Our American Stories was launched in Oxford, Mississippi, in 2016. Two years later, WHO Newsradio 1040 in Des Moines began broadcasting it from 10 p.m. to midnight.

I wasn’t happy at first because it was replacing a program that had included author interviews. (If they were talking politics instead, I switched it off.)

But this new program promised stories with out politics. Hmm, I had to give it a listen. I was a fan from the very first broadcast. Then I heard, “Send a picture and a paragraph and we’ll put your story on the air.”

Sure they would.

But I pitched my first story, about the central Iowa family who lost three sons during WWII. They asked me to record it for them!

I panicked. I contacted Mike Dorwart, WHO’s Program Director, about how to accomplish that. Download an app, he said. So I downloaded my first app and got the story recorded.

Three years ago, on September 10, 2018, Mike sent a note that my story, “Family Sends Five Sons to War” would be aired that evening.

My second story was broadcast that November, about how surprised at learning my Uncle Don was WWII hero. I struggled with fibromyalgia and did only one for them in all of 2019, about “Reconciling Dad.”

Then in 2020, Montie Montgomery produced five of them. Working with this young man has been a delight! He’s done four of them this year.

There’s an Our American Stories category here on my website. I also have an OAS board on Pinterest.

If you have a story you’d like to share with OAS, check them out. Here’s where to submit your idea. (The link at the top leads you to a short compelling video that shows what they’re about.)