Monday through Thursday at 1 & 9PMHosted by Mike KiniryGulf Coast Life is a locally produced talk show that strives to connect listeners to the people, places, and things that make Southwest Florida unique.Produced & Hosted by: Mike KiniryContributing Hosts: John Davis, Cary Barbor, and Tara CalliganFacebook: WGCU Public MediaTwitter: twitter.com/wgcu - #GCL
Hope Eternal Gardens in Punta Gorda become Charlotte County's first certified arboretum
Hope Eternal Gardens in Punta Gorda became Southwest Florida's first natural burial cemetery when it opened in 2024. Now, it's also Charlotte County's first accredited Level One Arboretum. That means they've met specific professional standards for curating, maintaining, and labeling the trees and woody plants on site for public benefit, research, and education. We learn about the cemetery, what it means to be an arboretum, and how the Museum of Trees works and where it fits into the story of gaining Level I Arboretum accreditation.
20 Oct 2026
Encore: New book highlights the 0.1% of old-growth cypress swamps left in the American South
An exhibit featuring large format prints of Mac Stone's photographs goes up next week along the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. It's one of the remaining old-growth swamps the award-winning conservation photographer and a National Geographic Explorer featured in his new book is "Cypress: The Last Old-Growth Swamps." We revisit our conversation with him about the new book recorded in August.
19 Oct 2026
Remembering Nick Penniman with a conversation about sugar and its impact on the environment, human health, and the economy
Nick Penniman passed away on Sept. 29 at the age of 88. Mr. Penniman began his career as a journalist, first at the Illinois State Journal-Register before joining the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1975, where he rose to be publisher for 14 years. Here in Southwest Florida, Penniman was chair emeritus of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and a trustee of the Everglades Foundation. He was also chair emeritus of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and a Florida Master Naturalist, and he served on 33 nonprofit boards over the course of his life, including the Florida Center for Government Accountability. He was also a lifelong advocated for freedom of the press and the crucial role trustworthy news was to maintaining a healthy democracy. We revisit a conversation we had with him in 2021 when he released his book, “On the Knife: A History of Sugar in Florida.”
Who has been a guest on Gulf Coast Life
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Campaign leader
Dan Moser
Jeff Edwards
Ricardo Skerrett
Industry experts
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
12,334,145
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 77 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
89
Social presence
0
YouTube
93
Engagement
68
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