{image1} Four years in the life of WKLH's Kevin Brandt is enough to slow anybody down, and KB will be the first to admit that he's mellowed out a bit since we first talked to him in 2000.
He's been fired and rehired from his morning show, and his 9-5 ad agency job has taken a few turns, too. He's quit his band and started anew with a more quiet, acoustic solo gig. And at 40, he's a bit more serious, too -- not necessarily the KB you hear each morning on Dave and Carole.
We caught up with Brandt recently to see where he's been and where he's going, in this latest edition of Milwaukee Talks.
OMC: What's happened in the three and a half years since the last interview?
KB: I was fired. We did the interview, and a week later, I was fired.
OMC: I hope we didn't have anything to do with that.
KB: Well, the interview didn't run until after I was fired.
OMC: So quite a bit has changed. Bring us up to speed.
KB: I'm transitional now. I'm gonna become a woman. No, I guess the morning show has been going great. In the last book, we were number one.
OMC: Can you recap why you got fired from WLKH, and why they brought you back?
KB: I wish I could tell you, because I don't know. No one's really talking about it. They did some research and I did not research well, especially with women. A lot of women came to my defense, though, and wanted me back on the air. I say a lot of things and act like their husbands do, and they can't really hate their husbands.
OMC: You weren't gone very long, were you?
KB: Two weeks. (The station's) e-mail was just inundated. You don't know, when you're sitting in the studio, if you're doing something positive or negative, and if people like you or don't like you. But it's nice to know, for whatever reason, people listen.
OMC: Did you expect that outpouring of support?
KB: No, not at all. It makes you feel good.
OMC: They retooled the morning show a bit when you returned, right?
{image2}KB: They wanted me to go back and do sports, but I told them they fired me partially because my sports reports were inaccurate -- on purpose. I fit more comfortably in this seat, anyway, just commenting. So here we are. You know, it's hard to believe it's been 10 years now. I've had a longer career in radio than I've had in any other job.
OMC: Speaking of jobs, you've switched ad agencies in your 9-5 job, too. You've been pretty nomadic lately.
KB: Yes, I was at Hoffman-York, then Kohnke Hanneken, then I went to BVK, then I went back to Hoffman-York. I had been working on the account side, and I was given the opportunity to go to Hoffman-York on the creative side and to be a writer. It fits my wardrobe a little better.
OMC: So here's the tough question: You worked on the Brewers' account, and after the Ulice Payne situation this winter, you went on the air and delivered a scathing but eloquent monologue. Then your agency lost the account. Was there fall-out from this?
KB: At WKLH, we're playing music that's older than our audience. But classic rock is no different than baseball. Baseball is a game that hasn't changed. It's slow, and it's not exciting. It's dying out, and the young people don't understand it. At the morning show, we realized that we have to bring everything around the music and make it contemporary. The Brewers haven't done that.
{image3} OMC: So when you said this stuff that they didn't want to hear, what happened?
KB: You know, 80 percent of things I said I had (already said in) discussions with the Brewers. They knew these things, but they were in written form. The management thinks that if we don't say anything bad, no one will figure it out. The bottom line is that I felt personally hurt and betrayed, because I had stood behind that organization to get the stadium built. I gave them a plan that was working, then all of a sudden, the rug was pulled out from under our feet.
OMC: Since we talked last, you left your band, kb's midlifecrisis. Are they continuing without you?
KB: They are doing very well. I had done it for seven years, but when I started playing with Mary Karltzen and playing in Nashville, I realized to keep going out do what I was doing -- which was fun -- I lost the passion for playing cover songs. I just went in a different direction.
OMC: Where is your music career now?
KB: I've been writing an awful lot of music for my clients. I'm working on two projects right now. One is my own EP with my original songs. I've been doing that in between here and Nashville.
OMC: Is it safe to say that your music has become a more serious endeavor for you?
KB: I'm 40 years old. I'm not gonna have a recording career. What I've learned is how to express myself with music, which is pretty exciting. Will I be the next Willy Porter of Milwaukee? Absolutely not. That's not even on my radar screen. If I'm given the opportunity to take whatever emotional baggage I'm carrying and to be able to unload it into a song, I find it very cathartic. I can expose a little bit of myself personally, and people can understand a little bit about me without having a one-on-one conversation.
I'm also working on a cover album of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, where I just play everything -- acoustic guitar, harmonica ... real stripped down.
OMC: So you're just as busy as you were last time we talked? Still announcing for the Admirals, is it?
KB: I announce for the Wave. But I'm not nearly as busy as I used to be.
{image4}OMC: Are you running out of steam?
KB: I'm running out of energy. My son is getting older, and it's very difficult for a guy to be a good father. When kids are real young, they can't do anything. Now my son is more self-sufficient. Now he's a buddy of mine. So I don't want to do some of the other things I used to do to earn money. I'd rather go home and hang out with him. I've also discovered the therapeutic value of a good red wine.
OMC: I asked you in 2000 if you had a five-year plan?
KB: What was it?
OMC: You said you have not set any goals, and you're playing it by ear. Can we have a progress report?
KB: You look at goals a little differently as you get older. I'm just looking for peace. There's so much commotion, I just want my wife to be happy. I want my son to be happy. I want him to be able to go out and have the opportunity to do things I haven't done. I've done a lot of mentoring. My chance for greatness is gone, and I don't feel like I have to achieve this or that. I just want it to be quiet.
OMC: That's pretty deep for a guy who plays rock music, Kevin.
KB: Well, I went from rock 'n roll to acoustic guitar.
OMC: Sounds like your music may be a metaphor for your life.
KB: Yeah, it's my 150 milligrams of Zoloft.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
