Community Outreach: A Chop Off The Old Block
By Lena D. Moore
 In the slightly darkened radio station, Keith "Chop Chop" Fisher looks very comfortable behind the microphone as he closes out the Sunday Jazz Brunch on Magic 95.9. The Baltimore native and graduate of the Broadcast Institute of Maryland is the youngest child of radio legend Kelson "Chop Chop" Fisher.
"Fortunately, he didn't make any enemies because I would have to face them now," Fisher, 35, says with a giggle. "I haven't met anybody who had anything bad to say about my father. They would go out of their way to say he was great or he was this or that, and I believe that because that's really how he was."
Fisher's father graced the Baltimore airwaves for over 25 years. He was one of the first black disc jockeys to move from the old WSID radio station to WWIN, now Magic 95.9, when it's format changed to urban in the 60's.
He adopted the nickname, Chop Chop, from a tune done in the 50's by The Heartbeats, also Baltimore natives. "I grew up listening to Chops," says Ronnie Baker, host of Magic Memories and a radio legend in his own right. Kelson also promoted the record hops back in the days that were so popular for the young and old of Baltimore.
"He never encouraged me or discouraged me from doing radio," says the younger Fisher. "I never discussed it with him really. As a kid he was just being a father. It was more in my blood than anything."
The legend died in December 1980 when Keith was 16 years' old, the youngest of 11 children, 8 boys and 3 girls. "My brothers were the ones who got all the benefits of being the son of a DJ because they were already in their teens and stuff, and the girls liked them," says Fisher. "They got to go to all the shows and I was at home."
After the death of his father, Fisher went on to serve 10 years in the Air Force where he traveled to Germany, England, Turkey, and Alaska. He returned to Baltimore in 1992, enrolled in the Broadcast Institute of Maryland, and was graduated in 1993.
His radio career began at WYRE in Annapolis. He went to work at the now defunct V103 reporting traffic for the MTA Transit Team, and at WEAA playing jazz in the afternoons. He now works for Magic 95.9, the #1 radio station in Baltimore for adults. He works midnight to 6 a.m., Tuesday through Friday. He does the Sunday Jazz Brunch from noon until 3 every Sunday afternoon. He is now Music Director of Magic 95.9, one of the many radio stations owned by Cathy Hughes, under her Radio One umbrella.
Fisher took on his father's nickname on March 1. It would have been his father's 79th birthday. "Everyone kept asking me if I was related to him. I might as well acknowledge my heritage and pay tribute to him for giving me the genes to do radio."
When asked what the next step for him would be, he expressed an interest in the management side of the radio business. "Anything I do, I want to do it here. I want to be successful in my hometown. I want to be at the top of my game, in town, just like my father was."
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