{"id":8523,"date":"2018-05-18T17:47:52","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T17:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8523"},"modified":"2018-05-18T17:47:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T17:47:52","slug":"utrgv-produced-radio-show-stories-from-texas-headed-to-print-audio-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8523","title":{"rendered":"UTRGV-produced Radio Show \u2018Stories from Texas\u2019 Headed to Print, Audio Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Most Texans know \u201cStories from Texas\u201d \u2013 and its signature tagline,\u00a0\u201c\u2026and some of them are true\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 as a radio program and podcast.<\/p>\n

Now that radio program, produced by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is being adapted into a book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about it because it\u2019s my first creative work. I’ve done textbooks, academic works before,\u201d said Dr. William F. Strong, the UTRGV communications professor who created the radio program.<\/p>\n

He called the show \u201ca kind of an accident, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this idea that I would like to teach Texans and non-Texans alike with these great stories that a lot of people don\u2019t know, the great literature of Texas that a lot of people aren\u2019t aware of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He reached out to the staff of the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s NPR-affiliate KMBH-FM, now 88FM, with the idea. The first segments covered fun, pop culture stories, like the history of Whataburger and the 12 words Texans mispronounce most. The show\u2019s popularity grew, and Strong produced more segments.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther NPR stations started picking them up, and that surprised me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He gets feedback from listeners, like story suggestions, but he also gets one particular question about the stories featured \u2013 \u201cWhich ones are true?\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong chuckles at that.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. William F. Strong, UTRGV communications professor and creator of the well-known radio program \u2018Stories from Texas,\u2019 is currently adapting \u2018Stories\u2019 into a book. The audiobook is currently in production, and the radio show continues to air on 88FM (the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s NPR-affiliate), as well as on other NPR and cable stations. Photo: David Pike\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSome people take it perhaps a little too literally, but I guess the inside joke from my perspective is that they are 99 percent true. I work really hard to nail them down and get it nailed down to fact. If there are two interpretations of it, or two possibilities or two understandings, I’ll give you both of them and you choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UTRGV professor said the early stories he shared involved Texas folklore and tall tales.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I said, well, that\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re known for \u2013 stretching things \u2013 so I\u2019ll just say that some of them are true,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Strong is excited about wrapping up the book, which he started working on three years ago. He also said he\u2019s fortunate to know several photographers who are giving him photos of Texas landscapes and more to include in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m doing the audiobook right now. That is quite an ordeal,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m even experienced in doing a lot of recording, and I assumed, \u2018Oh, I’ll just go and read the thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He records in a special audio booth housed at UTRGV, with the help of Juan Ramirez and Ricardo Camargo, members of the video team in the UTRGV Marketing and Communications Department.<\/p>\n

Strong learned he can only record segments for about 20 to 30 minutes before losing quality. \u201cI found it\u2019s difficult to do in long stretches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When the book is complete, Strong will do a book tour.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m excited about going on tour around Texas to do readings and talk about the book,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Interest already has built up for the book release, and it was featured recently in \u201cTexas Country Reporter,\u201d which airs across Texas and on a national cable channel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While the book is scheduled for release in June, you can check the\u00a088FM schedule<\/a>\u00a0to hear the latest \u201cStories From Texas,\u201d or\u00a0listen to past episodes online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ABOUT UTRGV<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund \u2013 a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.<\/p>\n

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Most Texans know \u201cStories from Texas\u201d \u2013 and its signature tagline,\u00a0\u201c\u2026and some of them are true\u201d\u00a0\u2013 as a radio program and podcast. Now that radio program, produced by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is being adapted into a book. \u201cI\u2019m excited about it because it\u2019s my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}