Brant Hansen
Brant Page Hansen is an American radio personality and author. He has hosted the morning show on the national Christian radio WAY-FM Network and the afternoon show on the national Christian radio network Air1. He has a nationally syndicated radio show carried on over 200 stations in the United States, and is the storyteller for CURE International, a network of charity hospitals and clinics in 30 countries. He is also the midday host for KSGN in Riverside, California.
Career
Radio career
Hansen graduated from the University of Illinois school of journalism in 1991. Hansen began his radio career while at the college rock station WPGU. Hansen moved on to be the morning show host for contemporary Christian WBGL-FM in Champaign, Illinois, then moved to Houston, Texas and worked at 89.3FM KSBJ. He was the news director and also an on-air personality. By 2001, Hansen had moved back to Champaign, and was host of The Brant Hansen Show on WDWS 1400 talk radio.After leaving WDWS, Hansen moved to south Florida in 2003 and joined WAY-FM, where he spent eight years as host of Mornings with Brant. During his time at WAY, he won the Radio and Records Achievement Award for "Personality of the Year" in a Christian format, also winning a Radio Echo Award for "Personality of the Year" from Christian Music Broadcasters in 2008. Hansen also partnered with several international ministries for radio promotions, including Compassion International, World Vision and CURE International. In 2009 and again in 2010, Hansen travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan promoting surgeries performed at the CURE International hospital there. On June 29, 2011, he ended an eight-year run of Mornings With Brant, nationally syndicated by WAY-FM.
Hansen became the afternoon show host for the Air1 radio network on July 19, 2011. Hansen again won the Radio Echo Award for "Personality of the Year" from Christian Music Broadcasters in 2011. During his three years with Air1, he continued his partnership with CURE International, traveling to Afghanistan for a third time in February 2012. In the fall of 2012 and spring of 2013, Air1 partnered with CURE International and BEC Recordings for the "Club Awesome Tour", hosted by Hansen. Each night featured a dance party including Christian artists KJ-52, Manafest and 7eventh Time Down. The audience at each show was asked to help support CURE International, and as a result more than 38 surgeries were funded.
On July 3, 2014, Hansen announced on his Facebook page that he had resigned from Air1, saying that the podcast and blog on branthansen.com would be continually updated. His last show aired on Monday, July 7, 2014. In the first independent podcast, he said that he was "in between jobs." The day after his last broadcast on Air1, Hansen's Air1 podcast landed on the US iTunes top 100 podcasts list for the first time, at #74.
Hansen announced on July 21, 2014 that he was joining the staff of CURE International, as "storyteller". He had worked extensively with the charitable organization in the past, helping raise money to provide surgeries for children with treatable conditions. On August 12, 2014, in his new podcast The Brant & Sherri Podcast, he announced that he would have a new daily radio show starting in the near future.
On October 20, 2014, Hansen launched The Brant Hansen Show, a national radio show sponsored by CURE International, and syndicated by Christian FM. Co-hosted with Sherri Lynn, Hansen describes the show as "one of the top radio shows in the country that team a white Midwestern nerd with a form of autism and a very patient African-American lady from Pittsburgh… we're at least one of the top five in that category." As of November 2015, The Brant Hansen Show is syndicated in 32 states, on over 200 radio stations including WAY-FM, Word FM, Shine FM, Liberty University's The Journey FM, and NGEN Radio.
Author
Hansen has authored a number of blogs, many of which were associated with the radio station he was working at the time. Some of these are Letters From Kamp Krusty, Brant's Blog of Awesomeness and Brant's Air1 Blog.Some popular recurring posts across multiple blogs by Hansen are excerpts from the fictional book The 417 Rules of Awesomely Bold Leadership, a satirical look at leadership. The Krusty Sage is another popular character that Hansen uses to express opinions that can be offensive to some people, but allows Hansen to express them in a tone to which people might be more receptive.
Hansen had an article published on CNN's religion blog, titled "Mr. Spock Goes To Church. How One Christian Copes With Aspergers Syndrome."
In 2014, Hansen wrote a book titled Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better, released in April 2015. The subject of the book is anger, and according to Hansen, "giving up the 'right' to be offended can be one of the most freeing, healthy, simplifying, relaxing, refreshing, stress-relieving, encouraging things we can do."
In 2017, his second book was released titled Blessed Are the Misfits: Great News for Believers who are Introverts, Spiritual Strugglers, or Just Feel Like They're Missing Something.
In 2020, he released his third book titled The Truth about Us: The Very Good News about How Very Bad We Are.
Other jobs
Hansen is best known as a radio personality, but not all of his jobs have been on the radio. He has been a videographer in the Army. He was the lead singer for the 90s Christian indie band Farewell to Juliet, which released albums including Echoes of Laughter in 1993 and Grace and Dire Circumstances in 1998. His love for baseball led him to be a play-by-play announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals at some of their spring training games, along with the Florida Marlins, and the New York Mets, in Port St. Lucie, Florida. However, Hansen's eye condition, nystagmus, made it difficult for him to observe the game and narrate what was happening. He was also a youth pastor for four years.Personal life
Hansen has Asperger syndrome and nystagmus, conditions that have presented him with challenges in social situations. He has stated that he finds these conditions exhausting, but also finds positive aspects to his circumstances. In an interview, he stated, "Let's face it: I'm in radio because I can't be seen. Asperger's makes for real honesty – and that can make arresting radio."Hansen is an outspoken Christian, and has been featured on the I Am Second website. He has blogged on multiple sites, and presently maintains a faith-related blog.
Hansen and his wife traveled to Kenya with Compassion International to meet the child they had been sponsoring. He challenged 200 listeners to also become sponsors; over 300 did. Hansen also traveled to Indonesia to assist with tsunami relief efforts.