John Davis
Host, Reporter, Assistant News Directorjrdavis@wgcu.org
John Davis has been a Reporter/Producer for WGCU since 2007. For more than a decade he served as the local host for NPR’s Morning Edition. He currently serves as producer and host of WGCU’s radio talk program Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition with John Davis. Prior to joining WGCU, he worked at WDUQ-FM in Pittsburgh, PA (now WESA) covering local government and general assignments. John studied journalism at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Florida Gulf Coast University. His work has garnered awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and a first-place award and “Best in Show” from the Florida Associated Press for his investigative work in 2011. Davis helped lead news team coverage around the clock during Hurricane Irma in 2017, which won a National Edward R. Morrow Award. More recently, his election and political coverage has garnered awards from the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists.
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Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts is mounting the world-premiere production of “The Last Show,” written and performed by actor, playwright and screenwriter Derek Lively. Ahead of opening night we get a preview from Lively and the production’s director and Conspiracy Theatre Founding Artistic Director Bill Taylor. -
Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist Dr. Ray DePaulo delivers talk titled "Depression: The Invisible Pandemic"A conversation with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Psychiatrist Dr. Ray DePaulo, M.D., ahead of his recent talk through the FGCU Provost Lecture Series and the Naples Discussion Group titled, “Depression: The Invisible Pandemic.” -
The tragic loss, last summer, of the incomparable trumpet player Dan Miller has left a huge void in the jazz world. We preview this coming weekend’s “Celebration of Love and Life” tribute concert and learn about how his legacy will continue through the Dan Miller Jazz Foundation in a conversation with his long-time significant other Judi Woods. We also hear selections from a previous episode of this program featuring Dan Miller performing live in studio. -
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, dancer, band leader, and composer Gunhild Carling will perform Friday, Feb. 24 in the Grand Atrium of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center as part of the center’s “Jazzy Nights” music series. We talk with Carling about her remarkable musical upbringing, her affinity for American jazz music from the 1920s and 30s, and her approach to performing and composing new music. -
A conversation with Southwest Florida Symphony Maestro Radu Paponiu and Outreach Ambassador Robert Van Winkle about the orchestra’s upcoming concert featuring world-renown violinist Gil Shaham performing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto in G Minor. The Masterworks series concert, Saturday, Jan. 28, also includes the overture to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. We’ll take a deeper dive into the music and the historical context behind each piece. -
Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers is mounting the Florida premiere production of the courtroom drama “Faceless.” The play, based on true events, concerns the trial of a young white American woman radicalized into Islamic extremism online and charged with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism and the Muslim attorney chosen to prosecute the case. We hear from two actors in the show: Sharon Isern and Matt Flynn. -
A retrospective exhibition of works by Naples-based artist Carmelo Blandino comes to the Wasmer Art Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University Jan. 17 – March 2. We talk with the artist himself along with co-curators of the exhibition, FGCU Art Gallery Director John Loscuito and founding Director of “Method and Concept” Chad Jensen. -
An influx of visitors and residents this time of year typically means more activity in hospitals, but Lee Health is experiencing a record-high number of hospitalized patients, prompting health system officials to urge people with only minor injuries or illnesses to avoid going to the ER and seek alternative paths to care. -
COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across the Lee Health System have more than doubled over the past month amid a nationwide surge in coronavirus infections. Naples Community Hospital Healthcare System (NCH) and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) report experiencing a similar uptick, although the number of COVID patients requiring ICU-level care remains low. -
We talk with Earthjustice Oceans Program Senior Attorney Chris Eaton about the ongoing legal battle to protect Rice’s whales from extinction. The species small population of under 100 animals lives year-round in the northeaster Gulf of Mexico where they face threats from ocean noise, marine vessel traffic, oil and gas activity, and the threat of future oil spills.
