Shows / Wait Five Minutes
Wait Five Minutes
Wait Five Minutes: The Floridian Podcast is about the curious stories and cultural changes sweeping through the Sunshine State. Join us every Monday for an informative and charming look into an issue on America’s infamous peninsula.
Episodes
- Wait Five Minutes
BONUS: Black Mangrove Honey
In this bonus episode, we taste test some black mangrove honey, see how it tastes and learn where it comes from! Follow Wait Five Minutes on Twitter Follow…
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Can Mangroves Save The World?
This week, we continue our discussion about mangroves along Florida's coasts! Dr. Loraé Simpson teaches us about the value of mangroves against hurricanes, and…
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BONUS: A Ghost Story and A Correction
On this week's bonus episode, we correct an error and tell a ghost story that connects to our first episode of the season, about Florida's first pool. Follow…
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What is a Mangrove?
This week, in the first of two episodes discussing the mangroves along Florida's coasts, with the help of Dr. Loraé Simpson, we learn about what exactly a…
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Florida’s First Swimming Pool
There is much debate about which of Florida's historic swimming pools was actually the first. This week, we go diving (pun intended) into Florida's backwoods…
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Welcome to Summer 2022!
A prologue to our summer season, and an introduction to all the adventures ahead! All the music used in this episode is originally composed.
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The First Frenchman of Florida
Four-hundred and sixty years ago yesterday, the French first landed in Florida. Guided by a man named Jean Ribault, they tried over the course of several years…
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I Adopted A Manatee (and Other Tales!)
Some spring cleaning for this season: the state wildflower, an invasive plant, the croak of a frog, and Crazy Nick the Manatee. Get your WFM Merch at Cast &…
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The Astronauts of Apollo 16
Fifty years ago today, three man were on their way to the moon. The years that brought them to that flight are filed with chaos and near tragedy, until they…
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Our Florida Wildflowers
CORRECTION: The Florida Wildflower Foundation does NOT give land grants. The Foundation grant programs provide funding for native plantings on public lands…
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Edison and the Athletics
In the spring of 1927, Thomas Edison visited the Philadelphia Athletics at their spring training facility. What followed created a story that has been repeated…
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The Barefoot Mailman
Donate to the Trevor Project here Before the railroads came to the Atlantic Coast of Florida, the only way to get mail down to Miami was on foot. It was a…
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Wait Five Minutes is on Spring Break!
See you next Monday! Follow Wait Five Minutes on Twitter Follow Wait Five Minutes on Instagram Follow Wait Five Minutes on Facebook Email the show at…
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Florida’s ’Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
Donate to the Trevor Project here The Florida State Legislature has just passed a bill that has been widely dubbed by critics as homophobic and baseless. It is…
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The Search for a Florida Tree
This week, Lilly Anderson-Messec, the Director of North Florida Programs for the Florida Native Plant Society, takes us on a hike through the North Florida…
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The Hermit Artist of the Keys
In 1992, a man named Chuck Faulkner discovered almost two hundred paintings by a relatively unknown Florida painter named Harry Sonntag. That was just the…
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Zora’s Folktales
In her book, Mules and Men, Zora Neale Hurston catalogues the folk stories, songs, ritual and practices of Black Americans in the 1920s. How she wrote the book…
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Al Capone and the Valentine’s Day Massacre
On the morning of Valentine's Day, 1929, seven mobsters were murdered in the streets of Chicago. Al Capone, the man who coordinated the massacre was in the…
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The Great Freeze, 127 Years Later
127 years ago to the day, the sun set in Florida and so did the temperature. A freeze swept over the state, devastating the citrus industry for the second time…
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The 2021 Holiday Special
In our second annual Wait Five Minutes Holiday Special, we are joined by past guests to share tales of ornaments, beach trees, manatees, spoonbills and the…
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A Walk in Paynes Prairie
For the finale of the Conservation Season, we go for a long walk in the woods, through the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, searching for wild horses and…
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Saving A Florida Tree
The Florida Native Plant Society works every day to preserve the native species of flora in our state. But in the case of the Florida Torreya, a functionally…
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Our Florida Seashells
Visitors to Florida often pick up shells when they visit our beaches. What many people forget is that those shells -- all of them -- were created by animals…
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BONUS: A Conversation with Mary Roach
I sat down with non-fiction author (and one of my favorites) Mary Roach to talk about her new book FUZZ: WHEN NATURE BREAKS THE LAW as well as how she got her…
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The Trouble with Pests (w/ Mary Roach)
The lines between human and animal spaces are constantly blurred. That's exactly what the new book, FUZZ: WHEN NATURE BREAKS THE LAW by Mary Roach, is all…
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What‘s Happening to Florida‘s Manatees?
It's suspected that nearly a thousand manatees will have died in Florida by the end of this year. That is already the largest number of manatees deaths in a…
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Florida‘s First Road
In the early days of East Florida, the new British governor and his lieutenant were set the task to create a public road for those living along the east coast…
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The Civilian Conservation Corps
In the 1930s, as part of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt started a program called the Civilian Conservation Corps. It brought new jobs to young working men…
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The Bride of Bellamy Bridge
Along the Chipola River in northern Florida, a spectral bride wanders the swamps. She is part of a grand tradition of ghost stories, one that stretches around…
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The Carolina Parakeet (w/ Michelle Nijhuis)
The Carolina Parakeet was on the brink of extinction when the father of ornithology went hunting for them in Florida. This week, we chat with Michelle Nijhuis…
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A Conversation with a Florida Refuge Ranger
Today, to kick off our Conservation Season, we chat with Toni Westland, Supervisory Refuge Ranger for J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel…
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Welcome to the Conservation Season
This is the prologue to the Conservation Season, where we'll spend all autumn talking about the nature of Florida and the experts fighting to protect it. Get…
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The Original EPCOT
The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was Walt Disney's greatest dream: a city focused on innovation and problem-solving. When the Magic Kingdom…
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Picture City, Florida
The Land Boom swept through Florida in the 1920s, and big dreams soon followed. Hollywood tried to make a mark on the Sunshine State, but the tides of history…
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The Havana Sugar Kings
The Havana Sugar Kings were a unique minor league team in the time they existed, in the way they came to be, in the way they reached their ending, and the way…
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The Museums of Summer
A collection of wood-carved birds. The unique stylings of racing cars through the generations. An island retreat for newlyweds. We're nearing the end of…
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The 1998 Firestorm
In the summer of 1998, a perfect storm of environmental conditions led to Florida's ecosystem facing a dire situation. How does a wildfire begin? How do we…
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The Other Skunk Apes
All across Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, people have been finding their own version of Bigfoot. The Skunk Ape hides in all of our forests and, if…
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Our Beaches (with Dr. Beach)
Our beaches are unique, a defining characteristic of our entire ecosystem. What sets them apart? What unites them? For the three year anniversary of Wait Five…
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Daytona's First Racers
At the turn of the 20th century, rich adventurers would roar down the sands of Daytona Beach in motorized vehicles. Over the following several decades, the…
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Jaws: The Sequels
After the massive success of Jaws in 1975, sequels were quickly put into production. Two of the three sequels were partially filmed in Florida and, though they…
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Saving The Lighthouses
Florida is mostly coastline, and for centuries, our lighthouses guided sailors to safety. Today, they are falling into antiquity. Despite that, an organization…
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The Rum Runners
As Prohibition came to the United States, the people of the Florida Keys fought back. With their knowledge of the waters and their proximity to neighboring…
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Our Florida Sunsets
When the sun sinks to the edge of the horizon, incredible things are happening. The environment is telling us about itself, and all we have to do is look up…
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Season 7 Prologue: The Blizzard of '85
In January of 1985, a blizzard struck the city of Buffalo, New York. The mayor had an unusual suggestion on how to get through it. Three Buffalonians made a…
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Season 6 Epilogue: WHITEHALL
An epilogue for season six - of haunted hallways, familiar songs, and the buildings we leave behind. Follow Wait Five Minutes on Twitter Follow Wait Five…
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AMBASSADOR OF THE KEYS, Part Two: The Republic
When the Florida Keys became the Conch Republic, there was only really one person who could be their ambassador: Monroe County Mayor, and True Conch…
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AMBASSADOR OF THE KEYS, Part One: The Conchs
One spring day, in 1982, the Florida Keys seceded from the United States and formed the Conch Republic. Centuries of history led up to that moment, involving…
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The Chickee
The history of the chickee, how the Seminole ancestors developed the structure, and how generations of usage transform an essential building into the modern…
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The Artemis Program
Within a year, the new program to bring Americans to the moon will have begun. This week, we discuss the future of the Artemis Program with Brendan Byrne from…
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Springtime Footnotes
A birder who quits his job. A band that caused a riot. An explorer bent on finding the mouth of the Mississippi River. It's spring, which means it's time to…
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The Strawberry Queen
The show was just featured in the New York Times! When it comes to Florida strawberries, there is no town more responsible for their presence than Plant City…
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A Tale of Two Burger Kings
The show was just featured in the New York Times! In the city of Jacksonville, two entrepreneurs brought the original Burger King to life. In a much smaller…
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BONUS: My Favorite Local Bookstores
Support your local bookstore! Looking for some new bookstores? Want to share some of your favorite local spots? This episode is just for you, about the amazing…
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The Shop of Lost Books
Many Florida books have been lost to time. In a tiny shop on the Atlantic Coast, one family has spent the last several decades saving these books from the…
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Our Bald Eagles
Outside of Alaska, the state of Florida is home to one of the densest populations of nesting bald eagles in the United States. There was once a time, however…
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The Big Sombrero
On one night in 1991, the whole world had their eyes focused on the Tampa Stadium. What followed was fear, excitement, patriotism, and one of the most famous…
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BONUS: A Walk in the Sanford Museum
In this bonus episode, we take a walk through the Sanford Museum with their curator, Brigitte Stephenson, as we discuss all of the figures who passed through…
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The 100th Episode: The Story of Sanford
Content Warning: This episode briefly discusses racial violence. For the 100th episode of Wait Five Minutes, we explore the vibrant and complicated history of…
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The Fourteenth Colony
While the War for Independence raged in New England, the duel colonies of East and West Florida were caught in the middle. With Spain looking to take back…