“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.” – J.K. Rowling

It was on a visit to the Coppola Wineries in Sonoma County, California, when I had lunch at the great restaurant there. There was a bottle of hot sauce on the table called Mamarella. No big deal, you can find hot sauce anywhere.

But I was curious how this came to be here, and found if you turn the bottle around and read the story of the hot sauce, you have a whole different picture about it.

That’s because the story makes the difference.

In this case, it tells how the hot sauce came about. One minute it’s another hot sauce, the next it’s an interesting story. Which side of the bottle do you think people will remember?

The same is true of any radio station. There’s the station on the surface, and the story behind it. The station itself has little appeal, but the story makes the difference.

The story of the sauces is told:

“The first time Mammarella cooked for her in-laws was shortly after she was married. Italia and her husband, Carmine, dined out every night the first few weeks of marriage, as most young lovers do. Having cooked nothing but cookies before becoming a wife, she was terrified at the prospect of preparing an entire dinner, especially since she had no recipes of her own. Based on memories of what her mother did, she cooked the same dish every night for a week until she got it just right. By the time her in-laws arrived for dinner, her husband had eaten the same meal seven days in a row. But the food was delicious!”