David "Kidd" Kraddick, a hugely popular radio personality in Dallas who grew up in Dunedin, has died unexpectedly at age 53.

Kraddick hosted the high-octane radio and TV show "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning," which was syndicated and heard on dozens of stations around the country. He died at a charity golf event near New Orleans that raised money for his Kidd's Kids charity.

"He died doing what he loved," publicist Larry Biro told the Associated Press. Biro had no other details about Kraddick's death.

Born David Cradick, Kraddick spent the first five years of his life in Napoleon, Ohio before moving to Dunedin. He held one of his first jobs in Tampa, where a program director gave him the nickname "Kidd."

In a 2007 Toledo Blade story, Kraddick told a wild story about how he wound up in Dunedin.

"My dad hated the cold, so he packed up the family we got in a station wagon with wood paneling on the side and he said, 'We re going to find another place to live,'" Kraddick relaed in the article. 

"We drove across the country to California. I remember us stopping in Tarzana, Anaheim, and then San Francisco. My dad didn t like any of those places, so we got back in the car and drove straight across the country and down to Florida.

"Dad eventually parked the car, got out, and walked into a restaurant. The waitress there was from Toledo, so he came back out and told us, This is it. This is where we re staying. We were in Dunedin, which is about the same size as Napoleon, in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. And dad ended up working for the Pinellas Times. It was a weekly shopper."

In the bio on his show's website, Kraddick said he discovered his passion for radio in the 10th grade while serving as the president of his high school. He said the school didn't have enough money to hire a DJ for a dance, so snuck his dad's stereo out of the house and played music himself.

The "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning" show is heard on more than 75 Top 40 and Hot AC radio stations and is a leader among most-listened-to contemporary morning programs, Biro said. The radio program also is transmitted globally on American Forces Radio Network while the show's cast is also seen weeknights on the nationally syndicated TV show "Dish Nation," he added.

The Dallas Morning News said Kraddick had been a staple in the Dallas market since 1984, starting in a late-night debut. The newspaper said he moved into morning show work by the early 1990s in that market and his show began to gain wider acclaim and entered into syndication by 2001 as he gained a following in cities nationwide.

Kraddick would have turned 54 on Aug. 22.

Many fans, celebrities included, tweeted condolences and talked about the death on social media sites. One Texas radio station where he was a mainstay ran photographs on its website of Kraddick at the microphone.

Word of Kraddick's passing spread quickly via social media.

"RIP Kidd Kraddick. You were an amazing man and a friend. You are already missed," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted.

"Oh Man, I just heard Kidd Kraddick died! He's my childhood dj. What a sad day. His poor family. He was always nice 2 me from the beginning," singer Kelly Clarkson tweeted.

Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, only recently announced as the headline act of a planned first-ever Kidd's Kids charity concert in Dallas next month, wrote: "The sad sad news about Kidd Kraddick is shocking. He will be missed greatly."

Richie Tomblin, described as the head golf professional at the Timberlane Country Club in Gretna on its website, told AP that Kraddick wasn't looking well when he saw him getting ready for Saturday's charity event.

"He came out and he borrowed my golf clubs and went out to the driving range," Tomblin told AP when contacted by phone. "It's kind of a freaky situation. He came out. He practiced a little bit. He hit the ball at the first tee and wasn't feeling good and after that I didn't see him."

Tomblin said the hundreds of amateur golfers taking part went ahead with the event Saturday. He added he only found out afterward that Kraddick had died and he was still shaken about it.

"I'm still trying to figure it out. I really don't know what happened. Everyone keeps texting me asking, 'What's going on?' I really don't know," Tomblin said.