WQCS’s award-winning Oral History Project operates on the assumption that everyone has a story to tell, and since the project’s inception in 2006, project producer Janie Gould has shown that to be true. She has recorded interviews with more than 250 people who’ve talked about everything from manatee hunting and frog gigging in rural Florida to building the Empire State Building during the Great Depression in New York, among many other topics.

 For a list of oral history upcoming events see our Community Calendar, and listen to past specials see our Audio Archive 

Janie Gould has used the material to produce radio specials on Florida’s Boom and Bust, killer hurricanes of the 20^th century, unusual occupations held by Treasure Coast residents, and a five-year anniversary report on the World Trade Center attacks. She did a week-long series of shows about veterans, which aired around Memorial Day 2007; a series on World War II veterns that aired in September 2007, and a Veterans Day special on Seminoles who fought in Vietnam.  She has produced more than 60 other broadcasts from material collected in the oral history interviews. Some are aired during the popular "Floridays" that is heard every Friday during NPR’s Morning Edition show.

Participants are interviewed in the WQCS oral history trailer at special events such as the Vero Beach Book Festival, Bookmania at the Blake Library in Stuart and the Santa Lucia Day in Fort Pierce.  The trailer has also visited public libraries in Indian River, Okeechobee, Martin and St. Lucie counties. Interviews are also conducted at the WQCS studio on the main campus of Indian River College in Fort Pierce. Janie also makes home visits for residents who are unable to travel. Each participant receives a CD copy of their interview at no charge.

 

The Florida Historical Society presented its Hampton Dunn Award for radio broadcasting to Janie Gould in 2007.

 

The WQCS project is a local outgrowth of Story Corps, based in New York. Story Corps workers have recorded the recollections of thousands of people all across the country. Some of the interview material has been broadcast on NPR and all of it is being archived at the Library of Congress.