One person did just that. He has lately come to be known as "Radio's Biggest Kidd".
To most people outside of Dallas, Texas he was an unknown.
To those in and around Dallas, he was a close friend who helped you get your weekday mornings off to a good start. He even did so via satellite for a number of stations in about 75 markets nationwide.
To us in the radio industry, including those of us retired from it, he was a brother. He was out to prove that good morning radio didn't have to be dirty or tasteless, and he did just that.
He published a monthly newsletter called "The Morning Mouth", dedicated to helping morning jocks make their shows better, no matter what size market you were in.
Bit ideas, cheap promotional gimmicks that wouldn't make the GM reach for his antacids, and news that jocks needed to know about the changing facets of the industry, but might have been reluctant to accept.
"This business is changing so much, that a year from now, I don't think we'll recognize it," he said in one issue. That was shortly after FCC rules were first relaxed that allowed a company to own more than one FM in a single market, thus putting your once mortal enemy right across the hall from you. Weird.
At that time, the internet was slowly burgeoning. He encouraged jocks to embrace the evolving technology with "BitBoard" a free show prep sharing service accessed online, where jocks who subscribed agreed to provide a weekly report of what they had planned or had previously done for their shows.
Though a jock for more than three and a half decades, he was also an astute businessman, later selling both "The 'Mouth" and BitBoard to other broadcasting companies.
His name was David Peter Cradick, or "Kidd Kraddick" to the scores of listeners he entertained each morning out of the Kiss-FM studio in Dallas, Texas...the native Ohioan's adoptive home base for almost 30 years, having been born in the Toledo area and raised in Florida.
In an industry where shock jocks like Howard Stern, Mancow, and Don Imus gain publicity by what they say or do (negatively), Kidd didn't stoop to such tactics. He made a name for himself by not engaging in overly high-profile sophomoric on-air stunts, but rather using his position to make the world a better place for the most vulnerable members of society.
Thus, Kidd gained a reputation as the industry's 'good guy'. Gregarious, engaging, and personable are just a few adjectives to describe his character.
He made time for everyone, without exception. He valued his listeners, and valued his colleagues. Especially the young, hungry talents still getting their feet wet in small markets. I know this personally, because I was one of them.
I always called him Dave, never Kidd. "Hey Pittsburgh! How's it going?" he would ask when fielding the occasional call from me. I felt a bit of a personal connection, because as he was having his tenth birthday party, I was coming into this world.
A short 21 years ago, he personified the example of 'giving back' by creating his own charity, The Kraddick Foundation. The charity is dedicated to helping children with life-threatening illnesses or chronic injury, mostly listener-funded. You can read more about it at www.kiddskids.com.
He also had his share of personal problems, all of which he successfully overcame.
He was canned from KEGL after eight years in 1992, in favor of a format change and Howard Stern. Many thought he was finished after a six-month paid vacation by the then-owners. No one could be more wrong as the new KHKS hit the airwaves as a new Top 40 station after modest success under an NAC format, and quickly hired Kidd to do mornings, sparing no marketing expense. It all paid off...for he would remain there for the rest of his career, and his life.
His marriage of 21 years to his wife Carol Charette ended in divorce in 2007. "I was fortunate to meet Dave when he was doing nights and eating 'Beanie Weenies' out of the can," she once said.
They had a daughter together named Caroline, born in 1990, and having just graduated college last year. Despite the parting, Kidd and Carol remained friends. Kidd eventually found love again, with Lissi Mullen, the 32-year-old national sales manager of the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, whom he planned to marry only very recently.
Though his fame was mostly confined to north Texas, Kidd managed to collect some famous friends over the years, including Dr. Phil McGraw, Ryan Seacrest, and Mark Cuban, who all expressed shock over his passing. Just to name a few.
Two weeks prior to his passing on Saturday, July 27th, 2013, he did a bit on his show about how he'd like to die, complete with a fake memorial service on the air.
Though his fame was mostly confined to north Texas, Kidd managed to collect some famous friends over the years, including Dr. Phil McGraw, Ryan Seacrest, and Mark Cuban, who all expressed shock over his passing. Just to name a few.
Two weeks prior to his passing on Saturday, July 27th, 2013, he did a bit on his show about how he'd like to die, complete with a fake memorial service on the air.
He wanted it to be quick. No terminal illness or prolonged suffering.
He got his wish, albeit earlier than anyone ever could have imagined.
And the timing of the on-air bit was eerie.
It happened on a New Orleans golf course, during a charity event for his foundation. He had fallen ill and was taken to West Jefferson Medical Center, where he died moments later at age 53 of what we now know to have been due to complications arising from heart disease.
We also know now that Kidd did not die a suffering death. He died at one of his own charity events, doing what he loved. All things considered, that's not too bad.
We also know now that Kidd did not die a suffering death. He died at one of his own charity events, doing what he loved. All things considered, that's not too bad.
"When I die," he told his morning show team during the death bit, "you have permission to take a bunch of creepy pictures of my body."
Whether they took him up on that offer, or whether his family allowed it is anyone's guess. No pictures have surfaced. So far, no one of the hundreds who attended his private memorial service a week ago this past Friday has anything to say about it. Plans for a public memorial service have yet to be announced.
But the truth is this.
The world has lost a kind and generous spirit. The radio industry has lost a gifted on-air talent. Lissi has lost her life partner. Caroline has lost her beloved daddy.
"I will never wrap my brain around my father's passing," she Tweeted. "Please keep me and my family in your prayers and ask the Lord to watch over my Daddy."
You got it..."Little Kidd."
NEXT WEEK: Band on the Run
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