For those of you who do not know the name Chuck Kieffer, you are sorely missing out. Kieffer is not only a radio DJ for Cabrini’s radio station, 89.1 WYBF, but he is a devote Christian and pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Swarthmore, a suburb of Philadelphia. You can hear him on air every Wednesday night from 10 p.m to midnight.
“I’m a pastor, a radio head—DJ—I lead a nonprofit that feeds hungry people and I’ve been the dad to eight foster kids,” Kieffer said.
Kieffer discovered his passion for radio at a young age.
“I’d always been a radio freak,” he said. “I’d stay up at night under the covers listening to AM stations out of Canada on my little radio as a little kid. When I got to college, I made a bee line to the station and I’ve always had work in radio most of my career, either part time or full time.”
Before joining the Cabrini team, Kieffer worked for a gospel station and two different ministries producing radio and video.
However, his show at Cabrini is very different.
“It was a loud rock station and they were looking to add someone to add a faith element. We started out doing an indie radio program,” Kieffer said. His show, Up at Night, was a blend of secular and faith loud rock, and it lasted about seven or eight years. It was not until this past year that he switched over to much more inspirational music.
“It’s an interesting convergence because I pastor a very artsy church, and also a church that is heavily involved in collegiate work where we have students from about 11 universities that come to our various services,” Kieffer said. “Radio is an opportunity to give young people a voice because I do interviews and I play a lot of independent music. At the same time it helps me to have a real pulse in culture and understanding millennials and what they believe and what their needs are.”
Kieffer works with a panel of students—both high school and college—who help him by feeding him new artists. He and his team do a lot of research.
“With Up at Night, it’s a positive hits format where we’re not just looking at being a faith-based program, but an inspirational program, so we look at secular artists as well with a positive message to encourage people at night,” he said.
Kieffer incorporates other dimensions to his show by reading quotes and poetry and talking about issues young people face, such as cutting or depression.
Of course—especially as a pastor—Kieffer’s faith is a very important part of his life.
“I try very, very hard to look for ways to interject faith into a conversation,” he said. “I believe that everything that you do flows out of a relationship with the word of God. It’s the anchor of my life. When I was in college, I went through the whole drug scene and alcohol scene, and through Campus Crusade I met my savior and it’s radically changed my life. I look for opportunities to share that in a positive way. It’s about a relationship with the person of Christ, not an object. It’s important to talk about your own life. If people don’t see my brokenness and the things that I wrestle with, how can they believe that there’s a god that can fix their life?”
Kieffer’s road to this station was a very personal one. His youngest daughter went through severe health issues that led to terrible bouts of depression. Through a series of events in her life, she ended up attempting suicide.
“It just broke my heart because as we were unpacking in counseling, getting her healed and helping her, we discovered bullying was a huge problem,” Kieffer said. “They would tell my little girl, ‘Take your life, you’re not worth living.’ She said to me one night, ‘You know, dad, I listen to music at night and I look for positive messages to really encourage me because at night sometimes I get down on myself.’ I started talking with a group of her friends and I realized college is the same way in the dorms where you’re stressed out. My daughter really encouraged me.”
Kieffer is in the process of figuring out a way to make it possible to run his show every night of the week in order to be a voice for young people.
“I found something that meets a need,” he said. “Between Facebook and Twitter, I get responses. People listen to this station, and it’s not just students.”
Along with the encouraging music and messages, Up at Night gives out the National Suicide Hotline number twice a night. You can follow the station on Twitter @upatnightradio, as well as Kieffer’s personal Twitter @mybighouseradio.
