It took oldies station WMXJ-FM (102.7) six months of hard looking to find a new morning man after the legendary Rick Shaw announced his retirement in November 2006. And now the man who replaced him, Bruce Kelly, has barely lasted longer than the search.
Kelly was sacked Friday moments after finishing his regular morning show at 10 a.m. ''My feet were too little for the big shoes of Rick Shaw,'' Kelly said sardonically. ``Well, you know what they say about guys with little feet. So it was either a firing or an implant.''
Kelly's one-year contract was up for renewal (his first shift on the air was finishing up the final hour of Shaw's farewell show last May 11) and WMXJ boss Bob Hamilton told him it wouldn't be renewed.
'It was the old `we want to go in a new direction,' '' Kelly said.
He thinks the cause was ratings, which he says boomed initially but then flattened out. He brought some innovations to the station that have already been widely imitated in the industry, including a daily YouTube show and Friday hour where listeners get to play their old 45s on the air.
But it was sometimes a hard sell to Shaw's old listeners. One irate caller, demanding Shaw's return, sputtered to Kelly: ''You have the personality of a dead worm!'' He put the call on the air.
'After the first couple of months, the `we hate you or anybody who's not Rick' calls subsided,'' he said. ``It was all good. But it takes time and patience to build a radio show. It's like when Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson.''
But, he added: ``This is not a diatribe about anyone at Majic. This is the nature of the beast of radio in this day and age -- they want instant results.''
Calls to WMXJ weren't immediately returned -- though Kelly's bio has already been removed from the station's website, which now refers to the 5:30 to 10 a.m. show as Majic in the Morning rather than Bruce and Donna in the Morning.
''Doesn't surprise me,'' cracked Kelly. ``This is radio -- it's worse than the Kremlin.''
No word on the fate of Kelly's broadcast partner Donna Davis, who was on vacation Friday.
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