Tom Irwin’s journey to broadcast stardom as Shotgun Tom Kelly, one of America’s most popular air personalities, took more than a few turns, some quite unexpected.
His memoir “All I Wanna Do Is Play the Hits,” cowritten with voice talent Neil Ross, starts near San Diego with an encounter in parochial school with one Sister Mario, from which the title evolves.
Tom was fascinated by the voices he heard on the radio as he grew up near America’s Finest City, especially KOGO(AM) and Frank Thompson. He hung around local stations, finally getting his first radio air shift on Sunday mornings at KPRI(FM) playing middle-of-the-road music, which he described as “not my cup of tea.”
While studying for his FCC First Class license — necessary in markets where the jock might also be responsible for keeping an eye on a transmitter and directional array — Tom struggled a bit and was almost ready to abandon the quest for the ticket. Some pep talks from graduates of the Ogden Radio Operational Engineering School in beautiful downtown Burbank, Calif., gave him the motivation to continue studying and pass the FCC test.
Just out of high school, Kelly says the experience taught him perseverance, a trait he would find necessary on his radio and life journey.
There followed a long road that led to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It included stints in Merced, Fresno, Ventura and Bakersfield, where the Shotgun persona was born.
Tom wanted to use his real name but the general manager of KAFY(AM) decided on Kelly for its sound in station jingles. Program Director Dave Conley suggested that Irwin retain the moniker Shotgun that he had used in an earlier job, and from there Tom built a legendary persona that also featured an omnipresent ranger hat.
He returned to San Diego and weathered the inevitable format changes and station changes, until a call came from KRTH in Los Angeles, after the death of air personality “The Real” Don Steele. Kelly would occupy that air chair in afternoon drive until 2017.
In 2020, Shotgun found his way to SiriusXM’s ’60s Gold Channel (73), where he can be heard on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time.
His road could have been derailed with substance abuse. For about 15 years Kelly smoked marijuana, drank and snorted cocaine. But he eventually found his way into a 12-step program. On Christmas Eve 1984, Kelly became clean and sober. He felt strongly enough about telling that story to devote a full chapter and as of late 2024 was preparing to celebrate 40 years of sobriety.
Kelly and Ross take their readers along the road to the Walk of Fame with an engaging narrative. The text is bolstered with QR codes that will lead you to audio and video snippets from Kelly’s career.
“All I Wanna Do Is Play the Hits” is available in hardcover and paperback from JCH Media Publishing and sold via outlets including Amazon. And you can view a gallery of photos of Kelly throughout his career at https://shotguntomkelly.com.
Paul Kaminski, CBT CBNT, has been a contributor to Radio World since 1997 and hosts the msrpk.com program “Radio-Road-Test.” Find him on X at msrpk_com; Facebook, PKaminski2468.
