On September 18, to thank the generous listener-supporters of our recent fund drive, MidPoint threw open the phone lines and let our listeners program the show with the news and public affairs issues and commentary that mattered most to them. To keep things lively and interesting, we invited a special guest, Lakeland’s own Billy Townsend, author of the free SubStack newsletter Public Enemy #1 to join us. Billy is the bard of Lakeland, a former Polk County School Board member, a civic chronicler, and the scourge of the Florida Charter Schools educational cabal who’ve labeled him as “Public Enemy #1.” Billy is also the author of Age of Barbarity, a history of Florida in the 1920s, and Seminole Wars, a collection of Florida essays.
We had a good time with our listeners dissecting the cronyism and grifting industrial complex of the DeSantis Administration, Polk County Sheriff and media darling, Grady Judd, the mob-like “bust out” job on New College of Florida and UF, and the foibles and failures of “New New College” President Richard Corcoran, (probably the least qualified college President in the U.S. who is inexplicably but constantly given the “grace of failing upward” in the words of Michelle Obama,) teacher union-busting, the rise of Manatee and Sarasota counties’ grassroots citizen movements to throw off the chains of their Anthony Pedicini and developer-controlled county commissions and school boards, and perhaps my favorite topic, the need for an alliance of Plant City and Lakeland against the encroaching “bougieness” of the Tampa-Orlando axis. You can listen to the show here.
WMNF is listener-powered, independent, community radio. Our MidPoint Talk Back Town Halls are one way we keep it that way. If there are news-worthy, Florida-centric stories you think we should be covering, send us an email to midpoint@wmnf.org. No promises, but we’ll consider your suggestions. Meanwhile, you can always listen to our shows on demand from our MidPoint archives, on the WMNF app, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast from your favorite podcast purveyor. If you missed the fund drive and feel moved to join the WMNF community and support our work, please do. Just click here , make a donation, and select some of our great “Thank You” swag. We appreciate you.
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