Schnitt was born in
Manhattan and grew up in
Nanuet, New York.{{cite tweet|user=toddschnitt|number=210589068814327808 In 1982, at the age of 16, Schnitt landed his first part-time job at
WCPK in
Chesapeake, Virginia. During his high school years he worked at numerous
Hampton Roads, Virginia, area stations including
WVAB,
WNIS and
WNVZ (Z-104). Schnitt attended
Ithaca College in New York and worked at the Cornell student-run station,
WVBR. In 1986, he returned to the Hampton Roads area and scored his first full-time radio job at WRSR-FM (97Star), which soon reverted to the callsign
WGH-FM. The name
MJ Kelli was first used at WGH-FM. The name MJ was created because the 97Star program director was adamant that Todd Schnitt was not a good radio name. In 1988, Schnitt was recruited to leave WGH-FM (97 Star) and cross the street to Top 40 rival radio station WNVZ-FM (Z104) because Schnit's 6-10 p.m. Eastern nighttime show on WGH was the only show beating WNVZ in the nighttime ratings In 1989, after just a little over a year at WNVZ, Schnitt was hired by
Scott Shannon at
Pirate Radio, KQLZ in Los Angeles as creative director, assistant program director and morning show cast member. Schnitt later rejoined Shannon at the revamping of
WPLJ, New York which had originally signed on as Mojo Radio in April, 1991. Schnitt left New York City in October 1992 to start The
MJ Kelli Morning Show, his first morning-drive program (6-10 a.m.) on
WOVV (Star 95.5), West Palm Beach, Florida. In February 1994, he was brought to Tampa, Florida to anchor the new morning show on WFLZ-FM (The Power Pig). Schnitt was teamed up with BJ Harris, the Power Pig's program director, to form the
MJ and BJ Morning Show. Harris left the show on February 7, 2001. The show was renamed
The MJ Morning Show. ==
The MJ Morning Show==