Tagged: only in South Florida

Jeremy Glazer is a legislative analyst, a former high school teacher and a Miami native. On his phone message, he has been known to identify himself as a “future hall-of-famer,” but he says he hasn’t decided yet which hall of fame or what his achievement will be. He recently finished his first novel and is looking for a publisher.

Journalist Frank Deford’s stories have appeared in Sports Illustrated, HBO Real Sports and NPR. He and his wife spend every winter in Key West, where Deford says he breathes in the island’s different air.

It’s very possible to dismiss Key West, as the British say, as just too much by half. I mean, you arrive at the airport and it says WELCOME TO THE CONCH REPUBLIC – and everybody is quick to let you know that Key West really isn’t Florida … which is to say: it’s too good for Florida, or, for that matter, too good for any mere state of the union.

Inspired by the peerless film Sahara (starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz), listener Michael Laas wondered about the treasure hunting possibilities in Biscayne Bay.   He submitted his question to us.

There are forty known shipwrecks in Biscayne Bay and hundreds more in the Keys.   Under the Sun producer,  Sammy Mack,  found out more about what lies beneath these attractive, but dangerous waters.

In December, we originally aired “The Tale of Lot 180.” Producer Kenny Malone searched for the story behind  deceased Udavilla Rutherford’s unclaimed collection of salt shakers, held at the Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property.

We received this comment from Carolyn Lane about  “The Tale of Lot 180:”

A tinker, a tailor, a soldier’s things– his rifle, his boots full of rocks
And this one is for bravery, and this one is for me
And everything’s a dollar in this box.

– Tom Waits

South Florida has long been a retirees’ paradise, and also a final resting place. But when people die, their family doesn’t always show up to gather their belongings.