want to win.”
She elaborates, “Obviously, everyone’s experience, no matter what your gender or race or whatever you identify as… you bring that to your experience on the air. It informs who I am and my experience with people, but I would never want to be totally defined by it.”
Her list of accolades and accomplishments and identifiers aside, at the end of the day, Ford’s position in broadcasting is all about “relationships and community.”
“Country, I think, helps create a community of like-minded people who want to come together for the love of a genre. Which I think is kind of different than many other – not all – genres. There’s such a family and a community within that,” she explains.
“As a broadcaster, what turns my crank, what gives me purpose is building community, telling stories, and relationships.” Ford goes on to detail the many meaningful connections she’s made over the years and hopes to continue making with fellow industry professionals, listeners, and even just people on the street.
“I think radio is so relevant,” she says about the variety of platforms available that make music so accessible, indicating that nothing quite beats the connections and relationships that radio fosters.
“I still believe in radio and its power.”
Jacquie Cadorette is a music features reporter for Barrett Media with over 10 years of experience crafting and managing digital editorial content in the broadcast media space. Her radio career began at Philadelphia’s 102.9 WMGK where she assisted with crafting copy for promotional materials before moving on to blogging for Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, writing prep copy for iHeart, and ultimately becoming a senior editorial content producer on Audacy’s central team, where her work was syndicated to over 250 station sites nationwide. After bringing the company’s podcast editorial brand to life as the Head of Content, Jacquie dove into freelance editorial work alongside her other endeavors.
A PA native, Jacquie spent 9 years in New York City and then a few years in Portland, OR to continue her writing career and indulge in great coffee on the west coast. She now lives in South Philly and can be found enjoying live music, looking at the world through her Canon camera, or diving into a project she’s never tried before with unfounded confidence. Jacquie can be reached at jacquiecad.media@gmail.com.
