WLRN-Miami Herald News — Miami, Florida

August 2003 – April 2009

I spent six years working for a unique radio partnership between the Miami Herald and South Florida NPR station WLRN-FM 91.3. The radio news department operated out of studios in the fifth floor newsroom of the daily newspaper.

I started with the launch of the department in August 2003, initially serving as a morning news anchor and reporter. I was promoted to the newly-created position of department editor in 2005, handling assignments, editing copy from our reporters and working with the newspaper’s reporters to prepare broadcast versions of their stories. I was promoted to Assistant News Director in January 2008, picking up additional managerial duties while continuing to anchor and report as needed. I also frequently got the opportunity to write articles for the newspaper.

At that time, the newspaper was still located at One Herald Plaza in Miami, alongside the MacArthur Causeway, with an incredible view of Biscayne Bay. Its location said a lot about the stature newspapers once held, being housed on such a prime piece of real estate.

The iconic building had housed the offices and printing press for almost half a century by then and many legends of journalism had worked there, receiving 19 Pulitzer Prizes. Also of interest to a radio person like me was the radio tower on the water. For decades, it had broadcast the signal of storied AM station WQAM. By the time I worked there, I understand the tower was not in use and only kept as a backup.

A huge treat of working in the WLRN studios at the Herald during the morning drive shift was seeing the incredible sunrises from the newsroom windows looking east. The building was usually pretty desolate at those hours and I don’t know how many people working there knew just how vivid those sunrises would often be.

Sadly, soaring real estate values, combined with declining newspaper revenue, led to the 14-acre property being sold. While I was there, it was announced the parking lots surrounding the building had been sold. Then in 2011, two years after I’d moved home to Arkansas, a resort company offered $236 million for the waterfront property the building sat on. The newspaper relocated to the suburb of Doral, while the slow demolition of the building began on April 28, 2014.

Below are many of the more memorable stories I covered for the Miami Herald, both on the radio and in print. Some are grouped by topic, while others are listed more randomly. It was a slow evolutionary process as our radio department was developed from scratch, with the staff determining the best ways to make use of the newspaper’s large staff (at least compared to radio newsrooms) and vast resources. We had to find a way to reflect the Herald, while also serving the interests of the local NPR audience.

AUDIO: Covering a raucous demonstration with more than a thousand people outside the Israeli Consulate office in Miami on Jan. 4, 2009, as Israel was conducting a military attack.

AUDIO: An Oct. 31, 2006 debate for governor of Florida became very lively, with host Chris Matthews, Republican Charlie Crist, Democrat Jim Davis and a third-party candidate who was added at the last moment.

I learned about the newspaper’s plan to create a radio department at a good time. At that point in 2003, I had been a Miami-based stringer reporter for CBS News Radio, which sent me all over Florida and the Bahamas covering major stories. But the build up to the U.S. war in Iraq dominated national news coverage that year and suddenly I had a hard time getting any interest in what was happening in my region. I was going weeks at a time without any work.

Phillip Davis, who at that time was NPR’s Miami-based reporter, first told me about plans between the Miami Herald and WLRN. I sent a letter, resume and CD of recent work and soon heard back from newly-hired News Director Irina Lallemand, who was working to quickly assemble a staff. I had four rounds of interviews, first with her, then Herald Executive Editor Tom Fiedler, WLRN managers Ted Eldredge and John LaBonia, and finally with the newspaper’s human resource manager. I was happy to be offered the job and started alongside co-anchor Rhonda Victor Sibilia on August 11, 2003, three weeks before we hit the air.

In that time, Irina, Rhonda and I had to decide on formatics and how to best incorporate the newspaper’s content into our radio reports. We were not limited to only reporting what was in the Herald. We certainly had the freedom to cover anything else that seemed interesting, but took our access to the Herald and knowing what was going to be in the newspaper well ahead of time as a great advantage.

In Miami, like most news markets at the time, newspapers had the largest newsrooms and generated the most reports, especially unique enterprise or investigative stories. In most radio newsrooms I had worked in before then, when the paper arrived in the morning it would be ripped open to see what stories could be incorporated. Often stories that would be covered that day originated from the morning newspaper. We took advantage of knowing what was going to be in the next day’s paper by pursuing sound and having radio versions ready so that when a story appeared in that day’s paper we also had a version of it on the air that morning.

The photo here was used in a Miami Herald article about the launch of the radio department. Rhonda and I were doing practice runs of our newscasts before going on the air the following week. Initially she and I would alternate anchoring four-minute newscasts every half hour following network newscasts from NPR.

We worked at the radio station for the first nine months until work was completed building two studios and work stations for the radio staff within the Herald newsroom. Those first months were very trying for our department, shuffling back and forth between news meetings at the newspaper and doing our production and newscasts at WLRN, which fortunately was only a few blocks away.

We faced a good deal of skepticism from many people. Even before our first newscast aired, there were complaints from listeners of WLRN who didn’t like the idea of the newspaper “taking over local newscasts,” as one listener put it. But we weren’t necessarily taking anything away from the station. It never really had a newsroom, but rather local hosts who would mostly read AP news summaries and play reports by Florida Public Radio, which was run by WFSU in Tallahassee. We tried to convince those who complained that we would be greatly expanding local news coverage by doing our own reporting in the field, using the resources and voices of reporters from the Herald, while continuing to air some material from Florida Public Radio. But some still didn’t like the idea of a corporate newspaper providing content for a public radio station, which was understandable.

We also faced uneasy eyes from some reporters at the Herald who considered the addition of radio as potentially one more duty they would have to do without any additional compensation. Veteran reporters had worked in a time when their key responsibility was writing one version of their story for the next day’s newspaper. But by the 1990s, they also had to crank out a quick version for the Herald‘s website to be posted immediately and keep in mind multimedia elements that could be incorporated. Some also needed to assist the local TV news partner.

Including Herald print reporters on the air

Initially, we often interviewed print reporters about their stories and pulled short debrief cuts that could be incorporated into our newscasts. But as our department grew, we started getting out and covering more stories ourselves, using reporter interviews only when they would lend themselves as a good way of explaining a story. We also had some print reporters who welcomed the opportunity to take recorders with them as they did their reporting and would then work with us to produce radio versions of their stories. Many became very skilled at this and we appreciated their contributions, giving us more voices in our newscasts. Some print reporters liked doing radio so much that they took their careers in that direction.

I think a good example of how we would incorporate Miami Herald reporters on the air is this segment from July 24, 2008. An extensive investigation by the newspaper revealed that lax oversight by the state allowed thousands of convicted swindlers to become licensed to work in Florida’s mortgage industry. They then victimized thousands of people who were trying to buy homes. The series prompted a state investigation and led to the resignation of a top state official. I spoke with reporter Jack Dolan, who did much of the leg work on the series of stories, which eventually won several awards.

AUDIO: A Miami Herald investigative report, published on July 24, 2008, found a lack of state oversight allowed thousands of felons to work in Florida’s mortgage industry. Reporter Jack Dolan joined me on the air for a two-way, explaining that many of the felons went on to victimize thousands of people.

AUDIO: Herald music critic Jordan Levin prepared this 2009 radio feature to accompany her newspaper story looking at the history of Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, which we worked together to produce. The area was once a thriving Black community with a vibrant music scene, but that ended when interstates were built there. She dedicated the story to newspaper editor Terry Jackson who died before the story was completed.

AUDIO: Reporting on a victory parade in downtown Miami on Oct. 29, 2003 celebrating the Florida Marlins winning baseball’s World Series.

One of the first big stories we had in the months after hitting the air was the Florida Marlins (later becoming known as the Miami Marlins) winning the World Series in October 2003. It may not seem like a public radio kind of story, but the team’s surprising success that season, after top players had been traded off to other teams following their 1997 victory, had an incredible drama that was a lot of fun to follow and report about.

Another big story concerned a new development involving Lionel Tate. I had previously reported for CBS News about his case when he became the youngest American ever sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of beating a 6-year-old playmate to death when he was 12.

His mother had turned down a plea agreement that would have allowed juvenile detention and Tate’s release when he turned 18. His attorney argued that the boy trying to imitate wrestling moves he had seen on television when he inflicted the fatal injuries to Tiffany Eunick. Tate ended up being convicted of first degree murder and given the mandatory life sentence. But on Dec. 10, 2003 an appeals court threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial.

AUDIO: A report aired Dec. 11, 2003 on the highly publicized case of Lionel Tate winning an appeal for a new trial.

AUDIO: Lionel Tate was released from prison on Jan. 29, 2004, a day before his 17th birthday. But he soon violated probation with a conviction of robbing a pizza deliveryman and was sent back to prison.

In 2003, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s office launched an investigation to determine if conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was illegally obtaining powerful prescription pain killers. In an effort to keep medical records from being turned over to investigators, his attorney argued that would violate Limbaugh’s privacy rights. Prosecutors wanted to determine if Limbaugh was doctor shopping to obtain drugs.

I covered a couple of court hearings in West Palm Beach that December, then a month later reported on Limbaugh getting an unlikely supporter when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief supporting Limbaugh’s argument and saying that allowing medical records to be seized would set a dangerous precedent.

AUDIO: My report on a Dec. 11, 2003 court hearing in West Palm Beach on whether Rush Limbaugh’s medical records should be turned over to prosecutors.

AUDIO: The ACLU filed a friend of the court brief supporting Limbaugh’s claim that investigators violated his constitutional rights by seizing medical records. This report aired Jan. 13, 2004.

Touch screen voting machines were supposed to restore faith in the voting process in Florida after the embarrassment caused by punch cards in the 2000 presidential election. But the new equipment didn’t inspire confidence.

The year started off with an election for the Florida House of Representatives that was won by just 12 votes. As it got closer to 2004’s general election, which included the race for president, concerns about the lack of a paper trail prompted U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and civil rights groups to call for an investigation. The controversy got even hotter as filmmaker Michael Moore rallied crowds in Fort Lauderdale on the eve of the presidential election.

In the end there would be some problems, but not like those seen in 2000. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist would eventually scrap the computerized touch screen voting machines in favor of optical scan equipment, in which voters fill in their choices on paper ballots that were scanned.

AUDIO: A montage of reports from throughout 2004 about Florida’s election woes. This won a second place award from the Florida Associated Press for Best Continuing Coverage.

Reporting for Radio and the Newspaper

After construction of radio studios was completed in the Miami Herald newsroom, the radio staff got to know more of the print reporters, which led to better collaborations. Not long after moving over, I pitched an enterprise story that I was pursuing for radio to an editor of the newspaper. It ended up being the first of many stories I would report jointly for radio and print. The story also ran in the Spanish-language edition El Nuevo Herald, which more prominently displayed the story by including a photo. All versions of the story came out at the same time, airing in morning newscasts the same day the stories ran in the newspapers. It was the beginning of me learning how to report simultaneously on multiple platforms. You can click on either of the images below to view the articles as PDF files.

AUDIO: Reports from November 2004 on a wrongful death lawsuit brought against Cuba by Janet Ray Weininger. Her father, CIA pilot Thomas “Pete” Ray, was captured in the Bay of Pigs invasion, then executed.

The relatives of four Cuban-Americans, who were killed when Cuban fighter jets shot down two small unarmed planes over international waters, marked the 10th anniversary of the incident on March 24, 2006. The members of Brothers To The Rescue had been in three planes in 1996 and say they were looking for rafters coming to the United States. But Cuban authorities asserted that members of the group had repeatedly violated the country’s airspace and had been dropping leaflets over the island nation. A third plane carrying the group’s leader Jose Basulto was able to make it back to Miami.

AUDIO: My report on the 10th anniversary of the Brothers To The Rescue shoot-down, airing Feb. 23, 2006.

Miami’s historic Freedom Tower has been called the city’s Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island rolled into one. Built in 1925, it originally served as headquarters for The Miami News, a long-defunct newspaper. After Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, it’s where fleeing refugees were processed after arriving in the U.S. Therefore many were upset when a developer sought approval to build a 62-story condo building behind the Freedom Tower, which it was felt would dwarf the historic structure. I covered a heated public meeting on July 21, 2005 as Miami’s Planning Advisory Board considered the matter and advised against the project. The developer eventually donated the building to nearby Miami-Dade College and it would became a museum and educational center.

AUDIO: My report on a contentious meeting at Miami City Hall, July 21, 2005 ,on the future of the Freedom Tower.

One of Cuba’s top government officials opened himself up for a rare public questioning when he spoke live via satellite with members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, who were meeting in Fort Lauderdale. The comments by Ricardo Alarcon, speaker of Cuba’s National Assembly, came as many were pondering what life in Cuba would be like after the death of Fidel Castro. His most striking comments were directed at Cuban-Americans hoping to one day return to the island.

AUDIO: Report on the head of Cuba’s National Assembly speaking to a gathering of Hispanic journalists, which aired June 15, 2006.

WLRN-Miami Herald News Expands

We were able to slowly grow our department, adding two additional reporters by the time the photo to the right was taken after a staff meeting in January 2005. Joshua Johnson started within a few months of us going on the air, followed by Patricia Nazario. The only staffer not present from this time was part-time reporter and producer Shannon Novak, who was with us from the beginning.

With more staffers, we were able to expand the number of local newscasts aired each day. Initially we were only providing local news during Morning Edition, but soon added afternoon newscasts during All Things Considered, and eventually added midday casts as well.

14 years after he started with us, Joshua Johnson became the host of NPR’s 1A, which filled the slot previously held by Diane Rehm. He was sharp then, but became even more polished in the interim at San Francisco’s KQED. He later became a host for programs produced by NBC.

I co-wrote a story that ran on the front page of the Miami Herald on March 3, 2005 about the dramatic tale of a Coral Gables man who nearly died while trying to recover a cell phone he had dropped over the side of a bridge. David Estigarribia had ventured onto an old, unused bridge to the Port of Miami after an evening at the nearby Bayside Marketplace. At some point he dropped the phone, which fell a few feet onto a nearby ledge. He climbed over a guard rail and tried to reach it, but lost his balance and fell 40 feet into a concrete shaft. He remained there injured for three days before anyone noticed. I spoke with a port worker who finally heard his cries for help. At that time my shift was working as a reporter starting at 6:30 a.m., and with this happening just a few blocks from the Herald, I was able to get over there and interview a few people before the newspaper had any of their regular reporters at the scene. You can click on the image to view a PDF of the article, or listen to my radio report below.

AUDIO: My radio report on the man falling from a bridge, which aired March 2, 2005.

Art Teele Commits Suicide In the Miami Herald lobby

You’ll notice another big story on that front page from March 3, 2005 concerned the conviction of Miami City Commissioner Art Teele. It was part of a dramatic downfall for the longtime public official who had become an icon for Miami’s Black community. But he was the subject of several corruption probes, one of which involved an undercover Miami-Dade Police detective following Teele’s wife. She noticed the unmarked police car following her car and called her husband, who then caught up to the two, chased and eventually stopped the detective. The story on the front page was about him being convicted of threatening that detective. He was also awaiting a federal trial, set for October 2005, for allegedly taking kickbacks in the awarding of contracts at Miami International Airport. If convicted, Teele could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

On July 27, 2005 the Miami New Times, an alternative weekly that was not connected to the Herald, published a cover story based on details included in a police report that was part of the corruption investigation. Among the sensational allegations were claims about relations with a transvestite prostitute and illegal drug use. That afternoon he walked over to the Miami Herald, which was across the street from his apartment building, left a package from columnist Jim DeFede, then pulled a gun, shooting himself in the head in newspaper’s lobby. It’s unclear exactly why he choose to do that in our lobby.

AUDIO: A compilation of my reports on the suicide of Art Teele in the lobby of the Herald on July  27, 2005.

I was anchoring afternoon newscasts that day and had the difficult task of going on the air a short time later to report what had happened five floors below me. Fortunately I had help from Miami Herald business writer Matt Haggman who joined me live on the air during that first newscast. He had been returning to the office when he saw seven police cars charging up to the front of the building. He then looked inside the glass entrance to the Herald and immediately recognized Art Teele laying in “a large pool of blood.”

His vivid description of that most unpleasant event said more than I ever could have said alone. As we were on the air, an ambulance was carrying Teele to a nearby hospital where he would die a short time later. In subsequent newscasts we would learn more details about what had happened and got more dramatic sound from witnesses and police. It was one of the hardest stories I’ve ever had to report, mainly because of the sensitivity when you’re talking about someone who has just committed suicide. Normally suicides are out of bounds as news stories, except when it’s a public figure. My reports that afternoon would be awarded first place in Deadline Reporting by the Society of Professional Journalists in Florida.

Reporting on railroad-related Issues

To allow an increase in the number of commuter trains that could be run in South Florida, Tri-Rail embarked on a long and expensive project to lay a second set of rails alongside its existing line between Miami and West Palm Beach. But as I wrote about in several articles over the years, the $334 million project involving tracks shared by Tri-Rail, Amtrak and CSX freight trains was full of complications.

AUDIO: Hear my report from November 26, 2004 on construction of a second track for Tri-Rail to increase the number of commuter trains that could be run in South Florida.

In my article to the left from November 26, 2004, which you can read as a PDF file by clicking on the image, I note that while the work was underway, there were massive delays. In the summer of 2004 only 20 to 30 percent of Tri-Rail’s trains ran on time. Drivers needing to cross over the tracks were also severely impacted, as several major roadways had to be closed for days at a time while the second track was installed in the crossings. Stations had to be reconstructed and 12 new bridges, including one major project over the New River, had to be built along the 72-mile corridor. But once completed, Tri-Rail was finally able to begin offering much more frequent service.

With the sharp increase in the number of trains, residents near the tracks in Hollywood pushed for a ban on trains blowing their horns. As I reported on January 24, 2005, new federal regulations had opened the possibility if crossings were upgraded with new safety measures that would make it harder for vehicles to go around the downed gates. But there were concerns that it would still lead to an an increase in the number of collisions between cars and trains, based on what had happened years before on a different stretch of tracks used by the Florida East Coast Railway.

AUDIO: Hear my report on the proposed whistle ban for some neighborhoods, which aired Jan. 24, 2005.

Two years later residents finally got their wish, as the so-called whistle ban went into effect on Oct. 3, 2006. It came as the number of passenger and freight trains running on the tracks had reached nearly 60 a day. I wrote this follow up for the Miami Herald that ran the day before the ban went into effect, speaking again with nearby homeowners, as well as a former union leader who had worked for decades as an engineer on those rails. Former United Transportation Union President Carl Cochran called train horns “one of the biggest safety items we’ve got,” and was vehemently opposed to the change.

AUDIO: The radio report on a whistle ban going into effect, aired Oct. 2, 2006.

By October 2008, Tri-Rail had more than doubled the number of daily riders from three years earlier and was the third fastest growing commuter rail line in the country. It was running 50 trains a day and Executive Director Joe Giuileti said the biggest complaint from riders was that they weren’t running trains frequently enough. But because of the economic downturn, Tri-Rail was struggling to maintain funding, with counties and the state considering cuts.

Another issue addressed in my report from October 13, 2008 was safety. This was shortly after a commuter train in Los Angeles had collided head-on with a freight train, killing 26 people. It was immediately determined that one of the engineers had apparently run through a red signal because he was distracted by sending text messages. A retired railroad union leader in South Florida said a device that would automatically stop a train if it ran through a red signal should be mandatory on all commuter trains, including Tri-Rail. But the technology was extremely expensive, prompting Cochran to suggest “maybe it’s dollars over safety.” Tri-Rail countered that it had a tremendous safety record.

AUDIO: My report on issues facing Tri-Rail, airing on Oct. 13, 2008.

In 2000, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment mandating the state build a high-speed rail network linking its five largest cities. But four years later a proposal that it be repealed went to voters. One month before the election, I prepared this report looking at both sides of the debate.

AUDIO: My report, aired on Oct. 4, 2004, looking at the proposed repeal of Florida’s high-speed rail plan.

Voters eventually canceled plans for “bullet trains,” though years later the Florida East Coast Railway would revive talk of high-speed rail and, in 2018, unveil Brightline inter-city passenger service.

During my years in Florida, because of my love of riding trains, when I would return home to Arkansas I would often take Amtrak. But because there are no direct routes between South Florida and Little Rock, I either flew from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago or San Antonio, which were at the northern and southern ends of the Texas Eagle, which is the train that cuts through Arkansas. If I were to have taken Amtrak to Little Rock, I would have had to take three separate trains traveling from Florida to Washington, DC, then over to Chicago, and finally Chicago south to Little Rock. Because that wasn’t realistic option and take almost three days, I opted to fly partway, then enjoy one train ride.

When I would explain my travel plans to co-workers at the Herald, they found it a bit odd that I’d fly halfway across the country just to then sit on a train for about 18 hours. I explained that, yes, I could get a connecting flight real easily to Little Rock, but it was all about finding a way to enjoy a long train ride. People outside of railroad circles found it so peculiar that I ended up pitching it to the newspaper’s travel editor Jane Wooldridge, who gave a green light to the idea. So during my following trip I took a lot of photos and interviewed my fellow passengers. It ended up being the display story for the travel section on Sunday, July 30, 2006.

I was pleased with how the story came out, especially that several of my photos were incorporated in a nice looking layout. It was great being able to share a passion of mine with a large reading audience. Some readers responded, however, by noting that Amtrak had a low on-time performance record for long distance travel. My editor suggested we include a short follow up the next weekend in which I wrote that rail travel can be slow and long delays are common. But if you’re traveling at a leisurely pace, I can’t think of a more comfortable form of travel than by train.

In June 2004, I visited the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami planning to produce a short feature report. I was so struck by its collection of vintage locomotives and historic rail cars, including one used heavily by two U.S. presidents, that I ended up producing a half-hour segment that was aired on WLRN’s afternoon talk program Topical Currents.

AUDIO: My nearly half-hour feature for WLRN providing a tour of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum and its collection.

Reporting on the Impacts of War and Terrorism

Military chaplains play an important role in helping soldiers deal with horrors of war. They also have the difficult tasks of leading funeral services for those who die and assist grieving loved ones. But that can take quite a toll. Several dozen chaplains from across the country who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan gathered in January 2004 for a conference in Fort Lauderdale to discuss the best ways they can offer assistance while also helping each other through what they called a spiritual renewal.

AUDIO: Report on a conference of military chaplains which aired on Jan. 14, 2004.

More than a hundred citizen soldiers from South Florida got a heroes welcome upon their return from active duty in Iraq. It was an emotional reunion for families at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, who were glad to see that all members of the 724th Military Police Battalion made it back home safely. Their primary mission had been to set up a detention camp near the Persian Gulf.

AUDIO: A report on an emotional reunion for soldiers returning from Iraq to their families in Fort Lauderdale, aired Feb. 20, 2004.

A Fort Lauderdale high school student created quite a stir after traveling to Iraq by himself. Farris Hassan said he wanted to experience the lives of Iraqi people first hand after being inspired by a school project on immersion journalism. His parents had moved to the U.S. from Iraq 35 years before, but Hassan spoke little Arabic and ended up being picked up by the U.S. military and sent home. My reporting won an award in 2007 for Best Spot News from the Florida Associated Press.

AUDIO: Reports from January 2006 on Farris Hassan’s trip to Iraq, which garnered major media attention.

Authorities arrested U.S. citizens in Florida and New York, charging them with providing support to terrorist group al-Qaeda. Prosecutors alleged an emergency room doctor from Boca Raton had agreed to provide medical treatment to jihadists in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested at his home with authorities saying he was preparing to fly to the country. Also arrested was a marshal arts expert in New York who had allegedly agreed to give terrorists training on hand-to-hand combat.

AUDIO: My report for NPR News, introduced by anchor Carl Kasell, on the arrests of the alleged terrorist supporters, aired May 30, 2005.

On the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Miami Herald humor columnist Dave Berry discussed the difficulty of doing his job in the aftermath of such national tragedies. I produced a piece with he and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler, in which Berry said, “anxiety is a good source of humor. People love that release that comes from being able to laugh about how bad things are.” He discussed the series of columns he wrote in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which seemed to come very easily to him, compared with trying to write after the terrorist attacks.

AUDIO: The Herald’s Dave Berry and Tom Fiedler on the 4th anniversary of the terror attacks, Sept. 11, 2005.

Federal air marshals on an American Airlines flight boarding at Miami International Airport shot and killed a man on Dec 7, 2005 who allegedly threatened he had a bomb, but did not. His wife said the man was bi-polar and had not taken his medication. The marshals were undercover as part of an anti-terrorism effort, with many discretely riding on flights.

AUDIO: My report on federal air marshals shooting a man who claimed to have a bomb, aired Dec. 8, 2005.

Two consecutive days in January 2007 brought terrorism scares at the Port of Miami. One was caused when an Iraqi-born truck driver was found to have two additional people hiding inside the cab of his truck at an entrance to the port. The other incident happened when an explosive detecting sensor was activated.

AUDIO: Reports for WLRN and CBS News on terrorism scares at the Port of Miami.

New security screening equipment at Miami International Airport and a few other facilities across the country raised concerns about privacy. While “whole body imaging” can reveal non-metallic weapons or explosives that would not be discovered by metal detectors, the technology essentially allows screeners to see travelers nude. As the equipment was being unveiled on two concourses at MIA, the ACLU questioned whether the first line of security for passengers should also be the most intrusive.

AUDIO: My report on “whole body imaging” being unveiled at Miami International Airport, July 22, 2008.

Reporting on broadcasting

WLRN gave many staffers high definition radio alarm clocks after the station began broadcasting in HD. Tuning around the dial, I was impressed to find many stations offering innovative programming on secondary their HD channels.

That inspired me to pitch a story to the newspaper’s business section, which ended up being a display story on the front page of the section.

HD radio reminded me of the history of FM, with many broadcasters adding FM signals alongside existing AM signals, even though it would be a couple of decades before FM became the dominant band. I interviewed station leaders who were offering unique, original programming that in many cases worked well with the formats of their primary stations.

Longtime television meteorologist Bob Soper retired in July 2005 after more than three decades on the air. The 62-year-old told me he had one key regret: not being on camera for the biggest storm of his life. Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida in August 1992, but shortly before the storm hit, WSVN, channel 7, fired Soper for “not being flashy enough.” The station replaced him with “a sexy chick doing the weather and it kind of hurt them during Hurricane Andrew because she really didn’t’t know anything,” Soper said. He would later be hired by the CBS station in Miami, WFOR.

AUDIO: Meteorologist Bob Soper discussing his pending retirement from television in a report aired July 25, 2005.

Charles Zink had an influence on generations of people who grew up in South Florida. He was “Skipper Chuck,” host of a popular children’s program that aired on WTVJ from 1957 to 1979. He died on Jan. 5, 2006 at the age of 80, a month after suffering a stroke. I produced this obituary using sound from an interview Zink had recorded a decade earlier with Miami-Dade Television, in which he said “nobody could have had a better life than I’ve had.”

AUDIO: Obituary on South Florida television host Chuck Zink, Jan. 5, 2006.

Having first learned radio in a high school class, I’ve always had a soft spot for student broadcasting. I went to Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida to report on an unrelated story, but before leaving, because I had long heard about the school’s radio station WKPX, I asked where the facilities were. I was taken to the class and after learning the program would soon be leaving Piper to become part of a district-wide program for Broward schools, thought it would make an interesting story. I wrote a print story for the Miami Herald while also producing a radio version.

AUDIO: My report on Piper High School radio station WKPX, aired Feb. 27, 2006.

Reporting on many hurricanes

I can’t begin to guess how many hurricanes I covered during my 12 years in South Florida. Because the National Hurricane Center was located there, while working for CBS News, even when a storm was threatening places outside of my region, I was still be at the center talking for forecasters.

Hurricane Wilma wasn’t expected to be as bad as it became, hitting South Florida with a surprise punch of strong sustained winds on October 24, 2005. It brought down a lot of trees, causing widespread damage and power outages. Because it hit just weeks after Hurricane Katrina had decimated New Orleans, the storm got little national attention. But it took an incredible toll, with me reporting on the aftermath for several weeks. It was the worst storm I’d ever experienced, with my neighborhood in Hollywood being without power for two weeks. But if there was a bright side, I became extremely good friends with my neighbors, hanging out each night, sharing food and supplies. I ended up even doing a report about how that unique experience brought us together, and we would become extremely close friends.

A montage of reports about Hurricane Wilma and its aftermath in October 2005.

After heading the National Hurricane Center for several tumultuous years, Director Max Mayfield retired on August 25, 2006, citing the toll of so many big storms. Because of his high profile in guiding people through one hurricane after another, he became a public figure. He was also someone I had grown to greatly respect after years of talking with him while reporting on storms from the center.

AUDIO: Talking with National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield retiring on August 25, 2006.

Leaving South Florida for Arkansas

After spending nearly six years at the newspaper, in April 2009, I submitted my resignation to the Miami Herald. It had been a fascinating place to work, where I was given tremendous opportunities to branch out and try new things. It was also the first place that promoted me into a management position. I’m incredibly grateful to the newspaper and WLRN.

The 12 years I spent in South Florida will always be a fond chapter in my life. I enjoyed the high caliber and international character of news stories, as well as the warm weather, but felt it was the right moment to return home to Arkansas to be closer to my family. I had secured a position at former employer KUAR-FM 89.1 in Little Rock, which was also an NPR station. I had attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock about 15 years earlier, which the station is part of, and was happy to have the opportunity to finally complete my Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication two years later. I was also glad to stay in public broadcasting.

NEXT: KUAR – Little Rock, Arkansas