Daughters never quite liked their dad’s favorite songs—it was the only thing that helped them heal after his death
Every person might find a different way to cope with their grief and move towards healing. When two sisters lost their dad, they didn't know that they would find solace through his "lame" music taste. The sisters, Jenn and Nang Walter, lost their dad, Steve Walter, unexpectedly after he suffered a heart aneurysm during a business trip at just 50 years old. It wasn't an easy thing for them, but then they found healing through something they hadn't liked before— their dad's favorite songs. The two women decided to take it a step further by starting "Dad Rock Radio" to cope with their loss, per Kare 11 News.
"Dad’s music is lame to me," Nang thought before losing her dad. But they started seeing the music in a new light after Steve's death in 2018. "It’s something to hold onto," Jenn said about the songs. The sisters started "Dad Rock Radio" to share their dad's favorite songs through the Marquette University radio station back in 2019. The weekly 90-minute show features a combination of stories about Steve and the hundreds of songs he had downloaded before his death. "They were songs that he had played on his guitar, that he had played in the car on road trips – stuff he put on our iPod. He liked '80s music, he liked Barenaked Ladies, he liked Jack Johnson, he liked Ryn Weaver, she’s like some random pop artist who was on Saturday Night Live," Jenn explained.
Jenn was a senior at Marquette at that time and discussed the idea of starting the radio channel with her sister, who was a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago. Jenn wondered if Nang would be okay to take a train from her college to Milwaukee for a late Friday afternoon show. Nang agreed to it. Initially, the sisters had a different idea when they lost their dad while he was on a business trip in Las Vegas. Jenn was in Germany at that time and had to take a train from Marburg to Frankfurt to eventually go back home for her dad's funeral. The train ride wasn't the easiest thing for her. "I just kept crying for no reason and what really broke my heart was seeing all these families and all these dads with their kids on the train and just knowing I didn’t have that anymore."
The sisters had made a playlist of their dad's favorite songs for his funeral reception, but couldn't play it at that time because the speakers were not working. Jenn got an idea at that time. "She sent me a message. 'Hey, how would you feel about coming up to Milwaukee every other weekend and doing a radio show?'" Nang recounted. That moment marked "Dad Rock Radio's" inception. Their mom and 15-year-old sister, Claire, also joined them for one of the shows. "It's good to see them just celebrating all those memories. And it's good for me because I see it's good for them," their mom, Lauren, pointed out. The Dad Rock Radio also won both first and second place in the aircheck category of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association college radio awards.
Many other students also found healing because of the show. Meredith Lowry, a student at Marquette, lost her dad when she was only 10 years old. She joined the sisters as an in-studio guest once. "It's never not something that you think about; it's always a part of you." Meredith found it hard to share her grief with anyone. "So, I think this has helped me open up a lot." She added, "It doesn’t have to be bad. You can think about it through happy memories."
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