This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Warning. The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grown-ups. A, B, C. T In the morning Brush your teeth.
A D C D morning for your speech. E F G H. Hurry up and don't be Late. E-F-G-H. Hurry up and don't be late.
Lingo kids, only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in mom's head, that's not our problem. Everything kids love. Download now for free. PowerSlap 23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th.
Dana White is bringing Power Slaps to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University. Two massive title fights headlined the card, including slap fighting legend Wolverine. Also on the card is former WWE champion Jake Hager and the debut of former UFC heavyweight Chris Barnett. You can watch PowerSlap 23 for free on PowerSlap's YouTube channel. Thursday, September 17th for the first time from Texas.
Power Slap's biggest card of the year. This is the Dan Lebatar Show. This is Dan Lebatar, and I've been doing this for more than two decades. Our show is contagious. It's a little bit addictive.
It's uh. In the most positive of ways. It has a good amount of range from smart to silly, and it's got a journalistic backbone. Monday through Friday, I show up and talk about sports, listen to the Dan Lebetard show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Love discovering new music before anyone else?
Stop being just a listener. Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name. Your votes change careers. Find them first.
Download thebeam at thebeam.com or on the app store. Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that pays artists. It's football season and Vizio mini LED TVs are here to turn your living room into the front row of the stadium. Watch every play come to life in breathtaking realism on a 55-inch or 65-inch mini LED TV.
Plus, crank your favorite game day tunes on the iHeartRadio app built right into your Visio TV. Big screens, big picture, and a totally immersive experience. Find rollback deals at Walmart today on Visio 55-inch and 65-inch mini LED TVs.
Now just 248 and 358. Mm-hmm. This is Our American Stories, and our next story is about a man named Bruce Wang. He's Chinese-born, a college student in Texas. and he learned a southern accent by watching, of all things, Duck Dynasty.
and got a job as a cowboy on a ranch. As you're about to hear, Bruce may be Chinese-born. But he's all American. Here's Bruce Wang to tell. His story.
Have friends and partners. It's been my great honor to be invited. by Mr. Greg Hengler. to be on a show and talk about my experience here in America.
My name is Shibo Wang. but I also go with boost. When school is on, I am a graduate student at Texas Tech University. But when there's no school I am a feedlock cowboy. As some of y'all might not expect, that I am actually from China.
And it's kinda rare to see an Asian cowboy across the country. But if you come to West Texas, if you see one, There might be me. I am from Quimming Yunnan, Southwest China. and the city where I came from has the nickname Of the city of Eternal Spring, meaning that. the weather in my hometown.
It's always like spring all year round.
So in a sense I was a southerner in China. that came to the States and became a senator again. But this transformation was not as smooth as some people might assume, because no matter where you live, Life is not always easy. About eight years ago. I said goodbye to my parents, got on an airplane and then came here to the States.
Sit my foot on soul of merc The very first State that I went to for college was the State of Oklahoma. and we got on this minivan from the airport and the driver just took us to the campus. And I know on the map it said Oklahoma City.
So I've been sitting in that minivan for a long time, and all I saw were just flatness and houses that were separated from each other as if they did not have business with each other. which is kinda shocking to me. But what really might be uncomfortable, at least in the site of Oklahoma. was when it came down to Food. For one and a half years I put chocolate pudding I'm at Peter.
and my burgers. The reason was I just couldn't get used to the taste of American food for that period of time. But whatever I did. I found way to compromise.
so I could eat burgers and go to school at the same time. The state of Oklahoma was very welcoming to foreign students like me. Local people were really friendly, and I didn't feel the need to integrate much at that point because I had a lot of friends from other countries, other continents, and I was fine at that time. After the second year of me being in college, one day my mom called and said, Well, son, you need to transfer to a bigger university with a better engineering program.
Well, I thought to myself, well, I've been here for more than two years, and I had some fun, and it won't hurt to go to other parts of the United States and just see the rest of this country.
So I agreed. Initially, I was planning to transfer to the University of Wyoming.
However, my mentor at the time called me. Back in the old days he and his wife both worked at the university where I went to school for in Oklahoma. But then his wife came to Texas for her PhD program, so he followed her. Then he called me and tried to convince me to come down to Texas. I said no way,'cause in my mind and upon all my understanding of all the stereotypes of Texas, This is one of the least places I would ever want to come.
But eventually I thought about him. And Reflected upon my experiences with so-called racism in America, then eventually came to the conclusion. That The most important determining factor of my happiness. It's me, not some one else.
So once that thought kicked in, I decided to say You know what? Why can't I just give Texas a try? length my mentor came to Oklahoma. We loaded up my stuff and we were on our way to Texas. Unfortunately, when I got to Texas, Things had a downturn.
There were more churches. It was a bigger campus, which made it more difficult to make friends. And after the first semester, since I transferred school to Texas, I decided to drop out. Cause coming to a bigger university with a better engineering program. made me realize I had zero interest.
for being an engineer. And I just did not see any point for continuing my higher education.
So, my mentor asked me to go to his office at the International Cultural Center, and I sat there. He basically lectured me in a mildly loud Southern accent. for some strange reason I decided to stay in college and just to finish.
So at that point I was no longer an engineering student. I switched my major to interdisciplinary studies. Which contained three minors instead of a major. And during that summer, My appendix was about to burst, so I had to go to the hospital and have a surgery. And during my stay at the hospital, I had some rare opportunities to just completely be surrounded by quietness.
I couldn't move much in my bed. I would watch T V from time to time, but there was this one day when it was about to rain outside. I saw clouds getting thicker and thicker. And then raindrops started to tap on my window. everything else would just clat.
And that was the moment I thought about how wrongly I judged myself. How wrongly I judged a society that I didn't even know. And in what other way can I further learn about this society by integrating myself into it? The semester after that summer I went to a rodeo and that was life changing. The things that changed me was not necessarily the events that were going on during the rodeo, but all the people and animals that were part of the show.
There was country music playing at the background, and the host had a very thick yet authentic West Texan accent. I remember seeing this little boy, probably only seven or eight year old, with a cowboy hat on, and he was in charge of that gait which controlled the movement of all the other cattle, which were at least five or six times his body size. Yet he was calm and professional. And for all the participants with their animals, I was amazed. by the relationships that were formed.
between two-legged creatures and four-legged creatures. Roughly about a month after the rodeo, I got my first pair of cowboy boots and my cowboy hat, and when I put that hat on, I couldn't remember how much regret that just went through my body. I thought hard about how dumb I was for not embracing this culture earlier. and wasted so much time on things that were not important.
So from that point on, my integration to this region of the southern parts of the United States. Started. And you're listening to Bruce Wang tell his story. And when we come back, we're gonna hear more from Bruce. This remarkable American story.
By the way, there aren't many American Chinese. But there are a whole lot of Chinese Americans. With that thought we continue this story. Bruce Wang's story, an immigrant song as good as we've ever heard. Here on our American stories.
Hey, our ride's almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said ten minutes ago. I just dropped a video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch go bananas with the group chat, and of course, still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone.
All at once? Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to T-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network.
Okay, multitasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching.
My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile.
So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Mm. FASTIS based on analysis by OCLO Speed Test Intelligence data of national speed score results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Warning. The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grown-ups.
Easy. C D In the morning, brush your teeth. A, D, C, D. It's the morning for your speech. E, F, G, H.
Hurry up and don't be late. E-F-G-H. Hurry up and don't be lazy. Lingo kids, only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in mom's head, that's not our problem.
Everything kids love. Download now for free. PowerSlap 23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th. Dana White is bringing Power Slaps to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University. Two massive title fights headlined the card, including slap fighting legend Wolverine.
Also on the card is former WWE champion Jake Hager and the debut of former UFC heavyweight Chris Barnett. You can watch PowerSlap 23 for free on PowerSlap's YouTube channel Thursday, September 17th for the first time from Texas. Power Slap's biggest card of the year. This is the Dan Lebatar Show. This is Dan Lebatar, and I've been doing this for more than two decades.
Our show is contagious. It's a little bit addictive. It's cool. In the most positive of ways. It has a good amount of range from smart to silly, and it's got a journalistic backbone.
Monday through Friday, I show up and talk about sports, listen to the Dan Lebetard show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Love discovering new music before anyone else? Stop being just a listener. Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name.
Your votes change careers. Find them first. Download thebeam at thebeam.com or on the App Store. Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that A's artists.
And we continue here on Our American Stories with the story of Bruce Wang. And this is an all-American immigration story, if ever we've had one.
Now let's return to Bruce Wang. And his story. I believe one of the most important things that a person can ever do to integrate him or herself into a community is to talk like the community.
So initially I thought it would be funny to be an Asian person with a southern accent. I made some jokes by speaking with a southern accent in front of my classmates and everybody laughed. I thought it was fun.
So I started to look for more materials to enhance my ability to speak like a southerner. But what I found during this process of learning, the more I learned, the more of an affection I developed for southern accents. And even though before I was able to communicate with people in the English language, but learning the accent would open up new windows for me to look at America. One of the first learning materials that I used was a video on YouTube of Jeff Foxworthy. But as kind of a spokesman for this portion of the population, I got to thinking, you know, it has reached the point where we do need a few redneck fashion tips.
If you've mastered the art of putting on makeup with your non-smoking hand, While driving with your knee Then I did more research on how people talk in the state of Georgia. Then eventually I found that the residents Around the Appalachian Mountain area, have the type of accents that melted my heart most of the time. What I further learned was that the region was devastated by poverty for decades, and there were people in poverty that I would never imagine. And I would see In America. But it was real.
Learning about how people suffer in that region really made me connect with the accents better. Why? Because if you think about it, all of the good old classical literatures, what they reveal is suffering from people, regardless of culture and regardless of a country. People's suffering made me resonate more with them there are things that were very similar between the Appalachian Mountain region and my home province. Where I came from we were surrounded by mountains, and in a sense we are the urbanized hill villages in China.
and typically we're about ten or twenty years behind the most developed area in China. And based on what I learned about the Appalachia Mountain region, Those people suffering made me resonate more with them. and also made southern accents dearer to me. And that was the point I decided to further master the accent. And somewhere down the line this show came into my attention.
Duck Amnesty. On the surface, it may seem like that The show was about a bunch of rantnecks shooting ducks. But what really goes deeper? The show touches about Christianity, about family, and a unity of a community. which I believe are great values that are echoed among many other countries, including China.
Again, I could resonate with people in the show and which excavated more passion out of me to learn the accent. Throughout this journey of learning the accent, I laid my eyes on things that I would never look at if I kept a judgmental attitude towards the American society and would never found comfort in knowing Listening and speaking another accent that is so native yet important to some of the forgotten regions of America. Even though I was fascinated by how all the rednecks lived, in Dark Dynasty I didn't realize For me as a foreigner, it would be hard. put my hands on a firearm and shoot ducks.
So I started to think of other ways that I could do to further southernize myself by integrating myself not only linguistically, but economically. Fan it's not too hard to notice there are a lot of cattle here in West Texas. And Cowboys, at least according to Hollywood, is one of the most iconic images of America. and, to some degree, the seven parts of America too.
So I decided to try and get into the cattle industry. At first what I did was just to drive up to some ranch or feed yard and have some conversations with people who are in the beef cattle industry. And all I did was just chatting with them. I took some pictures of cattle and made some live videos on their properties. And at that time that's all I thought what I could do.
However, I was very amazed and really appreciate how welcoming people in the beef cattle industry were in West Texas to me.
So After building relationships for one half years, One day I got a call from a feedlot owner and he got a lot more cattle going into his property and he needed some help so I got my paperwork lined up and done at the International Cultural Center. And then I head my way to become a cowboy. The training was not easy. I made a lot of mistakes, get screamed at a lot. And yes, like many other cowboys out there, There were times that I thought about quitting.
Now, thinking back, I'm glad I didn't do that. Still was a hard laugh. Every day started early in the morning and you won't get done until the sun goes down and sometimes we would be still working. when the moon is up and high.
However, I would not trade anything with the experience I gained on the journey of becoming a cowboy. I couldn't wait for the school to be over so I can go back to the feed yard and participate in beef cattle production and the relationships I formed with cowboys and other people who are in the beef cattle industry, who may not be cowboys, but still crucial to provide safe and sustainable animal protein to America. There was a period of time during my transformation where I did struggle very much about identities. Am I Chinese? Am I American?
Am I Southerner? Or what kind of Southerner I was? Yeah, I think it's a good idea. Over time, the philosophy of Buddhism really helped me to ease my urgent questioning on the matter. 'Cause eventually I do realize No matter what identity I claim myself to be, At the end of the day, I put down my cowboy hat, take off my cowboy boots, and falling asleep by myself.
What is self? Who's really able to answer that? When every night Despite whoever I'm with or whatever I've done or whatever I've been going through, I fall asleep by myself. And maybe that is me. And I acknowledge that while I was learning the accent and trying to Southernize myself further.
There were times that I denied to learn about other people. But If I really think of it, Everybody. have two or three meals a day, go to work, come home and go to sleep. No matter what color you are, or no matter what kind of identity you claim to be, it is the same way. Everybody is fundamentally the same.
So on this journey, of southernizing myself It also made me more open-minded towards others, which is kind of like the opposite of what people really perceive of. how Southerners would think of people who are different from them. At least for me, via this journey, It was through the self embodiment of Southern culture that I realized I'm not that special. And I'm happy to be in their way too. Uh Through this journey, it made me pay attention to To the suffering of American people, the earthiness of agriculture producers, and the humbleness of southerners.
It is these difficult times that make me realize how much I care. of this land which I only spent one third of my life. And I sincerely wish My Journey on This Land for continue. No matter how dark the shadows in front of me, Mattie. or how brightly the sun may rise for to morrow.
Thank you very much for listening, my friends and partners. Wish you a safe and wonderful day. Bye. And you've been listening to Bruce Wang, and my goodness. What a voice.
What a story, what a journey. We love the South too.
So many people from here, from everywhere else in the country, having developed a real taste. for rural and rural suburban life and the intersection of both. Bruce Wang's story. a classic American immigrant story here on Our American Stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Mom, are we there yet? Ten more minutes.
Only ten minutes? Can you drive slower? What's up with them today? Lingo Kids. That app we downloaded last week?
They love it. The games of this funny baby bot character. Kids, we're almost there. No! With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs, and shows little ones can't get enough of, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
Why didn't we download this sooner?
Okay. Everything kids love. Download it for free. PowerSlap 23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th. Dana White is bringing Power Slaps to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University.
Two massive title fights headlined the card, including slap fighting legend Wolverine. Also on the card is former WWE champion Jake Hager and the debut of former UFC heavyweight Chris Barnett. You can watch PowerSlap 23 for free on PowerSlap's YouTube channel. Thursday, September 17th for the first time from Texas. Power Slap's biggest card of the year.
This is the Dan Lebatar Show. This is Dan Lebatar, and I've been doing this for more than two decades. Our show is contagious. It's a little bit addictive. It's cooling.
In the most positive of ways. It has a good amount of range from smart to silly, and it's got a journalistic backbone. Monday through Friday, I show up and talk about sports, listen to the Dan Lebetard show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. You're grinding, putting tracks on Spotify, making TikToks, and watching fractions of a cent roll in. Exposure doesn't pay rent.
Time for real stakes. Welcome to The Beam, the new music competition app. Real fans vote. Brands buy your music before it breaks. You win money and exposure.
No more chasing algorithms. Just compete and get aid. Download The Beam at theBeam.com or on the App Store. Submit your track, earn what your music deserves on The Beam, the only chart that writes checks. It's football season and Vizio mini LED TVs are here to turn your living room into the front row of the stadium.
Watch every play come to life in breathtaking realism on a 55-inch or 65-inch mini LED TV. Plus, crank your favorite game day tunes on the iHeartRadio app built right into your Visio TV. Big screens, big picture, and a totally immersive experience. Find rollback deals at Walmart today on Vizio 55-inch and 65-inch mini LED TVs.
Now just 248 and 358. Yeah.
