How the worst day led to the best unexpected discovery.

Today, I’m 61. But let’s go back to 2006.

I’m 42.

📻 I’m sitting in a radio studio. State College, PA.

And I hear a song with the lyrics "Cuz I'm the son of a third generation farmer. I’ve been married ten years to the farmer's daughter. I got two boys in the county 4-H, I'm a lifetime sponsor of the FFA…..Hey!"

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸, “𝗠𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗜 𝗴𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴? 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹?"

🐸 Big Froggy 101. The Morning Splash with Boss Frog and Ann Phibian.

I’m “Ann Phibian.”

𝗦𝗼, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗜 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲?

Well, I’m in grad school. Penn State.

I have a huge paper due in the morning.

So I better go out for a jog to wake me up.

👟 I’m jogging.

And my left arm hurts.

Weird.

Long story short, I call my neighbor when I get home.

She takes me to the hospital.

I’m having a heart attack.

I lived, obviously.

❤️‍🩹 A few weeks later, I’m on the phone with my cardiologist. He asks me if I can go to some local radio stations and talk about what happened for a heart health day called 𝘎𝘰 𝘙𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯.

So I do. And they offer me a job.

And, that first week was rough.

I seriously couldn’t believe that anyone who wasn’t married to their sister would listen to this stuff.

And then…over the course of time, I started to dig it. Like really, really like it.

Luke Bryan had just come out with a song called "Country Man," so I drove by myself down to Towson, MD where he was performing in the student union!!!!

And then I started going to fairs and venues to meet the artists and see shows.

And when it came time to pick a topic for my Master’s thesis, I decided to write about the horrific lack of country music in national TV ads - unless it was for beer or trucks.

Now, country music is one of my favorites. And even though I no longer work in radio, I still go to the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville every year.

And I still cherish the memories of all the musicians I got to meet, concerts I went to, and radio folks I befriended along the way.

My journey from country music skeptic to superfan isn't just about discovering a new genre—it's a reminder of how powerful storytelling can be in shifting our perspectives.

Every song I heard on Big Froggy 101 told a story, and those stories chipped away at my preconceptions until I found myself genuinely moved by the very music I'd once dismissed.

This experience taught me that stories have an almost magical ability to bypass our defenses and open our minds in ways that facts and arguments never could.

Whether it's a three-minute country ballad or a personal narrative shared over coffee, the right story at the right time can fundamentally reshape how we see the world—and that's something worth celebrating.