The classical program "Adventures in Good Music" hosted by Karl Haas of WJR, Detroit had a huge audience on WJR in its time slot of 10-11 AM weekdays. Karl Haas was a classically trained pianist, and did a lot of research into the selections he presented on his programs. His commentaries about them appealed to just about everybody.
Link to article about Haas:
http://www.cpr.org/classical/blog/karl-haas-100
Link to one of his programs:
In the mid 1970s, stemming from his success on WJR, Karl Haas was syndicated in a 1-hour weekly program heard on many public and classical radio stations.
Interest in classical music exists in all U.S. cities of size, for example Little Rock, Arkansas, has a symphony orchestra and full power classical station, despite its population of only 250,000 people.
Conductor Zaap van Sweden of the Dallas, Texas, Symphony Orchestra has just been named permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
What I've found over the years is that many people who claim to dislike classical music actually suffer from hearing impairment which certainly would impede enjoyment of the rich tonality produced by a mass of acoustical instruments.
Ironically many classical music haters enjoy movie music such as "Star Wars" which is composed in classical style and played by a symphonic orchestra.