Jockey Joe Kelly Dies At 68

If you were listening to WLW-AM in the late 1960s, you'll remember the name Jockey Joe Kelly. He did middays from January 1969 to April 1976, and left here to buy and operate a Hawaii radio station.

"He had a great deep voice and was really popular with the ladies. He had huge ratings," says former WLW-AM coworker Jim LaBarbara, a DJ at WNKR-FM in Dry Ridge. LaBarbara recalls how Kelly did his show in two shifts, 10 a.m.-noon and 1:30-3 p.m., around the live simulcast of the "Bob Braun Show" on WLW-AM and WLWT-TV (Channel 5).

By the late 1970s, Jockey Joe was a big country music DJ in Denver. That's where he died last Saturday, at age 68.

I met him once in high school in the late 1960s, when he was MC for our talent show. Anyone have some Jockey Joe stories?

Here’s the info from http://www.radio-info.com/

Jockey Joe passes at 68
DENVER- Joseph "Jockey Joe" Rateau died on Saturday, December 8 2007 of complications of Diabetes. He was 68.

If you lived in Denver during the late 70's through the early 90's you may have heard his name, and his voice. Joseph "Jockey Joe" Rateau worked at 56KLZ and KYGO during his 15-year stay on Denver's airwaves and his show topped the rating chart. He entertained listeners with humor and style from 6:00am to 10:00am weekdays.

Jockey Joe's career began in the 1950's when, at the age of 15, he got his first DJ job with WHBC in Canton Ohio. He spent the next 40 years as a disc jockey for such notable stations as WLS in Chicago, WONE in Dayton, KLEI in Hawaii, and WLW in Cincinnati.

Joseph Rateau was a Type I diabetic and supported the American Diabetes Association. Joseph "Jockey Joe" Rateau died at home in Littleton, CO. He is survived by his wife Alice, his son Joey, his daughter Julie, and his sisters Darlene George and Sherry Young.