Judith Smelser - Podcast Details

Shows

The Florida RoundupFlorida ‘Doge’ audits, DOJ questions Ghislaine Maxwell in Tallahassee, impacts of public media funding cuts, weekly news briefingThis week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward about the state’s plans to audit the city in addition to other local municipalities as part of its effort to reduce unnecessary government spending (00:00). We also spoke about those efforts with the Miami Herald’s Alexandra Glorioso (09:22), who stuck around for our conversation about how Florida is once again at the center of the Epstein case (14:02). Then, we looked at how federal and state cuts to public broadcasting will impact public media in Florida with Paul Grove, president and CEO of WEDU — West Central Florida’s PBS stat...2025-07-2549 min

The Crossman ConversationThe Crossman Conversation: Navigating Today's Media Landscape with Judith Smelser. (S4E05)In this episode of The Crossman Conversation, John Crossman sits down with award-winning journalist and media consultant Judith Smelser to discuss the evolving media landscape. From the challenges of modern journalism to the role of media in today's society, they explore how news consumption has changed and what it means for businesses, communities, and individuals. Tune in for an insightful conversation on media integrity, adapting to the digital age, and the future of storytelling.2025-03-0828 min

The ZestEPCOT Food & Wine Festival: Tips for Eating & Drinking Your Way Around the WorldDONATE TO THE ZESTIt’s the most delicious time of year at the Most Magical Place on Earth. We’re talking about the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. The annual event takes place through Nov. 23 at EPCOT’s World Showcase. That’s the area of the theme park whose architecture replicates a bunch of different countries. One minute you're taking a selfie in front of a replica Eiffel Tower; next thing you know, you’re climbing the steps of an Aztec temple in fake Mexico. Throughout the year, each “countr...2024-09-2433 min

Rollins Around TownJudith Smelser, President & General Manager of Central Florida Public Media 2024-04-2941 min

Good Morning Seminole!Women Leading Central Florida Media!Moderated by: Samantha Taylor, publisher, Lake Mary Life Publications. Panelists include: Susan D'Astoli, senior director, news-Florida, Charter Communications Anne-Marie Hayward, market president & publisher, Orlando Business Journal Allison McGinley, news director, WKMG-TV; chair. RTDNA Foundation Melissa Medalie, vice president of news/news director, FOX 35 WOFL Judith Smelser, president & GM, WMFE & WMFV Susan Wenner, publisher, Sanford Herald Sponsors: ⁠⁠⁠J. Wayne Miller Company⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waste Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Genske & Co. Accounting⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Next Horizon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Verizon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Orlando Law Group ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠AdventHealth⁠ 2024-04-0442 min

The Zest“Happiest Plate on Earth” Podcast Hosts Dish on Disney DiningA trip to Disney World will cost you upwards of $100 per person, per day—and that’s before you’ve eaten a single bite.But with some expert knowledge, you can eat like a king—or perhaps, a Disney princess—and still have money left over for a pair of Mickey ears.This week we’re chatting with Kristi Rada and Danae Allison, two of the co-hosts of the Happiest Plate on Earth podcast. Kristi is a Disneyphile, Danae works as a chef at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.2024-01-0430 min

The ZestRococo Steak Sommelier Will Howard on Summer Food and Wine PairingsHere in Florida, we enjoy year round warm weather. But we Floridians still tend to change up our meals in the summer. From barbecues to beaches to boat rides, summertime lends itself to a different way of eating—and drinking. Dalia recently visited Rococo Steak in St. Petersburg to chat with the restaurant’s sommelier, Will Howard. In this conversation, Will shares advice for summer food-and-wine pairings, why you might want to try vintage or small-batch wines and the bottle of wine that’s on his summer bucket list.Relate...2023-08-1022 min

The ZestSeason 7 Premiere: EPCOT Culinary Director Albert Youngman Brings a World of Flavors to FloridaToday we bring you a conversation with Chef Albert Youngman, culinary director for Disney's EPCOT Theme Park. He shares how his team creates globally inspired menus for EPCOT's restaurants, World Showcase of 11 countries and four annual festivals. Chef Albert also explains how cooking for a crowd has changed over his nearly two decades at Disney, and he offers advice for eating your way around the world at EPCOT. Related episodes:Disney Dining TipsSeason 4 Premiere: AJ Wolfe of Disney Food BlogJournalist Judith Smelser on...2023-01-0524 min

The Zest“Epicurious One” Stephanie Love Is Disrupting the Wine Industry, One Chicken Wing at a TimeStephanie Love’s philosophy on wine is simple: “Wine is for everybody.”Through her company, Epicurious One, the St. Petersburg resident offers wine education trips and other experiences. Participants praise her down-to-earth approach, including Stephanie’s wine-and-comfort-food pairings and her descriptions of wine as people with different personalities.In this conversation, Stephanie shares the importance of supporting minority-owned vineyards, suggests wine to enjoy with chicken wings and offers advice for finding an affordable wine you’ll like.Related episodes: Mermosa Founder Desiree Noisette Makes Wine—and History Summer Reading and Wine Pairings from Book + Bott...2022-11-1724 min

The ZestSeason 6 Premiere: Summer Reading and Wine Pairings from Book + Bottle’s Terra DunhamFor many of us, summer is reading season. Whether you’re indulging in a beach read or delving into something meatier on a plane ride, a good book goes great with a drink.So to kick off season 6, we're chatting with Terra Dunham, who owns Book + Bottle. It's a combination bookstore/wine bar in downtown St. Petersburg. The shop’s Readers and Drinkers Circle is a quarterly book and wine pairing subscription. So Terra knows just what to drink with a good beach read.Related episodes: Mermosa Founder Desiree Noisette Makes Wine – and History Journa...2022-07-1428 min

The ZestConscious Cuisine: Husband-and-Wife Master Sommeliers Andrew McNamara and Emily Pickral on How Climate Change Affects WineIn our conversation, the Tampa couple share how climate change and the pandemic changed consumers' drinking habits, their favorite local restaurants for wine and advice for aspiring sommeliers.Related episodes: Talking and Tasting Florida Wines Bern’s Steak House All-Access Tour Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine Cocktails for Mom, or Anyone Who Could Use a Drink Meet Your New Favorite Holiday: Florida Craft Beer Day Bourbon 101 with Nate Wilson 2022-04-2129 min

The Community PodcastEpisode 26Tommy heads to the WMFE studios to get to know local NPR station’s newly appointed president and general manager, Judith Smelser. The two talk about their paths to journalism, wine, road trips and what Smelser’s new role on the other side of the newsroom looks like.2022-03-3141 min

UnWinedingEpisode 38: Heather LaVine In early 2020, Heather LaVine left the thriving wine and hospitality empire she and her partner had built from scratch in Upstate New York, moved to Florida, and opened a tiny natural wine boutique. The owner of Golden Hour Wine in Orlando’s Baldwin Park neighborhood talks about her journey from school teacher to minor league baseball employee to local hospitality leader … and explains why she decided to seek a new life as part of Central Florida’s wine community. Orlando composer Julian Bond provided original music for UnWineding. 90.7 WMFE provides distribution and promotional assistance. Subscribe to UnWineding on Appl...2021-07-2453 min

UnWinedingEpisode 37: Cherié Rivett What do you do after a successful career in the corporate world and a decade spent running your own business consulting company? If you’re Cherié Rivett, you launch a wine distribution business! Cherié is the owner and CEO of Orlando-based Harvest Moon Distributors, a company created to meet a very specific need that soon expanded far beyond its founders’ expectations. Cherié talks about how she built her ship while sailing it, learning the wine industry from the ground up and discovering some hard realities along the way. She also talks about how she managed to shepherd the com...2021-06-2256 min

UnWinedingEpisode 36: Mary Montalvo “Exit Interview” Four years after opening Luisa’s Cellar, a wine bar and cafe in downtown Sanford, Florida, Yellymary (Mary) Montalvo recently announced she and her husband are closing the bar at the end of July and moving to North Carolina to start a wine academy. The decision, she says, was not about money — the pandemic reopening has been lucrative — but about her need to prioritize her health and her relationships. In this special episode, Mary returns to UnWineding for an exit interview. She shares lessons she’s learned about the hard realities of the wine and hospitality business, the newfound passion...2021-06-0840 min

The ZestBeer Kulture Raises the Bar for Diversity in Craft Beverage IndustryAlcohol is a conduit for a lot of things. It can be a party starter. A truth serum. It could even be the road to a whole new career path. But for people of color, that road hasn’t been so smooth.Latiesha Cook wants to change this. Along with her husband, Dom, Latiesha runs Beer Kulture. It’s a nonprofit headquartered in St. Petersburg whose mission is to make the craft beverage industry more diverse, equitable and inclusive. Beer Kulture uses scholarships, internship programs, job boards and community partnerships to, as its tagline says, “change the world...2021-04-0126 min

UnWinedingEpisode 35: One Year Later Exactly one year ago, UnWineding launched amid the chaos of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions that sent the hospitality industry into a tailspin. Season One of the podcast followed three Florida wine industry professionals through six tumultuous months of the pandemic, as they watched their businesses suffer and their bank accounts dwindle. In this episode, we check in with them again, as vaccinations are on the rise and things are finally looking brighter. Listen as they tell us about their ups and downs, milestones, accolades, and even some big plans on the horizon. Orlando composer Julian Bond provided...2021-03-2630 min

UnWinedingEpisode 34: Nga Ly-Henschen Growing up in a Vietnamese-American family, Nga Ly-Henschen was never exposed to wine. She moved to Orlando to study microbiology at the University of Central Florida, with an eye on a future medical career. But a glass of riesling on a blind date at one of the city’s early wine hubs changed everything. Fast forward a decade and a half, and Nga is now the General Manager of Capa Restaurant and Lounge on the top floor of the Four Seasons Resort at Walt Disney World. She talks about her journey into the wine world, her transition to a co...2021-03-0942 min

The ZestJournalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of WineSo, a guy walks into a wine bar. Actually, for a good chunk of 2020, no guys or gals were walking into any wine bars in Florida—unless it was to pick up a to-go order for drinking at home. Today, Judith Smelser will explain why this matters. Judith is the founder of Orlando Wine Blog and the wine columnist for Edible Orlando. She also holds a Level 2 Certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. Last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought Florida’s hospitality industry to a screeching halt, she started the podcast UnWineding to chronicle the e...2021-01-2135 min

UnWinedingEpisode 33: Mary Elizabeth Howe Subscribe to UnWineding on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher. Mary Elizabeth Howe was just 30 years old when she became North Florida area manager for Augustan Wine Imports, which she describes as the “nerdy fine wine team” for a larger distributor, Breakthru Beverage. That management position was just one in a string of challenges throughout her career that have pushed her outside her comfort zone, starting when she was thrust into the world of fine dining service in her home state of Mississippi. Her latest trial was a four month furlough from the job she loved at Augustan at t...2021-01-1947 min

UnWinedingEpisode 32: Tim Varan By his own admission, Tim Varan was “an apathetic and disinterested college student” when he was studying finance at the University of Central Florida some 30 years ago. But when it comes to wine, his cup overflows with enthusiasm and passion. Tim caught the wine bug while working for some of Orlando’s early wine pioneers in the late 1980s. He soon went into business for himself, and his eponymous shop, Tim’s Wine Market near downtown Orlando, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Tim shares stories about the early days of Orlando’s wine community, the challenge of resisting t...2021-01-0557 min

UnWinedingEpisode 31: Mary Montalvo Mary Montalvo and her husband Sascha Weyer own and operate Luisa’s Cellar in Sanford, Florida. They got into the wine business almost by accident when Mary fell in love with a property in Clermont in 2012 and decided to open a wine bar. She left a stable career in the legal profession and threw herself into the business, but she says it’s been tough to keep her passion for wine alive amid the many challenges she has faced along the way. In this episode, Mary talks about her journey from Puerto Rico to Florida (via Germany), spea...2020-12-1535 min

UnWinedingEpisode 30: Matt Coltrin Season Two of UnWineding kicks off with a conversation with Matt Coltrin, owner of The Parkview wine bar and restaurant in Winter Park, just north of Orlando. Matt talks about the generous French wine merchant who got him hooked on good wine, his experience running a wine program at a historic bar and restaurant in Manhattan, and how the September 11th terrorist attacks prompted him to move to Central Florida, where he found himself on the ground floor of the region’s wine renaissance. He also talks about surviving and learning from this pandemic year, which he ca...2020-12-0154 min

UnWinedingSeason 2: A New Beginning UnWineding is back starting next week! Listen to this quick preview to find out what Season Two has to offer. Plus, learn how the Orange County Regional History Center is helping to preserve Season One of UnWineding for future generations. Subscribe to UnWineding on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher. Thanks to Orlando composer Julian Bond for providing original music for UnWineding, Amy Tardif for editorial assistance, and WMFE for distribution and promotional assistance. 2020-11-2402 min