Since my earliest memories I wanted to be a musician. Closely related to that was a desire to be in radio broadcasting. I’ve been blessed to do both in my life, and I’m still having those opportunities.

Along the way I’ve worked in foundries, hardware stores, delivered pop and sandwiches to factory lunchrooms, managed a bar, worked the counter in an electrical supply store, worked as a groundskeeper, small engine mechanic, life insurance and financial planning representative, and much more, while being married to the same woman since 1979 and raising four children, and a papa to two grandsons.

My first paying gig, as a musician, was when I was 15 years old, in 1970, at a church dance with my first band, called “Western Union.” After that I spent a lot of my high school years playing private clubs with older musicians, playing country music before getting serious with my first real band.

In my senior year in high school I began to play in a band, we called Flint, with my best friend, Mike “Mickey Jo” Slone. We played together beginning in 1974, with Arvil Bird (who went on to play fiddle for Glen Campbell), and then as the D.J. Band, opening shows at D.J. Country – Buck Lake Ranch, in Angola, IN, for some of the biggest names in country music, including Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, The Wilburn Brothers, John Conlee, The Bellamy Brothers, Buck Owens, and many more. Mickey and I went on to form The Stone County Band, from 1981 until 1987. SCB was a very successful regional country-rock group, playing in the Tri-State Area of Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

During the SCB years Mickey and I co-hosted the WBNO Country Showcase, a weekly show featuring interviews with, and the music of some of country music’s greatest artists, including Alabama, Charlie Daniels, Janie Fricke, and others. Mickey and I interviewed the artists at the concert venues, and produced the show on a weekly basis from 1981 until 1983. My lifelong desire to be an on the air radio announcer began to become a reality, along with playing music for a living.

In 1990 I worked for WAWK, AM 1140, in Kendallville, IN, as host of the morning show, “The Heartbeat of Noble County,” where I wrote my first jingle and produced it on radio station equipment for a local car dealership. I had no idea at the time just how much that would mean to my music career for many years.

In 1993 I went to work for Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, IN, part of Sweetwater Sound, one of the largest music retailers in the world. I was a project manager, account executive, where I produced jingles and album projects. Learning the craft of musical branding during those years, as well as working with top notch studio musicians, I was allowed to work as a producer with many Christian artists and songwriters.

I left Sweetwater in 1997 and  began BPG-1000 Hills Productions, writing and producing jingles, corporate video and virtual reality production, as well as some singer songwriter production. As co-owner of BPG 1000 Hills, I wrote scripts and directed videos and cutting edge virtual reality projects with Fleetwood Motor Home, LA West Van Conversions, and Rinker Boat Company, while the company produced and place over thirty new jingles on the air in the Northeast Indiana area within just six months.

After BPG 1000 Hills, I became involved in Christian Radio managing a trio of local stations, including WQKO, and working directly with Jeff Smith, who was vice president of CSN, in helping to manage and build stations around the country. Jeff was the son of the late Pastor Chuck Smith, who was played by Kelsey Grammer in The Jesus Revolution movie released in 2023. was involved with Pastor Chuck and Calvary Chapel many years through CSN and through the church I served in.

In 2007, as the radio gig was winding down, I was asked to return to Sweetwater Studios, where I stayed until 2015, writing and producing jingles and songs for audio book scores. I was heavily involved in producing singer-songwriter projects, providing project management, and acting as account executive in every endeavor of Sweetwater Studios. During this last stint at Sweetwater I was blessed to work with some of the greatest recording session talent in the nation, including Brent Mason, Phil Naish, Johnny Hiland, and many more. I wrote fifteen songs that were included on a CD set for Our Sunday Visitor and released internationally. I helped produce an audiobook project by J. Davis Illiingworth, former president of Toyota USA, and the head of Toyota Motorsports, and was blessed to write the majority of the songs included in the God of Hope soundtrack.

In January 2015 I left Sweetwater and began free lancing as Broadcast My Brand, producing jingles for radio and TV stations, and doing songwriter consultation. With my partner, Chris Liepe, of Greeley, Colorado, we were blessed to have jingles that we wrote and produced on the air all over the United States, including full length songs that were aired in music video format on network TV (ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, etc.) through the Sinclair Broadcasting.

I’ve since retired and put BMB on the shelf to focus on ministry. I’m now available to play in small venues, coffee shops, churches, small groups, backyard bar-b-cues, and more as a solo singer/songwriter. I bring songs I’ve written about life, family and faith, and, hopefully a word of encouragement for folks, while hopefully receiving the same in return. .

Currently I am preaching, leading worship, bringing my personal songs, and testimony to churches and other events and producing a podcast while I’m looking for where God will have me to pastor. I recently completed seminary with Christian Leaders Institute and I’m ordained by CLA and the leadership at Harvest Fellowship of Fort Wayne, Indiana, while being endorsed by several pastors in the Noble and Lagrange County areas.

While leading a Bible Study each Monday evening at The Kendallville, Indiana Public Library, I will be preaching at the new First Love Outreach Fellowship that will begin meeting on Saturday, January 11th, at 800 E. Main St. in Albion, Indiana, in the Albion Wesleyan fellowship dining area. Each week will remain simple with live worship, Book by Book, Verse by Verse teaching through the Bible, and fellowship. It’s about doing family life in Christ, together. First Love Outreach Fellowship is a registered Soul Center with Christian Leaders Institute and Alliance in Spring Lake, Michigan.

Here’s to looking for what the next page in the story might be… You may contact me at 26-336-4106 or send me an email at bannerkidd55@gmail.com

Peace,

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