Three Song Stories

Doug Berman is Executive Producer of Car Talk ; and Creator and Benevolent Overlord of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! A two-time Peabody Award-winning producer, Doug began his career in news while still in college, serving as a production assistant for NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. It was at WBUR that Doug met and became friends with Tom & Ray Magliozzi brothers, who were doing...

Theresa Girard crafted her own art education studying early 20th Century contemporary artists and had a career as a color expert and educator for a large manufacturing company. She staged and styled numerous photo shoots, large trade productions, and did program development from coast to coast.  As a painter, Theresa is represented by five galleries, including Gardner Colby Gallery in Naples and J...

Mary Bichner is an orchestral composer with synesthesia - the neurological condition that allows her to “see” splashes of specific colors in her mind’s eye when she hears their corresponding pitches. She recently finished her first full-length opera, called "The Memoirs of Antonina", inspired by Marie Antoinette. Mary stopped by our studio while she was in town for two concerts with the Southwest...

Eric Brown is a photographer based in Eastern North Carolina. He and his family moved there after he spent nearly 20 years traveling the world and working in the music industry out of Nashville. He is often back in Nashville or traveling for work, though his studio is where he spends most days working alongside his family. SONG 1: “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty off of his 1994 album of the same name....

Benjamin Murray is an award-winning maker, how has made short films, commercials, and a few fun movies. 

 Dave Ritter is a founding member of the six-piece Toronto-based, two-time Juno Award winning indie/pop/folk/rock band The Strumbellas . They have put out at least six records over the years, and their song "Spirits" from their 2016 album Hope topped the Billboard Alternative Song chart for two weeks and got mainstream radio play in Canada and Europe, winning Single of the Year at the 2017 JUNO Aw...

Jimmy Keys is a Comedian and Musician who's career began in England in the town of Gravesend, doing band stuff with friends around the age of 12. He hit the road to Germany with friends when he was 20, and toured Europe in the early 70s as part of the backing band who played with many top soul artists from the States including Ben E. King, Eddie Floyd and Percy Sledge. Then he had a band that work...

Dan Navarro is a singer and has been a songwriter for artists including Pat Benatar (he co-wrote “We Belong”) The Bangles, Jackson Browne, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick and more. He's also a voice actor and singer. Most recently, he sang on six Lin-Manuel Miranda songs in the Disney Film Encanto. He’s also done voice work for Family Guy, American Dad, and for video games and TV commercials. Dan’...

Sandra Viktorova is a familiar voice to WGCU listeners and viewers - she joined us here in 2022 on the radio side as a host and then helped launch our TV news magazine program Southwest Florida In Focus as host and senior producer—the show won a regional Emmy in its first year and just recently went from one to five nights a week.  Sandra earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for her documentar...

Gareth Rockliffe is a fine art photographer, filmmaker, songwriter, and creator of the award-winning short-film series called Contemplations, which blend his images and spoken words to explore themes such as love, loss, awareness, and connection. In recent years, that same reflective voice has found its way into his songwriting. SONG 1: Glenn Miller and his orchestra’s “Moonlight Serenade” release...

Robert William Green, Jr. (Mr. Green)  graduated  high school in Shreveport, Louisiana with a full football scholarship to Morris Brown College in Atlanta. He transferred and received a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.  He came to Florida in 2003, and taught 7th grade World G...

J Schwanke is Host & Creator of J Schwanke’s Life in Bloom , on PBS Create channels around the country. He’s been referred to by viewers as “The Bob Ross of Flowers” or even “The Mr. Rogers of Flowers”. He shows how to incorporate flowers into your life and enjoy a “flower lifestyle” - encouraging people to think beyond just arranging with flowers to crafts and recipes and beverages that inclu...

Laureen is a Billboard-charting songwriter with artist cuts across multiple genres. After graduating from Fort Myers High School, she earned her college degree and a master’s degree before moving to Amish country, where she worked as a Teacher of the Deaf. A prolonged personal health crisis ultimately prompted a pivot toward songwriting, leading her to Nashville. The very first song she wrote in N...

Larry Ford (father of episode 75 guest Seth Ford) is a Grammy winning gospel singer who’s found audiences all over the world because of his truly commanding voice. Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Larry’s work has taken him to 49 of the 50 states -- and to as far away as South Korea and South America. He's also sang the National Anthem for the Boston Red Sox or Tampa Bay Lightning.  Larry has attra...

Marlin Miller is publisher of Plain Values, a quarterly magazine dedicated to the notion that faith-centered simple living within community is still possible today. Through it, he and his wife Lisa also operate the nonprofit Room to Bloom - they raise money to help families adopt kids with Down Syndrome and special needs.  They also founded Juneberry Hill Schoolhouse - a multi-age, inclusive homes...

Matt Ross is an entrepreneur, author, and media executive. From 1989 to 2005, Matt led some major radio brands, including: New York’s Classic Rock Station, Q104.3 - and and its Hip Hop Station, Hot 97. He then invested in and became CEO of School of Rock. Under his leadership, School of Rock grew from 5 locations to 55. In 2012, Matt founded One River School in Englewood, New Jersey with a mission...

 Pam James has been a part of the WGCU Public Media team and family since 2013 - he’s been our Executive Producer of Content since 2020, leading our different teams across media platforms including radio and TV and how it all becomes digital these days.  She began her career in 1995 as a TV producer for Kansas City Public Television (now KCPBS) where she created award-winning documentaries, magazi...

John Joyce is host of the Solid State Podcast, it’s a weekly program devoted to all things tech.  Born and raised in Fort Myers, John founded the computer firm Republic Technologies, while in college, and eventually merged it with CRS Technology Consultants to form one of this region’s largest IT firms which he is now CEO and Co-Owner of. His partnership with the IT Disaster Resource Center brough...

Jen Chapin was born and raised in New York in Huntington, Long Island - the daughter of Harry and Sandy Chapin. Over the years has produced a bunch of albums of her own music, including Open Wide, Linger, Ready, and Reckoning. She also put out a tribute album called ReVisions: Songs of Stevie Wonder. Recently she’s been performing with the J.Chapes Jazz Band which includes her husband, jazz bassis...

A return to the very first (Pilot) episode of Three Song Stories with Co-creator, producer, and sometimes host, Richard Chin Quee.  Richard is FM Station manager at WGCU where he and Mike Kiniry make Three Song Stories, and this episode was the prototype for our show, today.

Janine is an artist who has worked on The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell, and she did network work for shows including 20/20 and The View and things on PBS. She also produced a 4-hour watercolor course with renowned watercolor artist, Charles Reid. A trip to Italy in high school illuminated her love for travel and experiencing other cultures. While living in Victoria, BC she en...

Nancy Cote is Executive Director of Beacon of HOPE Pine Island, where she leads transformative efforts to strengthen education, recovery, and community resilience across Bokeelia, Saint James City, and Matlacha. Originally from Mexico but raised in California, Nancy has developed a deep understanding of diverse life experiences—from immigrants to combat veterans—thanks to her personal journey and...

Andrew Bennett was born and raised in North Carolina, and then during high school, his dad’s job brought the family to Utah, where he attended college at Brigham Young University. He’s a lawyer who has called Southwest Florida home for the past 15 years. He and his wife moved to Naples in 2010 so he could attend law school at Ave Maria School of Law. They have three fully-Floridian kids ages 9, 11...

Charles Monroe-Kane is a Peabody award-winning radio producer who spent 24 years as a senior producer and interviewer for the national public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge which WGCU aired on Saturday mornings until about a month ago when it ended at least in part due to recent funding cuts across the public radio world. His 2024 audio documentary, “The Spirit of Jim Thorpe,” was awarded...

Sheri Castle was the host and producer of the Emmy-winning PBS cooking show The Key Ingredient - for three seasons. She’s also an award-winning professional food writer, recipe developer, and cooking teacher known for melding stories, humor, and culinary expertise. Sheri has authored a tall stack of cookbooks and her writing and recipes appear in a long list of publications, including her role as...