Remembering VO Pro Jeff Kelly
• It is with heavy hearts that we report that Jeff Kelly, West Coast Commercial Production Director for Benztown, died late Friday night, August 13, in Los Angeles. He was only 50. Kelly joined Benztown in January and had just recently moved to L.A. from Albuquerque to work with the Benztown team in the company’s Glendale, CA HQ.
Kelly became, in his own words, a true “Radio Geek” at a very early age, listening to Scott Shannon, Jeff Gonzer and Mark & Brian in his native Southern California. After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. After he was discharged, he followed his true passion, radio, starting his career in 1994 at K-MIX/KHJ, in his hometown of Lancaster, CA. A year later, he crossed the street to the Antelope Valley’s then-No. 1 Country FM KTPI. In 1996, Kelly moved to Cheyenne, WY, part of the team that launched 97.9 KING-FM & 100.7 KOLT-FM. It was there where he would earn his first PD stripes.
Success followed in Northern Colorado, and later, in Albuquerque, NM, where he joined iHeartMedia in early 2016, shifting the direction of his career from programming to production. During his four years as Production Director at iHeartMedia Albuquerque, Kelly won nine New Mexico Broadcasting Awards. Equally rewarding was the role he began to play in iHeartMedia’s production process. Kelly joined forces with the production teams in five other major/large markets across the Southwest to form the Western Division Production Center. This collective pioneered a process of sharing resources — voices, sounds, styles, and time — which would evolve into iHeartMedia’s “Production Center,” now the companywide standard for handling production. In January 2021, Jeff took his dream job as West Coast Commercial Production Director for Benztown and Yamanair, which brought him back home to Southern California just weeks ago with his fiancée, Melissa.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said, “We are deeply saddened we were not able to spend more time with Jeff and we will miss him very much. Jeff was incredibly energized and excited about working for Benztown and his recent move to L.A. from Albuquerque, and his positive attitude and tremendous talents were inspiring. His production, writing and VO skills were among the very best in the business and I am incredibly grateful for his contributions to our company, the Commercial Production Department and Yamanair. The entire Benztown team sends our deepest condolences to Jeff’s fiancée, Melissa, his children, Jordan, Christina and Darian, and his parents, Joe and Linda.”
Details about funeral/memorial arrangements are forthcoming. As a tribute to Jeff’s talents, please take a few minutes and listen to his impressive commercial production and VO demo.
