Episodes
-
Many people know Matt Morgan for his days as a wrestler taking on opponents like Ric Flair.
Morgan said Flair stepped out of retirement to help him launch his career to the next level.
Following his wrestling career, Morgan has stepped into a new arena. He is now the Deputy Mayor of Longwood and is using his position to help people with autism find the resources they need.
During a recording of Florida’s Fourth Estate, Morgan told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden his son Jackson has helped spur his passion.
“He was diagnosed as non-verbal autistic,” Morgan said. “He pushes and nudges us in the direction of things that he wants.”
He said his son and others on the spectrum experience the world differently. As Morgan and his wife have worked to provide Jackson with the resources he needs he said they found many great things worth sharing.
So the couple is bringing those resources together this weekend during the Second Annual Longwood Walk for Autism and Inclusion.
He said not only will families have the opportunity to come out and enjoy therapy pets and cartoon characters, but they will also be connected with more than 50 Central Florida vendors that cater to people who are neurodiverse.
The event is free.
It will be held Saturday, April 27 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Reiter Park in Longwood.
You can learn more about the event and Morgan’s career as a wrestler on Florida’s Fourth Estate.
You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Michelle Armogida loves spending time outdoors tending to her farm in Brevard County, but she never imagined she would be spending three weeks outside with a complete stranger.
Armogida said it all started when she and her husband were watching their favorite TV show.
“Every time we would watch he would say, ‘Oh my gosh babe, you are so much better than these people. Why don’t you sign up?’ And at first I was like, ‘Ha ha very funny,’ but after he had said it multiple times, I finally went, ‘Well he’s not wrong.’ So then I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to sign up.’ It was a super quick, five-minute, I didn’t even fill out the entire application. I submitted it just to get him off my back. Had no hopes of ever being contacted.”
Then she said the producers from “Naked and Afraid” actually reached out.
“They sent me an email and I thought it was a scam, I thought it was like fake,” said Armogida.
She figured out, it was legit and soon after she was dropped off in South Africa with a stranger, sans clothes. The new duo was left to create their own shelter, hunt for food and survive for 21 days.
Armogida told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on Florida’s Fourth Estate her unique upbringing prepared her for the opportunity.
“I grew up in Western Washington on a small homestead where we grew our own food and we were just backed up to the forest where my brothers and sisters and I would go out into the forest barefoot all day every day and we’d build forts and we would find food to eat that, who knows, didn’t kill me, I’m still here today. And we would just live as like wild forest children. So, I’m very comfortable in that environment,” Armogida said.
She also told Matt and Ginger she was a hiker for many years and knows how to identify food in the wild.
“I have a long extensive background in wild edible identification and foraging, mushrooming as well. I am also a huntress,” Armogida said.
Since her interview on Florida’s Fourth Estate, Armogida announced her next big challenge to premiere on Discovery Channel will be on Naked and Afraid XL. That show will be available on May 12 on Discovery Channel. Her previous show can also be streamed on Max and Discovery+.
Learn more about Armogida’s military service, farm in Mims, and what it was like to survive in South Africa for three weeks on Florida’s Fourth Estate. The podcast is available from wherever you listen to podcasts and anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Episodes manquant?
-
When people think about hopping on a cruise ship they think about driving to the coast, boarding a boat, and setting sail, but, now you can enjoy the water while staying inland by hopping aboard the Barbara Lee.
It is a 1986 river ship that takes people through Lake Monroe and into the St. John’s River.
It can fit up to 300 people and if you come out on a Friday night, the new owner said you can enjoy the experience for as little as $25.
Michelle Wyatt recently purchased the St. Johns Rivership Co. with the goal of letting more people know about the hidden gem. She said it has been in operation for 40 years, but only started offering tickets online since she purchased it.
Wyatt told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on Florida’s Fourth Estate owning a piece of Florida history is a point of pride for her.
“Steamboats, riverships have been in Sanford for over 100 years now and the fact that we are the last one really speaks to me,” Wyatt said.
She also enjoys the fact that people visit her to celebrate life’s biggest milestones.
“We have had a number of people married on the boat that come back year after year to celebrate their anniversary,” Wyatt said.
She said birthday celebrations are also popular aboard the Barbara Lee.
“We had three centenarians on the same cruise, celebrating their Birthday, it was 100, 102, and 105,” Wyatt said.
Cruises range from two to four hours and if you are lucky you may even spot some unique wildlife.
“We actually have bull sharks in this river. They suspect that they come in to give birth and then they head back out to the ocean, but yes there are bullsharks in this water especially if they have young,” Wyatt said,
Wyatt said guests also enjoy seeing manatee and osprey. She is renovating the ship but said she is also holding on to the history that attracted her to it in the first place.
“The words we are going for is ‘historical elegance.’ You know that old Florida feel which is encompassed by the paddle wheels and obviously the decoration throughout it, and the lighting.”
You can get your ticket to hop onboard the Barbara Lee here.
You can also learn more about the boat, how you can get behind the wheel and the woman who left a tech career to run this unique operation on Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Sanford is charming and inviting. It boasts a growing craft beer scene and enough restaurants and small shops to keep you engaged all weekend long.
But, the original plans for the city were much larger.
Brigitte Stephenson is the museum curator at the Sanford Museum. She talked to Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on Florida’s Fourth Estate about what almost was.
“Henry Sanford originally came down here in Florida and realized after the American Civil War that Florida was probably going to be a place that’s going to rebound, mainly because of citrus,” she said.
Sanford had a wealth of knowledge about the citrus industry and was even inducted into the Citrus Hall of Fame for his experimental gardens and groves.
So when he came to the area that is now named in his honor, he thought it was the perfect spot to design a city because it was the end of the line for riverboats on the St. John’s River.
“We were going to become the gateway city. The idea was that we would be the gateway to South Florida,” Stephenson said.
For a while, Stephenson said Sanford was the major Central Florida town in the area thanks in part to investors in the United Kingdom pouring into Henry Sanford’s Florida Land and Colonization Company.
But she said, “There are several different factors for why we didn’t become what Orlando is today.”
One reason is people who were focused on agriculture didn’t want to grow.
She said another is because, “We had a mayor on the eve of the great recession, turns out he was embezzling money.”
The fact that Henry Flagler built a railroad system to the Keys also cut into the plan of establishing Sanford as the gateway to the South.
Still, the town continued to establish itself as a citrus hub, despite controversy within the workforce.
“Henry Sanford tries originally hiring the local population, he does not think they do a good job and fires them. Then he tries bringing in people who were formerly enslaved, that were Black from Monticello, Florida in this area. Now, most of the people he fired before were white and very upset that they viewed these people were taking their jobs and tried to conduct a series of basically intimidation and murder to drive out these workers in the area,” Stephenson said.
She pointed out, “That’s the reason we have Georgetown, which is a historically Black community that was recently inducted in the National Register.”
To help overcome this issue, Henry Sanford brought in Swedish workers.
“Underneath the contract labor law, he is able to bring in Swedes and they have to work for him for five years and that would pay for their room, and boarding, and passage and they would eventually get a little bit of property in what is the area that we call New Upsala.”
After overcoming the heat, Stephenson said those families quickly assimilated and pointed out you will still meet a lot of people with Swedish last names in the area.
“But unfortunately, we had a freeze in 1895 and 1896 that destroyed our citrus industry and instead of being like, ‘Welp, I give up,’ the people of Sanford decided to do another luxury crop and they chose celery,” Stephenson said.
You wouldn’t know it, based on prices today, but Stephenson said, “It used to be considered one of the most expensive vegetables” and that “You can actually look at old hotel menus, like The Waldorf, and it’s like blanched celery is as much as like filet mignon or something like that, it’s wild.”
However, the celery gold mine also fizzled out after Stephenson said farmers over-inflated the industry to the point celery was no longer considered a unique commodity.
Despite the fact Sanford didn’t become everything Henry Sanford planned for it to become, Stephenson said it’s still a great place to call home.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Dr. Joseph Dituri’s story of spending 100 days underwater gained worldwide attention back in June when he resurfaced from the Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, shattering former record attempts.
Now we are learning more about the health benefits that came along with that study.
The retired Navy diver and Executive Director of the International Board of Undersea Medicine said being underwater for so long was like being in a hyperbaric chamber.
He told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on the Florida’s Fourth Estate podcast that being nestled about 30 feet under the lagoon for more than three months, reversed the age of his DNA.
“I’m 56 now. My extrinsic age was 44. When I got out of the water my extrinsic age was 34. So my telomeres lengthened, I actually got younger when I was under the water,” Dituri said.
To better explain how it works, Dituri explained, “On the end of your chromosome, you have these little extensions.... and every time you replicate this, the telomere shrinks, shrinks, shrinks, shrinks, shrinks... let’s just say you get one-thousand replications. That’s all you get. When the telomeres are gone, you have no more ability to replicate, that’s called cell death... so that is truly the world-class definition of aging. But, if you can make that telomere longer you can actually extend life.”
He said 9 months later his telomeres are still longer than they otherwise would be.
Those aren’t the only benefits.
Dituri said he also had 17 times the number of stem cells as usual and a reduction in pain which was likely associated with the fact that his inflamatory markers were reduced by 50%.
He said these kinds of results are promising but not altogether surprising.
He said hyperbaric treatment has been used for hundreds of years and is currently being used to treat people with brain injuries and PTSD because of its ability to help with cognitive issues.
However, the treatment is not open to everyone.
He said people interested in getting it do need a prescription from a doctor and treatments can start at $250 per hour.
You can learn more about the results of Dituri’s time underwater for 100 days and the following research that took him into weightlessness on Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Some of the most recognizable names in golf used to walk the greens at Rio Pinar Golf.
Now the new owners are hoping they will inspire the next golf greats to get their start in East Orange County with their family at their side.
Gregor Tilch-Jensen and his wife recently bought Rio Pinar Golf and the duo isn’t wasting any time breathing new life into the historic golf course.
If the walls could talk they would probably tell you all about the Florida Citrus Open.
“It was a great event they hosted here with an unbelievable winner’s list, from Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Julius Boros, all Hall of Famers and people who tried to win here and never did, Sam Sneade, Jack Nicklaus, they were here, couldn’t do it.”
But, the walls would also tell you about the new owners’ plans to go beyond that history.
Tilch-Jensen stood on the green telling the hosts of Florida’s Fourth Estate that he sees this location as less “members only” and more community.
“We want to be a destination for families,” Tilch-Jensen said.
He said he is bringing new technology to his hitting bays, building a pickleball court and re-furbishing one of his tennis courts.
The amateur golfer turned instructor, turned golf course owner told hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden that creating a space where parents and kids can play together is near and dear to his heart.
“My kids love golf as well. My wife and I met on a golf course. It’s just part of our life, it always has been,” Tilch-Jensen said.
He admitted it’s not as popular of a sport in his home country of Germany, but once he got a hold of a golf club, he fell in love and wanted to introduce that passion to the next generation of golf enthusiasts.
To do that he said he has developed a long-term plan, which involves moving his wife and their children to Central Florida. He said he is committed to making Rio Pinar Golf a success again.
“You want to make it work and you don’t want to let down the people you love the most,” he said.
His wife is fully onboard and has focused on helping to redesign the interior of the golf course’s clubhouse.
“It’s not really like a golf club, it’s really loungy-modern, which is located at a golf course. Leaving the former Champions’ Room, which is now the Oak Room, just modernize that a little bit, which you still have the history part of it and still have the trophy from Arnold Palmer in it, but that’s a separate space, so now again, everyone feels comfortable,” he said.
To learn more about Tilch-Jensen’s plans for Rio Pinar Golf check out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts and watch it anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Lou Holtz is famous for his incredible college coaching career, which included leading six different programs to bowl games, helping the Fighting Irish secure 100 wins, and then embarking on an enviable career as a sports analyst.
When you get into a room with him, he is as humble, funny and sincere as they come.
News 6 Insiders and other viewers were invited into the room as Florida’s Fourth Estate hosted a live recording with Holtz at Miller’s Ale House in Winter Park Village.
He talked to podcast hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden about what keeps him humble, his time coaching Notre Dame, and the current state of college football.
Austin asked, “I’m fascinated, coach, to ask you where you think college football is headed, because as a fan it’s been frustrating to see these teams — it seems like the players I root for one year are gone the next year, money is playing a big role, what are your thoughts on how college football is going?”
“I think an athlete should be paid if he works at McDonald’s, but not to go to college. Not to go to college. You go to college to get an education. It’s a 40-year decision, not four. You pick out the school you want to be part of the rest of your life, and you go do that, and to get paid for that is setting the wrong perspective,” Holtz said.
He said he made $95,000 a year at Notre Dame, but feels the approach to coaching and playing has changed since he was on the field.
“I think that coaches followed the money, then the players are following the money, now the schools are following the money,” Holtz said. “Florida State is talking about leaving the ACC, because the SEC just got $51 million per team.”
When it comes to the transfer portal, Holtz called it the “worst thing that’s ever happened.”
“There is nothing wrong with being patient and proven, waiting your turn, and being ready when you get that opportunity,” he said.
According to Holtz, hopping from college to college is not what football is all about, and that it is causing fans — including himself — to turn away from the sport.
“I’m starting to lose interest in it because I can’t tell who plays for who,” Holtz said.
However, he said he remains optimistic something will be done to slow athletes from jumping from team to team so often.
When he talks about his time as a coach, you can tell Holtz is still passionate about making an impact. He said that if given the opportunity today, “I would like to coach anywhere that I could do it physically.”
And if he was at the helm again, he wouldn’t be taking it easy.
Holtz told News 6 Insiders, “The biggest mistake that leaders make and parents make... they lower the standards for their children to try to keep them happy. What you do is raise the standard then teach them how to reach that standard.”
He said part of that is focusing on the details.
“You win because you do the little things the right way. Everybody does big things, winners do the little things. The shoe was lost, the horse was lost, because the horse was lost, the rider was lost, because the rider was lost, the message was lost, because the message was lost the battle was lost, because the battle was lost the war was lost, because of the little thing,” Holtz said.
As for the coaches coming after him, he freely shared what helped him to be a success. Holtz said when he accepted the head coaching job at Notre Dame he was told leadership involved having a vision for where you want the organization to go, leading by example, and holding people accountable for the choices they make.
He said throughout his life he chose to prioritize his faith, his family, and then football.
“I don’t care what you achieve in this world, I don’t care how much money you make, if you aren’t successful as a husband and a father, you failed,” he said.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
News 6 anchors Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden debuted Florida’s Fourth Estate on Oct. 10, 2018.
They said when they realized how good their chemistry was on the news set, they started thinking of a fun way to get stories to people outside of the traditional newscast.
They sat down in a conference room, started talking about the headlines in our state, pulled out a cell phone and started recording. They soon realized those off-the-cuff conversations about the things that interested them would be a good way for others to stay informed when they weren’t in front of the TV.
And Florida’s Fourth Estate was born.
Now, more than five years later, they are celebrating their 200th episode and taking a look back at some of their favorite moments.
That includes an interview with a researcher who spent 100 days underwater only to find out all of that pressure left him half an inch shorter. Months after shooting that episode they learned, he had not regained that height.
Another favorite is a young inventor who created a visor with the potential to help up to 2.2 billion people who struggle with vision problems. It uses haptic feedback to alert users they are approaching something so they can have better mobility without using a cane. Since that interview, Tiffani Gay has announced she is working to help other young inventors bring their ideas to fruition.
No one can forget the Fruitland Park cowboy, Clayton Sellars, and how he made Ginger swoon as he shared highlights from his bull riding career. Ginger said she has no regrets about asking Sellars about his swagger and even bought Matt the same hat Sellars wore in the interview during a Christmas gift exchange.
They have talked to several celebrities during their time on the podcast, but one of their favorites was Carrot Top. The Winter Park native has been making people laugh in Las Vegas for years and had Matt and Ginger cracking up too, but the duo said they were also impressed with how down-to-earth he is and how generous he was with his time.
Check out some of their other favorite moments over the years on Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Whether it’s off-the-wall weird or business-related, anytime there is a question about the theme parks, especially Disney World, News 6 producer Ken Pilcher has the answer.
He is not only a lifelong Floridian and Disney historian, but he also helped bring you all the special coverage News 6 had on Disney’s 50th anniversary. Add to that his mom was the woman at the center of coordinating Walt Disney’s announcement that the theme park was coming to Central Florida and it’s clear Disney is in Pilcher’s blood.
So, Florida’s Fourth Estate hosts Matt Austin, and Ginger Gadsden invited him on the podcast to separate fact from fiction and debunk some of the craziest myths they have heard about The Most Magical Place on Earth.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Gerardo Bloise took the stand in the Casey Anthony murder trial to discuss evidence he processed from her car.
He told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on the Florida’s Fourth Estate podcast that it smelled like something was decomposing in the vehicle.
He said this case is something that has weighed heavy on him for years and by writing a book about it he hopes to let people see evidence that was “never explained at trial”.
He said that includes, “How long Caylee was inside the trunk, what really killed Caylee, and why the human remains were found in the wooded area near the Casey Anthony residence, those questions, right now I have the answers for everybody, that never was told, in my book.”
Bloise stressed there was a lot of evidence that was never presented at trial. But, that the evidence that he presented was enough for the jury to convict Anthony of murder.
“In my opinion we didn’t fail, in my opinion the jurors failed our community, failed Caylee,” Bloise said.
He said he hopes the pictures, timelines, and descriptions in “CSI The Casey Anthony Child Murder Case” will help the public to come to a more fully educated decision on the case and that they will stand in stark contrast to some of the statements Casey has made in the public since she was found not guilty.
“Casey is a pathological liar”, she proved to this community that she lied and lied and lied. She was a liar and is still a liar,” said Bloise.
The former investigator for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said during his time as a law enforcement officer he had to be objective, but now as a private citizen he feels her words have been anything but honest.
Bloise said in addition to shedding new light on the case his book will help get results for missing children through the The Missing Child Project.
You can learn more about the case and Bloise’s book on Florida’s Fourth Estate. Hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden have also spoken to the judge at the center of the case. Both episodes are available now. Just download the episodes from wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to Florida’s Fourth Estate anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Curt and Jeannie Bartholomew’s jobs are anything but ordinary.
They are both competitive skydivers with a combined 22,500 jumps and belong to a DeLand-based team with the most world titles in the history of the sport.
So, what exactly is competitive skydiving?
“It’s called canopy piloting and our slang term for that is called swooping,” Jeannie Bartholomew told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on the Florida’s Fourth Estate podcast.
“Basically we take the smallest parachutes that they make and we dive them at the ground going 100 miles per hour, bring the parachute out of the dive, go across the water and navigate different courses over a body of water and basically we have four different events that we compete in.”
They start at a much lower altitude than regular skydivers and say it takes about two-and-a-half minutes from jump to touching the ground.
Curt Bartholomew has the most individual world titles in the event.
“This is one of the best places to skydive in the country,” said Bartholomew. He points to Florida’s year-round warmth for being the reason he decided to stay in the Sunshine State after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Jeannie Bartholomew wanted to skydive since she was six years old after seeing her older sister do a tandem jump.
“When I saw the video, I started making my own parachutes out of sheets, blankets, pillowcases, Mary Poppins umbrella — I jumped off of everything and drove my parents crazy,” said Bartholomew.
Even with their room of medals and trophies, the Bartholomews do not earn a living off competitive skydiving.
Most of their paid gigs involve coaching, tandem jumps, shooting videos and training with the military in Sebastian, FL.
You can learn more about the Bartholomews’ competitive skydiving career, including the technique behind their 18-person jump in Dubai on Florida’s Fourth Estate. Just download the episodes from wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to Florida’s Fourth Estate anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Bob Brown, the owner of Brown’s Taxidermy, started stuffing birds and other animals back in the 1970s, but he quickly realized mounting fish for people making big catches on chartered boats here in Florida was a more lucrative business.
At first, he said he did taxidermy the old-school way.
“A lot of times when they would bring us fish, we were just beginning, so we would make molds off of the original fish, which entailed taking the guts out of the fish and stuffing it back with some sawdust so it would take its shape again, then we would pose it in sand, put Plaster of Paris around the edges, once that plaster dries, we would actually fiberglass the fish.”
Once the fiberglass mold was finished they would throw out the fish, create a replica, and then mount that for their clients.
Now after decades of working in the business, Brown said he has accumulated about five thousand molds. So, instead of having fishermen bring in their catch, they can just take a picture, measure the fish, and send him the details.
After that Brown and his sons get to work. They create the shape, paint, seal and mount the fish replicas, then ship them all over the world.
Brown said his new way of doing business is gaining in popularity for many reasons.
“It’s been a big selling point for conservation these days with the dwindling of the fish stocks,” he said.
His business plan allows people to preserve their memories when they are doing catch-and-release fishing. Brown said he plans to pass his business, located just across the street from the port at Cape Canaveral, down to his sons.
To learn more about Brown’s Taxidermy check out Florida’s Fourth Estate.
You can download the app from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Like many people, Lauren Irving first experienced the circus as a child.
“I remember watching the trapeze act, and the smell of the popcorn and just the lights, you know, everything and how I felt. I felt so inspired,” Irving said.
Little did she know, years later, that she would be helping to lead that show.
She told Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on Florida’s Fourth Estate she is one of three people who helps to guide the audience through the experience.
She plays the character of Aria but said she gets to bring a lot of her personality into the role as well.
She said her experience doing a Broadway show on the Norwegian Cruise Line, and performing at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando prepared her for the position.
Beyond her current role, she said she is also trying to learn to juggle because she is inspired by all of the talent around her.
The show — which used to feature a variety of animals, including elephants — has changed its act and now focuses on what Irving called “human ability.”
She said it brings together people from dozens of countries pushing themselves to their limits to bring a smile to the people who come out and watch them perform.
The acts include a record-breaking unicyclist, musicians, tightrope walkers, jugglers and more.
Irving said she loves to see how much everybody is enjoying it, much like she did as a young girl.
“You see people who you can tell they have been to Ringling before and then they are bringing their children,” she said
“The Greatest Show on Earth” will be in Orlando at the Kia Center from Jan. 12-15. Tickets are on sale starting at $25.
To learn more about the woman helping to keep the new and re-imagined circus running smoothly, and about Matt’s secret skills that could qualify him as a circus performer check out Florida’s Fourth Estate.
You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch it anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Walt Disney World is part of the fabric of Florida, but did you know the theme park almost ended up in St. Louis instead of Orlando?
University of Central Florida History professor Dr. Jim Clark said Walt Disney had his eye on the “Show Me” state well before he began eyeing the “Sunshine State”.
But a fight over beer changed everything.
After successfully introducing the public to Disneyland in California, Clark said Disney was looking for a second location.
The animation mogul considered Niagra Falls and another area near Washington, D.C.
“They seemed to settle on St. Louis for a different kind of attraction, kind of incorporating the city and the Mississippi and Walt got into a disagreement with Augie Busch — the family that owned Anheuser-Busch, makers of Busch beer and Budweiser — and basically Augie Busch said to Walt, ‘Hey you are not coming to St. Louis if you are not serving beer,’ and he wanted the beer concession and Walt said, ‘We are not going to serve any beer or liquor in the Magic Kingdom’ and it kind of went downhill from there. And literally, they had the dinner the night before, Augie Busch made a comment, and they were supposed to sign the papers the next morning, and Walt called it off, so it was that close.”
Clark said Busch was greatly insulted.
“That was his thing. I mean, he had the beer concession for the football teams, for the baseball teams, and here was this major thing coming to St. Louis telling him, ‘No, we don’t want your product in our theme park,’” Clark said.
But Disney wasn’t budging.
“Walt was worried that it was going to end up kinda like a carnival or a county fair or something like that and he did not want drinking in his park,” Clark said.
To learn more about how Disney chose Orlando over other cities competing for the theme park check out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
If you still haven’t finished your Christmas shopping, you are not alone, but with just days left until the holiday, the clock is ticking.
So, Florida’s Fourth Estate hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden are helping you identify some of the top gifts people are asking for this year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Sheriff Mike Chitwood gets real about his journey to becoming a law enforcement officer.
He talks about how his relationship with his own Dad influenced his choice, why he is not afraid to take on controversial issues, and how his family has been impacted by his job.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Waterfalls, koi ponds, trails, cliffs and exotic plants are just some of the things you will see inside the epic backyard tucked away in the small Florida town of Williston.
Dr. Raymond Webber said he initially wanted a fish pond, but, his vision for a backyard oasis kept expanding.
Now, 32 years after discovering an abandoned lime rock quarry, he has established a peaceful garden fit for a king.
Though it was originally designed as a place to relax and entertain friends, word quickly got out.
Brenda Standridge helps manage the property.
“Locals, all the master gardeners kinda were hearing about it and were coming out on their own and visiting while it was his private property,” she said.
Then, after more people caught wind, and said they wanted to see it too, Webber turned his backyard into a non-profit and opened it up as Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens.
Standridge said even at 80 years old, Webber walks the property six days a week to check on and plant more plants.
“He wants to make sure there is beauty year-round,” Standridge said.
The gardeners on the property said it all looks natural, but all of it is manmade and manicured.
To reward those who help maintain the property, Webber has named certain parts of the gardens after the men and women who have helped bring them to life.
That includes Jesse’s Japanese Maple Garden.
If you would like to visit the property, you can get a ticket here.
Adults are $12.00, children are $7.00, and children under five years old are free.
If you would like to help preserve the garden and educate others about it Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens is also inviting people to donate to their “Raise the Roof” campaign.
You can also learn more about the epic backyard turned public garden on Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch it anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Kim and Penn Holderness pulled on their Christmas Jammies 10 years ago and churned out a viral video many still remember a decade later.
They teamed up with their two young kids, Lola and Penn Charles, to rap about all the things that made 2013 special for them.
Today, they are still making videos, but they are also releasing books, games, and merch.
While they did win the 33rd season of The Amazing Race in 2022, Kim says another round of reality TV is not on their short list.
She said, “Maybe like if you needed really middle-aged comedy, like the Golden Survivor. Also, if I needed to get trim really quick for an event.”
But, she and Penn are game for sharing their family experiences in a fun and relatable way.
“I think a lot of people make content that shows how funny they are, how great their life is, but as a viewer watching it, what’s in it for me, that you’re funny? No, I would prefer like make me laugh, show me something that I can relate to, make me feel something,” Kim said.
She said News 6 helped shape her creative process.
“I would say I learned a lot from our news director at WKMG, when I was there. His name was Skip Valet. When I was there for the afternoon pitch meeting, you had to walk in with three ideas. And if you didn’t have an idea, (he would say) you need to take another way in to work.”
And after making a pitch Kim said, “He would always kinda answer back like, ‘why would a viewer care about this story you just pitched.’”
In addition to nailing the creative process, Kim and Penn bring a lot of raw talent to their content.
Kim was trained in dance and Penn is a musician.
But, even with all of that working in their favor, Penn said the duo threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick.
Every video didn’t go viral, but their success is evident.
They currently have their own website, have nearly 5 million followers on Facebook, amassed nearly 18 million likes on TikTok, and are releasing a new book called “ADHD is Awesome.”
Kim says Penn’s book, “Is written for and by an ADHD brain.”
The duo already has a game available at stores but said they hope to have another one available on Amazon by Black Friday.
They also have taken up pickleball and are now offering a line of paddles online.
They aren’t alone in their success.
Kim said their kids are very busy, but they are still active in some of their videos and have been making money with them since their original Christmas Jammies video went viral.
To learn more about Kim and Penn Holderness check out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
If you have ever been to Disney World, you have probably been on the Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom.
One of the highlights of the ride is the feeling of escaping to the jungle while laughing at a slew of “dad” jokes.
Former Imagineer Brian Collins is responsible for some of those.
“I was very lucky to be able to work on some very cool projects, like writing very corny puns for the Jungle Cruise,” Collins said.
He said he wrote, “You don’t need to bring any money with you on the jungle cruises because there are plenty of banks along the river.”
“One of the reasons I think I got hired in as a writer with Imagineering is because writing was something I always loved to do, it came very easy to me and I could write anything from technical writing to poems, to ‘dad’ jokes and everything in between,” Collins said.
Being an Imagineer can be a coveted role, but Collins, who is now an instructor at the University of Central Florida, said he tells his students there is enough room in the theme park industry for all of them.
“Don’t focus on being an Imagineer. What you need to focus on is finding what your passion is, finding what you love to do, and focus on that and become happy and an expert in what your passion is and if you can do that, hopefully the rest will take care of itself,” Collins said.
“There’s so many ways that you can create a path, whether it’s Imagineering, or Universal Creative, or working for Legoland, SeaWorld. I mean there is a whole cottage industry, especially here in Central Florida, of amazing firms that support the themed entertainment industry for example that Imagineers will work with,” Collins explained.
Still, he says it’s important to differentiate yourself.
“I have a favorite saying for my students, it’s that ‘if you do the same thing as everyone else, you’re just going to be like everyone else, and you don’t want to be like everyone else,” Collins said.
To hear more of Collins’ advice for becoming a staple in the theme park industry check out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
If you are looking for a discount car, truck, sunglasses or even office equipment there is one place to find it all.
A quick look at the George Gideon Auctioneers website reveals many of the local governments in Central Florida use them to sell their surplus items.
Right now a 2012 Dodge Charger from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is going for $1,025, a kayak from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is going for $3, Seminole County Public Schools is offering several school buses that have not been bid on yet.
Volusia County is selling a 2018 ambulance. The current bid is $1,000.
Pam Wilsky is the Purchasing and Contracts Director with Volusia County. She joined Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on Florida’s Fourth Estate to talk more about how the surplus program works.
She said the items people buy from the county through the auctioneer website may have a few miles on them but are well maintained.
“We try very hard with this program to keep the lifecycle good so that what we are sending still has residual value when we get ready to send it to auction, so it’s not broken down, it’s not beat up,” Wilsky said. “It’s not to say that there will not be some things wrong with it, but everything within the county is maintained on a regular basis, so it probably is a good value as far as a vehicle to somebody.”
She said there have been some interesting finds at the auction and that the county once re-sold a mosquito control helicopter.
“They actually had one that for whatever reason had been disassembled and they wanted to sell it. The appraised value was $350,000,” Wilsky said.
She said a firm in Montana sent a truck to pick it up and used it to fight wildfires out west.
Austin said he also noticed some drones on the auctioneer’s website going for as low as $27 after Gov. Ron DeSantis made it illegal for counties to use ones from China.
Wilsky said Volusia County dealt with the situation differently, but “a lot of law enforcement and things like that had a lot of these and it was a big impact so I’m not surprised you saw them.”
Aside from providing a savings opportunity for customers, Wilsky said putting surplus items up for auction also helps the county’s bottom line.
She said last year the program brought in about $1.7 million in revenue.
Learn more about the program and how you can score some good deals by checking out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch it anytime on News 6+.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices - Montre plus
