In 1963, Kenney began his radio career at the age of 15 as a disc jockey at
WIRL in Peoria. After WIRL, he worked at
WOWO in
Fort Wayne, Indiana;
Andy Rooney, and
Ross Perot. He originally announced for the afternoon drive-time show, before taking over the prestigious morning drive-time in 1974. His program was a hit, not only for the music, but also for his comical characters who "joined" him while he performed as a dj.
Billboard named him Best Country Disc Jockey "at a station in a metropolitan area of one million or more" in 1976 and Best Country Music Personality in 1978. He stayed at WHN until the fall of 1979, when he moved to
WYNY to host the morning slot for a year before moving to WKHK's (now WLTW) morning show. He was the host of the New York edition of the television show
Bowling for Dollars on WOR-TV (now
WWOR-TV) from 1976 to 1979. Kenney is also known for his voice work as
Lion-O on the 1980s
Rankin/Bass cartoon
ThunderCats, and Karate Kat, a martial arts blackbelt cat featured as part of
The Comic Strip. He was the voice of Bluegrass in
SilverHawks and Dolph in
TigerSharks. He did voice work for several breakfast cereal characters such as
Count Chocula and
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. Kenney provided voice-overs for
The State, the 1990s sketch comedy cult classic which featured his daughter,
Kerri Kenney. He was also the announcer for
VH1's
Best Week Ever during its run from 2004 to 2009; he provides introductions for
Westwood One's radio coverage of
Monday Night Football and various other commercial work including for
Skittles and
Campbell's soup. He was the announcer for The Beat 102.7 in the video game
Grand Theft Auto IV and K.T.I. Radio in the
L.A. Noire. He did the voice for JB Cripps in
Red Dead Online, the online component of
Red Dead Redemption 2. In 2008, he was hired to do an impersonation of
Mark Twain for a gala held by the
Mark Twain House and Museum in
Hartford, Connecticut. ==Personal life==