What Kidd Kraddick meant to me...
(The title of this blog will make sense to those who listened to Kidd
in the last few months.)
In college, I got into broadcast journalism, inspired by not only the
television anchors I grew up watching - Brian Williams, Karen Borta, Mike Snyder,
Tracy Rowlett - but also because of a certain radio personality named Kidd
Kraddick.
I have heard Kidd Kraddick’s voice, along with those of Big Al Mack and
Kellie Rasberry, since I was about nine years old. I grew up in the Dallas/Fort
Worth area, so even before the show was syndicated and broadcast across the
country I knew who Kidd Kraddick was. Everyone around here knew who he was; the
KKITM show has been a staple of this area since the early '90s.
He was one of the most influential voices of my youth and especially in
my last few years. I didn’t fully realize it while he was alive, but when you hear
someone’s voice every single day they become more like a family member. You
don’t even question their presence anymore. You begin to take them for granted.
In the last five years, I grew into an even more avid and devoted
listener. My work schedule changed and I had to drive at least an hour to work in
the mornings. Instead of listening to music, I’d listen to the KKITM show. It
had become even more relatable for me once they added J-Si and Jenna to the
show’s cast, since they are both around my age. I felt like I was listening to
my family joke around and bicker and make fun of each other. J-Si and Jenna are
my cousins, Big Al’s my uncle, Kellie’s my aunt, and Kidd Kraddick was like a
father; I honestly did look up to
Kidd as that type of man. He was not perfect, but he had the traits I would
have liked to have in a father: he was funny, self-deprecating, humble, faithful,
friendly, and most importantly, he had a huge heart and loved to make other
peoples’ lives better.
He wasn’t a selfish famous person. He definitely could have been. He
made a huge success out of a very meager beginning. By expanding the KKITM show
across the nation, he opened the door to touch the lives and hearts of more
people and especially more children with disabilities. He used his voice and
stance in society to do so much good across the nation. Not only did he promote
and champion Kidd’s Kids every year for over 20 years, but throughout each year
he did contests that gave away money or prizes to people. I realize most radio
shows do contests and give away prizes, as promotion for the station. However,
on several occasions I heard Kidd up the ante. One time in particular, a woman won
a contest at Christmas time, and instead of just giving her the prize of gifts
and cards for Walmart (or whatever store), once he found out how down and out
she was he paid her rent (it may have been for a year, I don’t remember) as
well, so she and her kids could have a roof over their heads for the cold
winter months and holidays.
For me, on certain days, the show was literally a saving force. They
say laughter is the best medicine, and I strongly believe that. In the last five
years I’ve gone through some of the darkest times of my adult life. Job
insecurity, questioning my purpose in life, losing a very close family member,
and most recently, going through the miscarriage of my first child. There have
been days I didn’t want to get out of bed; and worse days when I didn’t want to
keep breathing. On my darkest days, even if I couldn’t bring myself to laugh, I
could turn on the KKITM show and maybe crack a smile. I could immerse myself in
these other peoples’ lives for a while, and turn off my own troubles.
Kidd Kraddick’s familiar voice soothed me and his hilarious antics gave
me belly laughs that almost caused me to pull over while driving several times.
On the easiest days I still hate getting up and commuting a long way to the
office; but I remind myself, if these guys on KKITM can get up at 4 a.m.
everyday to wake us up by 6, then I can get up and go too. I listen to the show
on mornings I am not even at the office…J-Si’s laugh and Big Al’s “Ga-ga-ga-ga-GOTCHA”
bounce off the walls in my living room while I dive into the duties of the day.
One morning about three months ago, while listening to the show, I was
suddently struck by this sobering thought: What
would I do if this show went away? What will I listen to on my drive? Sure,
I can listen to music, but listening to their banter in the mornings makes me
laugh and makes the drive go by very quickly. In the mornings, I need something
like that to help me wake up and get mentally prepared for the rest of the day.
That thought, of course turned into, What
will the others do if one person is gone?
For some reason, possibly a slight insight into what was soon to come,
I just had this desperate feeling that I needed to listen to every single show,
every single bit, and stay with them all through everything. I have no idea why I had those thoughts and
why I felt so sure that I needed to be listening. Even on days I missed the
live show, I went back to listen to the KPOD. I literally didn’t miss one show
in the past nine months.
The loss of Kidd was devastating to everyone who loved him and his
show. I bet 99% of his listeners have similar stories to mine and feel a real,
deep, scarring pain from this loss. We were all jolted. It was a shock and we
weren’t ready. But, I have come to peace with it at this point. In time, we all
will. What must be remembered is that Kidd wouldn’t really want us to keep
grieving over him; he would rather we turn our grief into devotion to helping
others and continuing to keep his legacy of giving alive.
“I just had a thought. i know
everything is supposed to be perfect and blissful in Heaven...But What if there
just happened to be a couple of sick children up there and God needed Kidd to
come take care of them?” A quote from Big Al Mack on
Facebook
My final thought on this:
Maybe Kidd passed so early because when you are an angel on earth you get
to skip the initiation process. He was already part of the club.
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