Three Song Stories

Episode 237 - Mike Swindle

Mike Swindle is Superintendent of Hendry County Schools. A former teacher in Hendry County, Mike was instrumental in growing the Career and Technical Education program that gives opportunities for students and adults in the Hendry region. 

He began his career as a public official in 2013 when was elected as a Hendry County Commissioner, and has been the schools Superintendent since 2020.

Episode 236 - Jason Teeters

Jason Teeters is an Industrial Organizational Psychologist. He's worked with the United Nations, the U.S. Center for Disease Control,  The Rockefeller Foundation, SecondMuse, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the NGO Movember, where he delivered the first ever mental health and wellness program for Black men.

Jason is currently Nurturing Lead at the Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers, where he helps people overcome the emotional, psychological, and technical challenges to successful collaboration.

Episode 235 - Sheldon Zoldan

Sheldon Zoldan has been producing Song of the Day since about 2020. He describes it as part history, part trivia, and all music. In it, he tells a short story every day that ties into music history or historical events and features a song.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Sheldon graduated with a degree in journalism from Ohio State University. In the late 1970s he worked as an editor at Ohio Magazine, which was founded and operated by the infamous Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler Magazine. Sheldon also worked at an experimental cable station called Qube that was kind of like interactive TV before its time.

He returned to print journalism and wound up at the News-Press as a business writer in 1986. He ended up a metro editor and retired from the paper in 2019.

Episode - 234 Andy Spaulding (AKA Alyssa Lemay)

Andy Spaulding is a Southwest-Florida based drag entertainer who performs as Alyssa Lemay, the “comedic, Broadway belting, bingo calling alter ego” of Andy. Originating from Canton, Ohio, Andy is a graduate of Ashland University, with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. 

His alter ego Alyssa has held many titles, including Miss Cape Coral Pride in 2020. Alyssa is frequently a guest judge for local competitions, both drag and non-drag events and often hired to emcee large fundraising events for area charities. 

 

Episode 233 - Brendan Rivers

Brendan Rivers is the lead reporter for ADAPT, which is WJCT’s digital magazine exploring how Northeast Florida is adapting to sea level rise and other effects of climate change. He also hosts the ADAPT podcast.

Brendan originally planned to pursue a career as a composer, arranger, music producer and recording engineer, but he got an internship at WGCU and that convinced him he belongs in broadcasting and public media.

He’s been a Special Projects Producer at WJCT in Jacksonville since 2018. Prior to that he spent time as a reporter and then News Director at Southern Stone Communications, which owns and operates several radio stations in the Daytona Beach area.

Episode 232 - Teen Edition: Kiara Roman

Kiara Roman is a 17-year-old senior theatre major at Cypress Lake High School’s Center for the Arts in Fort Myers, Florida. In her free time Kiara says she loves to watch Marvel movies and tv shows, hang out with friends, including Mike's 17-year-old daughter Guinevere.

Episode 231 - Mark Danni

Mark Danni is the Founding Producing Artistic Director of TheatreZone, a professional Equity theatre company in Naples, Florida and he created and runs the theatre program at The Community School of Naples.

He’s been involved with many Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions as a Director, Music Director, Conductor and Drummer/Percussionist including New York City directing credits for What Would Esther Williams Do In A Situation Like This?, Sea Fever, and Aggravation.

He has conducted National Tours of Les Miserables and Barnum, and as a Drummer/Percussionist, Mark’s Broadway credits include Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun, Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Grand Hotel.

And also he’s been a part of national Tours of The Phantom of the Opera, Fame, Hair, 42nd Street, Nunsense, and the European Tour of Evita; and is a member of The Society for Directors & Choreographers and the American Federation of Musicians.

Episode 230 - Camryn Cole

Camryn Cole is the premier Secretary of Student Organization at FGCU called “Coalition of Collegiate Musicians of Color”, a member of CGO Music International’s Naples-based vocal group “VOYCES”, and is a Voice Major at FGCU. She also studies Music Theatre and Jazz vocal technique and is planning to get her masters in Vocal Pedagogy.

Episode 229 - Jen and Amelia Ford

Jennifer and Amelia Ford are two-thirds of the Fort Myers-based family power trio, The Shytunas. Jennifer has been writing and recording her own songs since she learned how to press Record and Play at the same time. Her daughter, Amelia, will be a 5th grader this year.

Amelia’s a member of the National Elementary Honor Society, an award winning cross country star, wants to be an astronomer when she grows up.

Her father and Jennifer’s husband, Seth Ford, was our guest back in 2019 and he rounds out The Shytunas lineup.

Episode 228 - Michaela Berres

Michaela Berres is a junior at FGCU studying music therapy. She has been studying as a musician since she was 13 years old, originally training in jazz, songwriting, and musical theatre. Earlier this year she came into the studio with a group of musicians studying under the FGCU Bower School of Music’s Director of Jazz Studies Brandon Robertson (Ep 93) to perform live on our radio show Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition with John Davis.

Episode 227 - Radu Paponiu

Radu Paponiu is the new Artistic and Music Director of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. He’s also Associate Conductor of the Naples Philharmonic, and Music Director of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

Since 2017, Radu has conducted the Naples Philharmonic in more than 100 different classical, education and pops programs. He’s been a guest conductor with orchestras around the world including the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the North Carolina Symphony. 

He got his Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music. While in Boston, he was also conductor apprentice with the Handel and Haydn Society. 

Episode 226 - Randall Kenneth Jones

Randall Kenneth Jones is an author, podcaster, actor, and public speaker. Over the years he has interviewed more than 100 people of note, both for the Naples Daily News and for his podcast JONES.SHOW, which he produces with Susan C. Bennett (the original voice of Siri), including Erin Brockovich, Pat Benatar, Brian Boitano, Rita Rudner, Shirley Jones, Suze Orman, Vanessa Williams and many more.

His book, “Show Me: Celebrities, Business Tycoons, Rock Stars, Journalists, Humanitarians, Attack Bunnies & More!” was published in late 2016, and this fall, his first fiction book, “Ruby,” will be published by Mark Victor Hansen of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” fame.

Episode 225 - Janine Zeitlin

Janine Zeitlin is an investigative and enterprise journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida. She has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vice and BBC. Her journalism has received more than 50 state and national awards. Her reporting on Florida farmworkers and migrant students during the pandemic was recently honored by the national Association of Health Care Journalists and the national Education Writers Association.

Episode 244 - Juliana Morgan Alvarez

Juliana Morgan Alvarez is an actor, artist, and theatre-maker. Born and raised in Miami, FL, she began performing at a young age with the Miami Ballet and acting in various theatre productions. After graduating college, Juliana moved to Los Angeles and continued acting, performing with her improv group, the Knife Kids, and producing science documentaries. 

Juliana has traveled throughout the United States working on different projects such as a feature film, The Veteran, and the performance art & installation piece, One Island produced by the Ghostbird Theatre Company.

Episode 223 - Scott Miller

Scott Miller comes from a radio background as his father was a DJ in Toledo when he was growing up. He spent 4 years in the United States Coast Guard, and has worked in radio for the last 29 years in both management and sales roles. For the past 9 years he’s been a resident of Southwest Florida and worked as a Sales Manager for iHeart Media before joining WGCU as Associate General Manager of business partnerships and corporate investments.

Episode 222 - Fernando López Flores

Fernando López Flores was one of the people responsible for the international initiative Musica para Respirar, or Music to Breathe 24/7 program, that provided more than 3,000 free virtual concerts for healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients in more than 55 countries.

Fernando is also co-founder of the Con Fuoco Bolivian Pianists Society and has been a member of the Bolivian Chamber Music Society since 2015, and is a former student of the San Ignacio de Moxos Baroque Music School, where he was selected to be the only protege of renowned Bolivian pianist Elizabeth Schwimmer. 

He was also the creator and artistic director of the artistic installation, The Music Forest, at FGCU which merged the Bower School of Music & the Arts with the FGCU Food Forest, which is a student-run botanical garden on campus. 

Episode 221 - Stephen Cavitt

Stephen Cavitt teaches English and creative writing at FGCU and he’s led groups around the world, from the back trails of the Appalachians to the streets of Shanghai. Stephen has also taught for Duke University, the University of Tennessee, Georgia College, and Chattanooga State Community College.

Episode 220 - Mike Walcher

Mike Walcher worked for 42 years as an anchor and reporter in radio and TV News, almost always as a hard and breaking news reporter, covering things like the police beat, courts, politics, and local government.

Mike retired from broadcasting at the end of 2016 and immediately started teaching journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University. He’s currently teaching the new Democracy Watch course and fellowships at FGCU and is working closely with us here at WGCU.

Episode 219 - Pat Mitchell

Pat Mitchell is a filmmaker and has made 4 films, including his latest, a feature called “Apples, Oranges, Lemons & Limes” which will be screened Saturday, May 21st, 2022 at the Fort Myers Film Festival in downtown Fort Myers. Other than films, Pat also produces music, mostly these days for his brother Freddie Forward who is a Southwest Florida-based hip hop artist.

Pat was born in the Bronx and raised in Yonkers, New York. He’s lived in Florida for about 15 years now. Pat says his current mindset is to grow and challenge himself more than ever, and that while he loves finishing a film his goal is always to make treasured memories along the way with his casts and crews.

Episode 218 - Samantha Romero

Born in Venezuela, Samantha Romero immigrated to Miami, FL in to 2006, and is now a journalism student at FGCU. She’s also a reporter at WGCU, and produces Noticias de WGCU en Español – a weekly news round up produced at WGCU and aired on Radio Conciencia, a community radio station in Immokalee, FL. Sam also works at WINK News where she edits video, and does photography for FGCU. 

Sam also produces music, documentary film, knits sweaters, and even breeds butterflies.