PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A Farewell from WGCU's All Things Considered Host

Live from WGCU News, I’m Rachel Iacovone, and today is the last time you’ll hear me say that.

I am moving to the morning shift to be the John Davis (aka Morning Edition host) at WPLN – the NPR station in Nashville, Tennessee.

I’m telling you this because, you dear listeners, have been with me for the last three years from my start as a student reporter to my time as producer of Gulf Coast Live to now as your All Things Considered host.

I have enjoyed riding with you on every commute home, on every trip to the grocery store and on every weekend weather forecast.

Because of your listenership  in my both long and short time here, you supported a total 13 awards from me – from Edward R. Murrows to Associated Press Awards to PRNDIs.

And, they all came from covering your communities, whether that was recovery efforts in Everglades City after Hurricane Irma or the soaring graduation rate at Immokalee High School. Don’t even get me started on Pickleball.

Your stories I will carry with me for the rest of not only my career – but the rest of my life. Siempre te llevo en mi corazón.

Southwest Florida is the only home I’ve ever known, and no distance will ever change that.

In what feels like a shameless plug now, I have to mention my Twitter in case you want to keep up with me after today. It’s just my name, as you’ve heard me spell so many times now on air. It’s @racheliacovone. That’s I-A-C-O-V-O-N-E.

And, now, one last time, everybody. Say it with me. “This is WGCU News.”

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.