Mix 104.1's Kennedy Elsey knows almost everything about pop culture, and she's got the trivia record to prove it, having lost to her listeners only fourteen times in the station's daily trivia challenge.

Born in Virginia, Kennedy spent most her life in the suburbs of Chicago. A self-described former 'wage slave for the man,' Kennedy worked at a temp agency in North Carolina when she was first discovered by her now co-host, Karson. "I have a theatre background, and I was doing a show when I first met Karson. He wanted to do it, but he can't sing or act, so he ended up working on the sound. He saw me on stage and asked if I've ever thought of doing radio, and I said, 'Um, I've got a real job, thank you,' and thus began our friendship and a two to three month aggressive campaign for me to get on the radio with him at 2 AM," Kennedy says.

Eventually, Kennedy agreed to try out the radio, and she was hired when a spot became available at the local station Karson worked at. Kennedy later moved to Arizona and worked part-time at a rock station when she once again was discovered by Karson, who had 'disappeared,' in Kennedy's words, since their last gig on the radio together. "He called me up after listening to my show and asked me to move to Tallahassee, Florida, and two weeks later, I found myself behind the wheel, driving to Florida, and then a few weeks later I moved to Memphis, where Karson and I got our first real co-hosting job together." Looking back on the road to radio, Kennedy says, "If Karson had never seen in me what he saw, I never would have even thought about doing this. I'm very grateful for him pursuing my talent!"

'Can't Beat Kennedy,' a segment featured every morning on her show, is a daily challenge where Kennedy goes against callers to see who knows more about pop culture. "Basically, how it goes is that someone calls in, I leave the room, Karson asks them the questions, I come back in and answer the same ones. If you beat me, you win $100. I rarely lose, I'm a total trivia buff, but the first time that I lost was the second day of the game, so…not so much of a great start," she jokes.

As for her greatest success so far, Kennedy looks at all the little things that make her job unique. "I never take for granted having my job basically be just talking into a microphone. I love that I can make a difference in peoples' lives, like last week we raised almost $500,000 for Children's Hospital, and another time I was able to speak to a group of young women who didn't think that they would be able to amount to anything, and I give them a direction. It's so amazing to me that I can do so much with what really is an ultimately ridiculous job!" Kennedy also reminds herself that she is fortunate enough to have a co-host like Karson. "It's different with us, we are true equals. Most shows have a main host with a side-kick, but Karson and I are a real team."

Although her path to radio was unconventional and almost unplanned, Kennedy believes that if you have a true passion, you should follow it wherever it takes you. "You have to stick to your guns and just be who you are. Soak up everything you can and be the best that you can be, because someone will always be better and more knowledgeable than you, but you can always improve on yourself and create a unique package."

Kennedy has certainly proved that she is a unique package to us. You can listen to her Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:00 am on 104.1, WBMX-FM. To get more information about her or the radio station, go to www.mix1041.radio.com.

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