Mike Kiniry
Producermkiniry@wgcu.org
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.
He became the first producer of Gulf Coast Live when the show launched in 2004, and also worked as the host of All Things Considered from 2004 to 2006, and the host of Morning Edition from 2006 to 2011. He then left public radio to work as PR Director for the Alliance for the Arts for five years, and was then Principled Communicator at the election integrity company Free & Fair for a year before returning to WGCU in October, 2017.
In the past Mike has been a bartender and cook at Liquid Café in downtown Fort Myers, a golf club fixer/seller at the Broken Niblick Golf Shop in Fort Myers, and a bookseller at Ives Book Shop in Fort Myers. He lives near downtown Fort Myers with his daughter, and their dog and two cats.
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Found on the northern end of Marco Island in 1896 during an expedition led by a renowned archeologist named Frank Hamilton Cushing, the Key Marco Cat is considered a true gem — a once in a lifetime, or more, find — discovered during the early days of the science of archeology. Just six inches tall and carved out of some sort of hardwood, the Cat, and the many other objects that were discovered alongside it, represent the most comprehensive and spectacular collection of pre-Columbian Native American material culture ever discovered in Florida. -
Craig Pittman is a native Floridian who has written about Florida and Floridians and them any, shall we say, unique characteristics they both have. He covered environmental issues for the Tampa Bay Times for more than two decades and he now writes a weekly column for the nonprofit newsroom Florida Phoenix, and he co-hosts the “Welcome to Florida” podcast. Pittman is author of “Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country,” and 2020’s “Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther.” He’ll be in town on Wednesday to give a talk about Florida panthers at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples so we get a preview. -
Dr. Raymond DePaulo began as a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1968 and went on to become an M.D. in 1972 and then did his residencies there. He founded the Affective Disorder Clinic in 1977 and these days he’s co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. He was on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus to give a talk for the university’s Provost’s Seminar Series so stopped by the studio for a conversation about his work and career and the changes he’s seen over the past 58 years. He also spoke with the Naples Discussion Group while he was in town. -
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, progressive, and fatal neuromuscular disease for which there is currently no known cure. It typically manifests in mid-to-late adulthood and progresses rapidly with a median survival time of two to five years, though it can sometimes progress faster. It's currently diagnosed through a long process that can often take well over a year. We learn about a new technique developed at the nonprofit Brain Chemistry Labs in Jackson, Wyoming that can diagnose ALS with a simple blood test with 97% accuracy. -
The Center for Inquiry was founded in 1976 by the likes of Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov to investigate what they called ‘extraordinary claims’ being made about things like paranormal activity and UFO abductions — things that fall into the category of pseudoscience. We talk with the center's Director of Education, Bertha Vazquez, about the work she does and the role of science in our lives, and the crucial need for a skeptical mind in the face of information overload. -
Long form journalism and deep dive investigative reporting on local issues have historically been the domain of local newspapers. But as newsrooms have shrunk, gaps have been created — and a new model for local journalism has emerged in response: nonprofit newsrooms, mostly comprised of reporters who once worked for newspapers and other forms of commercial media. We meet the Executive Editor-in Chief of Suncoast Searchlight which focuses on Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto Counties to get a sense of their origin story and mission — and reflect on the state of local news that’s led to the rise of these online, nonprofit news organizations. -
Despite record high stock markets, the Harry Chapin Food Bank of SWFL and its partners are busier than ever because of factors like high food, housing, and health insurance costs — along with cuts to federal programs that help people in need including $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed 38.7 million pounds of food last year. And to keep up with the growing need, they have begun construction of a new 110-thousand-square-foot distribution center and warehouse being built in Fort Myers that will be their new Hunger Action Center. We sit down with the food bank's president and CEO to get a sense of what they’re experiencing right now, and what the new facility will mean for their operations. We also meet the director of one of their partner agencies. -
Emma Pattee is an accomplished climate journalist who’s written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and more. Now we hear from her about her debut novel, Tilt. -
It’s well-known by now that invasive Burmese pythons have become established in the Florida Everglades. And you may have heard of the state’s annual Python Challenge, when hunters compete to remove as many Burmese pythons from the Everglades as possible with prizes going to whoever is most successful. But you may not be aware of the South Florida Water Management District’s Python Elimination Program, which has been around since 2017. This Friday, the head of the district’s Python Program will kick of the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife's 2026 speaker series with a talk all about the program and the impact these large snakes have. We get a preview. -
Narratives of public education in the early United States generally describe the building of a public system designed to allow people to gain knowledge and access to advancement in their lives. But, what’s often left out is the role race has always played at the root of education in America. The new book, “America Grammar: Race, Education, and the Building of a Nation” makes the case that the exploitation of Black and Indigenous people played an essential role in building American education systems all the way back to this country’s founding. We talk with its author to dig into this aspect of American history.
