Three Song Stories

Katie is a singer-songwriter from Southwest Florida who has spent time busking on the beaches, playing dive bars, and breweries. She says there’s really no one place that holds her, but Chattanooga currently does have a pretty tight grip. She’s been influenced by the sounds of Brandi Carlile, Miranda Lambert, and Kacey Musgraves, as well as George Strait, Chris Stapleton, & Jason Isbell. See o...

Robert Bidney is a singer/songwriter, advertising professional, husband and father of two sons. He’s written songs that have been covered by recording artists around the world, and has songs under contract with publishers in Nashville, and he’s recorded two albums.  His work has been used in national radio and TV commercials for companies like The Sports Authority, Levitz Furniture, Michael's, Pet...

Jesi Cason is a photographer who specializes in personal and commercial branding photography. Jesi has worked with several SWFL bands and musicians to create photos that help them connect with their fans. She is actively engaged in local and national politics, volunteering with nonprofits, and trying to help the world be less annoying.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexandra Figares is a recent journalism graduate from FGCU, and once interned for the WGCU radio newsroom. She was also editor-in-chief for the university newspaper Eagle News. Originally born in Arica, Chile, but grew up in Naples her entire life, she came to the U.S. when she was just one year old. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ronin EarthClan is a hip hop musician and entertainer. He was born in Panama City, Panama, but raised in homestead, FL until about 2001 when he arrived in Fort Myers. You can find his music on most platforms, but you can find his most recent releases on Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chef Brooke Wagenheim is owner and operator of Chef Brooke's Natural Cafe , in Fort Myers. Born in Manhattan, Brooke has worked in the food industry since her teenage years, in kitchens from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Shibuya, Japan. She says she felt the significance of natural foods - and read and learned everything she could about organics, veganism, gluten free, macrobiotics, and alternative me...

Spencer Elles is an artist, musician, and videographer who creates and performs Queer Rap under the pseudonym Duke Stamina . Under that name, he just got signed to Sweatband Records, and also recently became a twitch partner . He’s also getting ready to drop his debut album on September 6th. Spencer also runs a video production company called Dandy House , does digital illustration and design, and...

Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Bruno Halpern graduated from FGCU last year with a degree in journalism and is starting a master's in Educational Leadership at FGCU this Fall. During his time at the university he worked as Opinion Editor and Entertainment Editor at the student-run paper Eagle News . He's also been a citizen-board member at The News-Press, a radio newsroom intern at WGCU, a...

Cody Smith is founder, composer, producer, and lead Cody of the band Cody & Co. - which is called Cody & Co. even when he appears solo. He’s a Fort Myers native who says he got started with music by throwing up at his first choir concert in kindergarten, which he thinks could be the highlight of his 18 years performing. Since forming Cody & Co. in 2019, he's released more than 6 EPs. S...

David Hintz is a Southwest Florida based singer/songwriter who has been actively writing and performing his own music and covers since high school. He’s a founding member of the Americana Community Music Association in Fort Myers, and has performed solo shows in Florida, up and down the East coast, and across the U.S. He describes his lyrics as being a reflection of real life experiences with ever...

C.J. McFarlane is the IT Administrator at Babcock Ranch Neighborhood School, the school in the first solar-powered town in America. C.J. designed and manages the technology systems used by the school, drawing on his education and 19-year employment at Florida Gulf Coast University where he also helped design and maintain many of the technology systems there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

C.J. McFarlane is the IT Administrator at Babcock Ranch Neighborhood School, the school in the first solar-powered town in America. C.J. designed and manages the technology systems used by the school, drawing on his education and 19-year employment at Florida Gulf Coast University where he also helped design and maintain many of the technology systems there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Sara Comito is a poet, and author of the new poetry collection, "Bury Me in the Sky". She and her husband John work in the stone masonry company Elemental Stone and Waterworks, and run a small urban hobby farm raising bees, chickens, and hot peppers...and quite a bit other stuff. She is also a poetry editor for Bending Genres Journal, and her own writing has been published in many print and online...

Lindsey Granados is a criminal defense lawyer (who has also sat on the DA side of the court) in North Carolina, where Richard did this interview while he was on vacation, resulting in our first ever “on the road” 3 song stories. Lindsey Graduated magna cum laude from Oklahoma Baptist University, and got her Law degree from Stetson University before moving to North Carolina and beginning her practi...

John Davis is a host, reporter, and producer for WGCU - where we make this show. He is the local host for NPR’s Morning Edition and he’s a producer and host for WGCU’s radio talk program Gulf Coast Life. Prior to joining WGCU, he reported at WDUQ-FM in Pittsburgh, PA. He studied journalism at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Florida...

Woody Hanson's family arrived in this part of Florida in 1866...that’s basically when Fort Myers came to be. His roots go back to Manuel A. Gonzalez - the first civilian resident here after the fort. He owned and operated a real estate firm for 40 years before closing it a couple of years ago to move to Dublin, Ireland to get a PhD from Trinity College - which he’s still working toward.  He’s also...

Glenn Miller is a veteran journalist, President of the Southwest Florida Historical Society, a novelist, and he teaches News Literacy at FGCU. Glenn has been in journalism in one way or another since 1972, and is also, "more than 70,000 words into his second novel",  Grabmore, And More . It's a sequel to his first, Grabmore . He says they are "comic crime capers." You can read his blog at glennrmi...

Doug Molloy is a criminal defense attorney in downtown Fort Myers, practicing in both the federal and state criminal justice systems. He was the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for Southwest Florida for 22 years, and has prosecuted or defended every kind of criminal case, from first degree murder, to Colombian drug lords, to mafia hit men, to public officials, etc. He’s continuing his work in the ar...

Put simply, Bob Hilliard is a local living legend. From the time at the end of World War II when he was instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of liberated Jews, to his years in theater, radio and television in New York City, to his decades in public service in Washington where he played a role in the foundation of public broadcasting, to his decades in academia as a college dean and profes...