One of WJCT's radio series is celebrating an important milestone.Closing the Loop, a series of interviews dealing with how North Florida residents cope with drastic life changes and how they adapt to their new realities celebrated its 100th episode airing during Morning Edition on Friday, Sept. 20.
Writer and producer Warren Miller said the idea for the show began a couple of years ago, to see how people are coping with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
However, Miller said the show quickly became a much bigger series about how people cope with all sorts of drastic, life-changing events.
"The stories are very hopeful," Miller said. "The resilience of people is absolutely inspiring."
With over 800,000 Jacksonville residents, Miller said there is no shortage of stories.
He said one of his most memorable episodes followed Jose Lantigua, a former Marine who died in April.
Lantigua was an officer in the Marines who joined IBM after being let go by the military due to a reduction of service. He moved to Jacksonville when his IBM division was sold to Fidelity. Soon afterward, his wife died unexpectedly.
After losing his wife, Miller said, Lantigua wanted to find an organization he could hang on to and purchased Circle K Furniture in 2008.
Miller said everyone must cope with change, and he hopes people are happier in their new life than they were in their old life.
"If we're still alive, there's always hope," Miller said.
For the future of Closing the Loop, Miller said he wants to get more into storytelling. He also said he wants to better explore the transition of getting older and death.
"That's something everybody faces," Miller said. "It doesn't matter how old you are."
Listen to Closing the Loop every Friday during Morning Edition on WJCT. You can email Miller directly at ClosingTheLoop@hotmail.com with story ideas.
