In his early life Cradick Kraddick was born in Napoleon, Ohio and grew up in Dunedin, Florida. His first radio position was in Tampa. He later worked in Fresno, California (KYNO-FM), Miami, Florida, Salt Lake City (KAYK & KLRZ), and Los Angeles (KHTZ), where he also worked comedy clubs as an MC.

He moved to Dallas in 1984 and took over the night shift on the newly formatted top-40 station KEGL (The Eagle) and established a following. In 1990, Kraddick was named to the Ten Outstanding Young Americans list by the United States Junior Chamber. KEGL changed formats from Top 40 pop/rock to Modern Rock in 1992 and Kraddick was released from his contract. After eight months off the air, he was hired to a morning position at Top 40 KHKS-106.1 "Kiss-FM" in Dallas-Fort Worth. He won a 1998 Marconi Award for Major Market Radio Personality of the Year while he was with KHKS and the next year he won Air Personality of the Year at the Radio Music Awards. He began to syndicate the show in 2001 and moved the production to an independent studio in Las Colinas. He became a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. In 2016, Kraddick was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Kidd Kraddick in the Morning was born as a local radio program in Dallas, Texas, and survived through numerous cast changes. The show is broadcast from 5-10 a.m. Central on weekday mornings and is nationally syndicated in more than 75 markets and the American Forces Radio Network. Kraddick voiced a number of characters, making extensive use of voice altering technology in improvising characters as they came up during show discussions. One of the most popular was him improvising the voice of J-Si Chavez's wife/high school sweetheart Kinsey. He has voiced other characters such as "Must Be Nice Guy", Rhonda from Potluck Texas, and other characters that added flair to the show. Since his passing in 2013, the show airs as an ensemble program under the name The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show featuring the remaining cast members, Kellie Rasberry, Alaric "Big Al" Mack, Jose "J-Si" Chavez and Jenna Owens

He got married to his first wife Carol in 1986 when she was 22 and he was 27. They got separated in 2007. They got their divorce finalized in 2008. They have one daughter out of this relationship. He got engaged to Lissi, a week before his death. Lissi Mullen was his girlfriend for two years. In 2009, he was diagnosed with lymphoma and has kept it as a secret from his family.

The reason for the separation was said to be infidelity. It was said that Kidd had an affair with Taylor. However, Kidd commented that if he actually had an extramarital relationship, the other DJs would have created a big scene out of it and the news would have spread all over town in no time.