I haven’t talked about it much in public, and in private only to a select few who asked or had a vested interest in knowing, but it’s the one-year anniversary of the day that Fairfield lost its local radio content, as a part of a “hack and slash” campaign by a corporate radio conglomerate that decimated local stations in small markets across the Midwest. There was a cost to this decision. It cost listeners, it cost local advertisers and small businesses, and it cost employees. For about a minute, it cost me.
On May 20, 2024, faced with an untenable ask by the vice president of this corporate media conglomerate, I resigned from my position as market manager at KMCD/KKFD. The details are not necessary to rehash, but suffice it to say, on a beautiful May Monday morning, I reported to the station with a job that fulfilled the creative and community-minded parts of myself, and by mid-afternoon, I descended the staircase one final time, with a box of my belongings and my integrity intact. The belongings were trinkets; I don’t even remember what was in that box. What I do remember, before reaching the bottom of that deadly flight of steps, was knowing so deeply and truly that everything was going to be okay for Tommy Brower and family. And it is.
For what might have been the first time in my life, I made a calm and rational decision. I decided to take three months off work, enjoy the summer, connect with my wife, do some projects around the house, spend quality time with my girls, and let the future come to me.
Boy, did it ever. During my “summer vacation,” I did all those things I had planned, and then some. I got to watch my two youngest daughters blossom as performers and, inspired by them, founded a nonprofit children’s theater organization for the benefit of my beloved community and its kids, a project I had been turning over in my head for half a dozen years or so.
This project has been such a joy. In the past year, it was conceived and launched, then it convened an amazing Board of Directors, promoted, ran a successful sponsorship campaign, promoted some more, and initiated an individual donor drive. It chose a musical and a play for the inaugural season, assembled a production team for the musical, held auditions, created a fantastically talented cast of area youth, and on the 365th day after “Demise of Local Radio Day,” held its first rehearsal for Mary Poppins Jr. This is a journey of love, and it has only just begun.
Speaking of journeys of love, after the three-month self-imposed vacation, literally to the day, I began a new journey by joining the staff of the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center as Operations Manager, keeping myself totally immersed in the creative and community culture of Fairfield and surrounding myself with all the best people imaginable. I consider myself so blessed to have had this be the payoff of “letting the future come to me.” I am truly home.
On the other side of the coin, I still hear at least half a dozen times a week from folks who enjoyed listening on the radio. Many still vocally lament the loss of our local content and, I assume, share the same cringe at the sound of the new tagline, “We live here too.” Well, friends, I am here to tell you that hope remains alive. While I do not know with any degree of certainty what the future holds for 1570 KMCD/Classic 96, I can report that the corporate radio conglomerate, as of May 5, was acquired by Connoisseur Media out of Milford, Connecticut. I do not know if this moves the needle on the return of local content to our market, but there is at least reason to hope.
Morals of the story: Life is good. Sometimes, it is more important to do right things than to do things right. Bet on yourself.
I can’t wait to see what the next 365 days bring.