A voice for radio
Woonsocket radio personality ‘Country’ Bob Braden has got a song — and a story — for you
“He knows music, and he knows country music.”
WOONSOCKET – For Robert Braden, holding a telephone conversation is a challenge, and taking a walk down the street without help is out of the question. He’s nearly deaf, and just as blind. But when his wife died suddenly a few days before Thanksgiving, the onetime music promoter most people call Country Bob knew he needed to get back in the swing of things. And with a little help from his friends, he’s getting his groove back as the host of his own country music show, “CB’s Night Train Express” on radio station WNRI. “It was the right time for me,” he says. “Right place, right time.” Anative of Maine, the 73-year-old Fairmount resident was born with a rare, progressive condition known as Usher’s syndrome. It’s the most common congenital malady that simultaneously causes a loss of hearing and sight.
With difficulty, Braden can hold a conversation on the phone by using a special, amplified receiver. He can only see the brightest of lights – and only at night – when they are squarely in the path of his ever-narrowing field of tunnel-like vision.
“If you were standing five feet away I wouldn’t be able to hear a word,” he says. “I’m legally blind. All I can see are shadows and light. I can’t see any objects at all.”
The hearing and vision problems would probably be enough to short-circuit the aspirations of any would-be disc jockey. But those aren’t the only hoops Braden jumps through.
He also suffers from a profound speech impediment that makes it difficult for him to form words – and for others, often, to understand everything he says.
About four babies in every 100,000 births are affected by usher’s syndrome, according to the National Institutes of Health.
It’s a cruel lottery to hit, but Braden is philosophical.
“They say it happens very five or six generations,” he says. “I guess I’m just lucky.”
Despite his hearing problems, Braden has loved music every since he was a young boy – before his hearing began to deteriorate markedly. He sang in a school choir in Maine once, but he never really got the hang of a musical instrument. He always respected others who could play and sing, especially country musicians, like Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and, of course, the “country” Elvis.
In the not-too-distant past, Braden brought country bands to perform at Autumnfest, the Elks Club and bigger venues, like Stepping Stone Ranch in South County.
He even got his nickname from the leader of a homegrown country band that was popular in the area in the 1980s – Ray Gouin of Ray G’s Silver Dollar Band.
“It just stuck,” says Braden.
FOR MANY years, the name “Country Bob” has been a familiar one at more than one local radio station in town, but not because of his track record with live music. Braden has been calling talkshow hosts on radio stations WOON (AM-1240) and WNRI (AM-1380) for years to express his views on the issues of the day, vent about life’s struggles or voice heartfelt sympathies for some down-on-his-luck character from the headlines.
But when WNRI head technician and daytime talk jock Jeff Gamache heard that Country Bob was interested in hosting his own show, he was gobsmacked.
“Okay, he’s blind, he’s deaf, he’s got a speech impediment, and he wants to do a radio show?” says Gamache. “I’ve worked with people who’ve had strokes, I’ve worked with people who are handicapped, but in 22 years I’ve been here I’ve never worked with anybody like this.”
But Gamache says Country Bob is a hard guy to say no to.
Not only is Braden someone Gamache calls “an interesting cat,” he says Braden “has a good soul.”
“You can’t not like Country Bob,” he says. “He’s got good intentions and he’s a kind man. He brought me a box of Girl Scout cookies when he heard me say how much I like them on the radio.”
Braden says he didn’t just jump into doing a talk show all at once. For the last couple of years, he and Gamache had been working together to produce patriotic programming on Memorial Day and Veterans Day as a tribute to American soldiers.
But if it hadn’t been for the death of his wife a few months ago, Braden says he doubts he would have reached out. Braden and his wife, Hazel, had been married for 42 years. She struggled with diabetes and COPD, says Braden, and she didn’t like taking her medications.
Five days before Thanksgiving, Hazel walked into the bathroom of their home on Fourth Avenue complaining of severe abdominal pains. She collapsed on the floor. Then she was gone. He had known her since she was 15 years old.
“It was devastating to me,” he says. “There’s not a day that goes by I don’t go out on the porch and try to talk to her.”
One of the good things he and his wife did together was look after a neighbor, Rachel Cragg. His wife treated Cragg, now 47, like a daughter from the time she was a young girl, and she remains close to Braden.
With help from Cragg and Gamache, the Night Train has been rolling for over a month now, treating listeners to country music, from classic to contemporary, 6 to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
Braden, who is all but housebound, gets help from Cragg with rides to and from the station. Braden dreams up the song lists he wants to feature on the program. Cragg and Gamache hunt for them on a computer, or they find a reasonable substitute if they hit a dead end.
Early on, When Gamache and Braden first started rehearsing the pre-recorded show, Gamache coached Braden on speaking for a radio audience, despite his speech issues.
As long as Braden listens through amped-up headphones, he can still appreciate the music.
“He knows music and he knows country music,” says Gamache. “Each week he’s selecting a featured artist. He’ll talk to me about the songs. He’ll give me a good start of where he wants to go, then he allows me to adapt the song list as I see fit for time and content.”
“I run the boards and equipment, and I verbally cue him,” says Gamache. “When he’s done talking, I play the music.”
Gamache says Braden also brings something there isn’t enough of on the radio these days: country music. “People love country music up here, and there’s no show focused on country music.”
Braden gives Gamache a lot of the credit for making the show possible.
“I’ve got a good producer with him,” says Braden.
Gamache thinks they’ll keep working together for a while.
“As long as he keeps bringing the Girl Scouts cookies,” he says. “Peanut butter.”