By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
He has been on the air in St. Joseph for the past 44-and-a-half years.
Today, Brent Harmon, better known as Brother B or Brother Brent, retires, ending a career that began on KFEQ and ends on Q-Country.
And, yes, he does remember that first day on the air on KFEQ: July 6th of 1977.
“I do only because I was taking over for Bill Price, the Roadmaster, the all-night truckers show – he used to talk to truck drivers on CB back in the late 70s – and I remember being overwhelmed with people saying, ‘Where’s Bill, where’s Bill, where’s Bill?” Harmon says with a laugh.
Harmon, a native of Independence, began his broadcasting career in Falls City, Nebraska at KTNC after graduating with a broadcast degree from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.
He says the call by KFEQ was a good break for him.
“Oh, I thought, big time radio,” Harmon says, “From Falls City to St. Joe, I was thrilled to death.”
Those first days working the overnight shift on KFEQ gave Harmon invaluable experience.
“I got a real feel for what I had to do, how I had to communicate with people,” Harmon says. “Back then, we were cueing up black vinyl 45 (rpm) records. So, I got a real feel for how to be a disc jockey.”
Harmon came to KFEQ when it was a stand-alone AM. Q-Country 92.7 FM would come later and, at first, would be programmed by satellite.
Harmon counts as mentors former KFEQ Program Director Bob Orf who first hired him at KFEQ, Kevin Wagner with Eagle Communications who welcomed him to Q-Country, and current Eagle Communications Program Director Travis Dodge.
He says much has changed over the years, including where people can find entertainment, now expanding technologically to the Internet, podcasts, and the like. Harmon says radio has changed drastically as well due to technology, from vinyl records to tapes to cart machines to discs to digital.
“All of that has changed and it’s been great, but the basic mission has not,” Harmon says. “We’re still here to help people if we need to or converse with people or entertain them or play new music for them or whatever. So, it’s been very strange to see all the technology advance, but the basic mission is always the same.”
The biggest change is ahead: retirement.
Harmon admits the last couple of months have proven difficult.
“Well, I go back and forth, because this is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and, I’m not getting any younger, so I go back and forth between being really excited (about retirement) and then thinking, wow, something is coming to an end.”
As for his legacy.
“Well, I just hope somebody that you could count on, somebody that was fairly consistent in their presentation or just the overall feeling of relating to people,” Harmon says, adding he hopes he comes across as someone you would want to have a beer with.
And, Brother B leaves with a message for his listeners.
“It’s been a tremendous honor to be here, to be on the radio for so long in St. Joe and I will miss you, but I think we’ve had something pretty good.”
