listener profile By Alex Dowd
Plumbing the Music KBAQ earns an unlikely fan.
Robert Brandow Though he hasn’t traded Carlos Santana for Bedr˘ich Smetana, Robert Brandow has discovered an appreciation of classical music.
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Wavelength
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ROBERT WESTERMAN
“I thought it was only for the elite people, not a blue-collar guy like me.”
Robert Brandow’s love of classical music comes from an improbable source—Richard, his 18-year-old son. Richard started playing viola in elementary school when he was about 12. And Robert says the “soothing” music his son played spawned his own appreciation for classical music. A Valley plumber for 20 years, Robert says, “I’m not someone that’s musically inclined, but the way Richard puts his heart into it really makes me enjoy it.” As Richard’s skill mounted over the years, so did his father’s appreciation of the music he plays. “In high school, once he got better,” Robert says with a chuckle, “I started to listen to it more.”
In fact, one day when Robert was taking his son to school, Richard turned the radio to KBAQ. “I thought, ‘Maybe I should listen to that in my truck,’ and boy, did it do the trick,” Robert says. “It made it a whole lot better when I’d be stuck in the tunnel on the I-10, trying to get to a job.” Now, he even enjoys his son’s long practice sessions in the house. “It’s very calming. I never tell him to stop,” he says. Robert once felt that classical music was reserved for upper-class folks and never paid it much mind. “I thought it was only for the elite people, not a blue-collar guy like me,” he says. And while Robert has discovered a taste for classical music, he still loves listening to his own favorite classics, bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the Eagles. Robert’s erratic work schedule allows him to tune in to KBAQ at his leisure, but he says he finds himself tuning in more frequently when he’s had an especially hectic day. “When you have a rough day, it’s always good to listen to,” he says. Robert also feels that if more people listened to KBAQ on the road, it could curb their traffic frustrations. “Classical music is so soothing and relaxing, I think everybody should listen to it,” he says. “It could cut down on road rage.”