From a young girl growing up in Ashdown, Arkansas, to taking the Ark-La-Tex by storm on air, Fabienne Thrash reminisced on her time in radio and how it led to her induction into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.

Thrash has been a staple on air for many in the area, having worked for stations from Southwest Arkansas to Shreveport, Louisiana and all over Texarkana.

She is presently the disc jockey for Real Country 98.7 and 101.7 Hot FM in Texarkana.

“This is all I’ve ever done my entire life. I was blessed to have found something early and often. I’m just blessed. I think this was what I was meant to do,” said Thrash.

Her journey began 52 years ago when she took a job at the Ashdown radio station.

“My mother would let me drive to the edge of town, go to work and drive back. That’s as far as I could go. Couldn’t leave town in her car,” Thrash said. “I did everything from taking out trash to ironing laundry for those guys to learning the trade and being on the air. I learned.”

Coming from small town Arkansas, she said her mentors were “bound and determined” to train her to use a non-accent on air, despite her growing up in Southwest Arkansas.

“It fell about three quarters short. I remember doing a commercial for Welches Department Store in Ashdown. I’m reading the copy and I said ‘Women’s hats, twenty percent off’. I gave (hats) two syllables. He would not let me change it. I had to listen to that for a month. Boy did I really rare up and I improved myself … He said, ‘If I’m going to hear that out of you, you’re going to hear it over and over’. That was the best way to get me to stop doing such things or at least pay attention,” she said with a laugh.

She has been involved in country radio her entire career, but her first love was really rock and roll.

“I really wanted to be a rock jock. I wanted to be one of those midnight to six gals because Yvonne Daniels WLS Chicago was there. There were a lot of women that were overnight … doing their really soft low voice. That’s what you were supposed to be. I had a deep enough voice already as a kid to do that and I was listening to the music anyway. But my mother raised me on country music,” Thrash said.

And it was her mother who gave her the introduction to country radio disc jockeys.

“She was a city librarian and she didn’t sleep well. She was a night owl. She stayed up all night and used to listen to Ralph Emery on WUSM Nashville. Ralph notoriously always had people come in and visit with him. There was a piano in the studio and so forth. Marty Robbins would come in, Willie Nelson would come in. A lot of the artists of the day who were either in town or getting a deal together would come in. If it was someone my mother really liked, she would call in. People were calling in from all over the country and Ralph would talk to my mother after she asked the artist a question or whatever. He would talk to her about books because he liked to read. And he’d keep her on the key pretty much the whole night so, yeah, I was hooked,” she said.

What keeps her involved in country music, she said, is the people and the music.

“I’ve met some of the best artists in the world. Most of them have written the most enduring songs in the world, and endearing, too,” she added.

“I’m a people person and I enjoy people. So it’s always wonderful to meet somebody and shake their hand, just visit with them a minute … That’s the nicest thing. I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy helping our clients get their products across. I just love what I do. I particularly love the music of course, because I grew up with them.”

And it is a mix of things that get her coming back day to day.

“Coffee,” she said with a laugh. “And the joy of getting to do this, working with some fine people, finding people in the public. You know, Forrest Gump was not wrong. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. That’s pretty much how it is in this business. It’s not boring.”

In her career, Thrash has met her share of artists.

There’s been many a person I’ve met one way or another. Many an artist, some were up and comers, some aren’t around anymore. Some are still going. That’s been a joy in life,” said Thrash.

But it was meeting George Jones, she said, that took her breath.

“I was just kind of verklempt … I went, ‘Um eh. God bless George Jones.’ That’s all I could say,” she laughed. “George just fell out laughing and he hugged me … and I thought, ‘What an idiot!’” This month, Thrash was awarded the DJ Award at the 2024 Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in their 27th annual show.

“I’m still stunned, as with a hammer … I still don’t believe it,” she said. “I feel like I’m an imposter maybe and maybe they’ll take it back … It really makes me feel like I belong. I feel seen.”

This year’s inductees included Tracy Lawrence, the Mandrell Sisters and the posthumous entry of Roy Orbison.

“I wish I could have taken everyone with me, it was just that good,” Thrash said. “It felt good. I saw people I haven’t seen in a long time. Met people that I know but have never met until that night. It is just amazing what goes on. If you’re one of the tribe, I guess you’re one of the tribe. It’s really cool,” Thrash said.

After 52 years in the business, she said retirement is not on her horizon just yet.

“You know if I quit work, I might just keel over. I need to work. I have to have a reason to get up in the morning. And work is part of it. So if I’m a workaholic, that’s fine. I’ll know when it’s time. I think the good Lord put me here and he’ll tell me when it’s time. He hasn’t told me that yet,” Thrash said.