Conversations with Chad Brothers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad Brothers.

Hi Chad, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Farmboy, Musician & Radio Engineer

I’m a 42-year-old living in Midtown Kansas City. Music has always been a central part of my journey. It’s how I’ve made friends and forged relationships, and it’s led me to my current position helping to lead Kansas City’s Community Radio Station KKFI 90.1 FM.

I grew up on a small family dairy farm outside of Winfield, KS. Our house was the only one on a long dirt road in the middle of the Kansas prairie. I spent much of my childhood outdoors with Mother Nature, riding my bike, climbing haystacks, playing baseball with myself, and messing around on the farm. When I was old enough to carry a bucket, I became a farmhand. I fed baby calves and helped dad where I could in the milk barn. It was a family affair with my grandmother, father, uncle, and cousin all help. Every day on the farm presented a different set of challenges, so from an early age, I was learning lessons about problem-solving.

My parents cultivated an environment of support and learning around me, however modest it was at the time. My father always had worked for me on the farm. I was driving a tractor when I was 13, as soon as my feet could reach the pedals! I’ll never forget the first day he taught me how to disc a field. To this day, he lets me come back and help around the farm. He’s put in more work than anybody I know. He taught me how to have patience through adversity, and also how to be a healthy skeptic of bullshit. He also taught me the value of a good nap. The farm challenged me every day, and I’m grateful to have grown up there. The lessons learned there still serve me every day.

My mother is my rock. I grew up under her wing, and she’s always been, my big supporter. Much like my father, she’s also a hard worker. She was a school teacher in the smallest school district in Kansas for over 37 years, and sometimes taught multiple generations of the same family! She taught me how to be an optimist. Whenever I call her with my troubles, she lovingly reminds me that “things could always be worse”.

Our family wasn’t particularly musical. We didn’t sit around and sing songs together. Mom played some accordion, and we always had a stereo playing in the corner of the living room. I remember listening to 8-track tapes as a child. Dad would sing to be silly sometimes. I think Mom could tell that I had an ear for music, and she always encouraged me to pursue it. We’ve always had this huge upright piano in the house, and even to this day it still sits at mom’s just asking to be played. When I was 5 or 6 years old, mom signed me up for piano lessons. That’s where it all began… my life of music. I took lessons for 3 or 4 years before getting tired of the routine. But I learned some basic understanding of music theory, and without knowing it at the time, a seed had been planted.

When I was 12 years old, my parents divorced and I moved into Winfield with my mother. Shortly after the move, my childhood home on the prairie was wiped out by a tornado. It was a pivotal time in my young life, and my world and emotions were changing rapidly. It was around that time that I took a deep interest in playing guitar. My mother knew this, so she took me down to the local music store and bought my first guitar. A Yamaha FG400A. I’ll never forget it. I started taking lessons, and I took to it quickly. The guitar helped me cope and address all the feelings that were coming my way. It gave me something to pour myself into. I spent hours each day strumming and picking. It became a major outlet for me. It was therapy then, and still is to this day.

My cousin and I started up a band in high school, and I learned a lot about performing during that time. We would play country music at the county fairs, school functions, and other local events. Later on, in 1998, my best friend and I went off to college at Kansas State. We made quick friends with several of the guys who lived on our dorm floor. Many of us still keep in close contact. We’d do these late-night picking circles with all of us learning the songs and instruments together, and we’d play and sing for our friends until the wee hours of the morning. Those jam circles eventually evolved into a band called Grazgrove. And as we started wrapping up our college experiences, several of us bandmates moved over to Kansas City to begin our post-college lives. We had day jobs, but we started playing out in clubs and venues around KC on the weekends, making a small name for ourselves locally.

My journey continued over the years with several different projects. I would find myself working corporate jobs but booking my schedule full with music gigs on the evenings and weekends. I still play with two of those college friends in an acoustic roots trio called Old Sound. We’ve been playing music together in one band or another for the last 23 years. We just released our 3rd studio album and we’ve played some very meaningful gigs recently, one of which was getting booked this past fall on main stages at the 2021 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield where myself and bandmate Greg Herrenbruck both grew up. That was a monumental opportunity for us.

Music has always been a way to forge friendships. I’ve met almost all of my closest friends through music. This leads me to another one of my projects called Supermassive Black Holes. A group of four very close friends, we are a jam rock band that originally formed out of a weekly open mic night at an old venue called Crosstown Station. I also met my wife Mikal Shapiro through music. She’s the best songwriter I’ve ever met. She and I play in a duo called Shapiro Brothers. As I said, I owe so many of my dearest friendships to music.

These days, my full-time gig is as the Chief Operator at KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio. It’s been quite a ride, and I feel lucky to be a part of the KKFI family. Over the years, my bands would find their way onto the band auctions and various music programs on KKFI, which has always been such a great supporter of local music and arts. I was in the station for a live on-air performance a couple of years ago, and one of the staff members told me they were hiring. I was actually looking for a job at the time, as my music was not bringing in enough money and I was needing a more regular income.

I had some experience running sound and doing some audio recording and engineering at home, and some of that experience lent itself well to the tasks of a radio station engineer. There’s a good bit of crossover between studio engineer and radio engineer. Also, I really love the station for its format and its mission, which is dedicated to diverse programming and providing a platform for the underrepresented. In many ways, I guess I also owe my “professional day job” to music as well for the connection it gave me to this wonderful station and community.

I’ve now been with KKFI for a little over two years. It’s a wonderful place to work, with some absolutely amazing volunteers dedicating themselves to this place on a weekly basis. The last time I counted, we have around 79 locally-produced weekly shows. There are somewhere around 140 volunteers that help produce those shows each week, in addition to many other volunteers who assist behind the scenes. We are a committee-based organization, so we have a board of directors and various committees who are in charge of most of the major decision-making. That’s a huge collective effort that requires serious dedication.

My job at KKFI is multi-faceted. First, it’s my responsibility to make sure our audio gear and systems are working properly at all times. As you might imagine, there are a lot of technical issues that can arise at a radio station. Problems can happen out of the blue. Sometimes it’s as easy as rebooting a machine or replacing a cable, but it can also get very complex at times. Quick trouble-shooting is a skill that I have to access often at KKFI.

I also work quite as a support contact to our many programmers and volunteers. You won’t find me live on the microphone too much, but I try to make sure that our on-air talent has everything they need to have a successful and comfortable experience. I like to think that much of my job is to make sure everything works properly, and then I get out of the way for the folks who have shows to run. It’s a fun job for a guy like myself who loves working in an audio environment but isn’t looking for a lot of limelight.

We have several exciting new projects rolling out at KKFI which I am a part of. We built a new recording studio recently. We’re installing a backup transmitter system out at our tower which will be crucial to keep us on the air whenever we have power outages or an issue with our primary transmitter. We also have plans to renovate our on-air studio and improve our space in ways that will be more welcoming and functional to our needs.

Additionally, KKFI wants to focus on outreach and continuing to bring diverse volunteers. We’re looking at developing a better and more transparent training curriculum that will hopefully welcome and support new volunteers who are interested in being involved at the station.

There’s a lot to be excited about at KKFI! I’m lucky. I can work an exciting day job on the radio and play music in the evenings and on the weekends. I feel like I have the best of both worlds.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My life has not been the smoothest of roads. I came from a modest farm background and now help run a radio station in the city. It’s taken me quite a while to get to where I am. One of my biggest challenges is being disciplined enough to reach my fullest potential. But I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the significant privilege I have as a white hetero male in our society. I’ve been conditioned to have few hurdles but many blind spots. It’s something that I need to continue to examine and unpack.

I believe a lot of struggles nowadays come from simple breakdowns in communication. It sounds so cliche, but it’s true. Especially in this “text world” we live in today. Some people just don’t want to listen, yet everyone needs to be heard. How does that work?

Also, simply being able to work with people different than you is a huge asset. The world is getting smaller, or at least it should be. Folks have different backgrounds, learning styles, and communication styles. It’s important to try to meet people where they’re at, or at least somewhere in the middle.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am Chief Operator at KKFI 90.1 FM. I protect and manage all the station assets, and am responsible for maintaining the station broadcast signal. In a nutshell, I try to keep us on the air! I monitor our compliance with the FCC and handle critical emergencies as they arise. I also perform routine maintenance on our equipment. In addition to all of that, I work closely with KKFI volunteers and committees as needed. In a nutshell, I help run the day-to-day operations while also assisting in planning for the future of the station.

I’m also a musician and songwriter. My passion is music. I sing and play guitar and mandolin, performing in several projects: Old Sound, Shapiro Brothers, Supermassive Black Holes, and Hermanos Brothers with local songwriting legend Howard Iceberg. You’ll also see me sitting in occasionally with guys like Chris Hudson and Scott Stanton, or the infamous Danny McGaw whenever he’s in town. I also have a regular monthly gig on Thursdays at Mike Kelly’s Westsider with my close friend Alexis Barclay (of Supermassive Black Holes) in our duo Brothers Barclay.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
One thing I’m learning at KKFI is that I need to listen and learn before I insert myself into a situation. In our space, everyone needs to be heard and know that they have a voice. As a leader, one thing I can do to set an example is to listen first and talk later. I try to be sensitive about not taking up too much space, and leaving space for others to be heard. I’m also fairly shy in large groups, so that works out well.

The same goes for being in a band. It’s been harder for me in that department because I sometimes get very excited and will just blurt out thoughts or ideas in the middle of someone else’s sentence. It’s important to understand that a healthy group dynamic comes from everyone in the group feeling heard and respected.

Contact Info:

• Email: chiefoperator@kkfi.org
• Website: professional: www.kkfi.org music sites: www.oldsoundmusic.com and www.shapirobrothersmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadleets
• Facebook: professional: www.facebook.com/KKFI901FM music sites: www.facebook.com/oldsound and www.facebook.com/shapirobrothers and www.facebook.com/thesupermassiveblackholes