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I remember the first time a radio story changed the game for me. Woke me up to a world I didn't know I already knew.

On a weekend in 2002, I was 19 and home visiting from college. I was painting my mom's fence and listening to This American Life on WBUR. It was an hour about the crew of a 5,000-person aircraft carrier hulking through the Arabian Sea off Afghanistan. This was just a few months after 9/11, and the so-called "war on terror" was all over the news.

But this was a different story: of the very young men and women serving on the ship. It was the first deployment for many. They were homesick. Dutiful. Bored. Prone to fraternization (verboten).

They were exactly my age. They talked like me. Seven thousand miles separated us, but I recognized in them my own thoughts and feelings. Fear and war were omnipresent in the United States, yet the people serving overseas seemed so far away — until they weren't.

We say audio can transport you. A story in sound conjures images that are more vivid and personal than those on a screen. It's not just a place. It's an experience, a perspective, a life, even, that was until that moment foreign. Now made familiar.

Today, as WBUR's executive editor for news, I'm proud to lead a team of journalists reporting stories that explore the complexity of our experience in this moment. That challenge our preconceptions and open up our worlds. Stories like that of a Lynn father facing deportation to a country he's never seen. Of a New Hampshire mother worried about the politicization of her child's medication. Of the extraordinary highs and lows of the former First Lady of Massachusetts.

We're committed to bringing you the independent journalism you need to understand what's happening in your community and the world. And we need your support.

We're not a subscription service; we're a public service — here for everyone, not just those who can afford it. Our journalism is powered by donations from people like you. It always has been. But with the new federal funding cuts, we're counting on more people like you to help us stay in the game. Please consider making a donation today.