We understand that everyone is concerned over the ongoing Gulf oil spill situation. As of this week the oil spill is still in the Gulf but no one's really sure what the future will hold. So far all the beaches are open and fishing and boating are only mildly affected.

We've assembled some local news stories to help you keep up informed on the ongoing situation.

Live Destin Area Webcams - See The Beach Condition For Yourself

• Regency Towers Beachcam

• Billabong Destin Surf Report

• Breakers Condos Beach Cam

• Navarre Beach Webcam

• InnerLight Beach Cams

Frequently Updated Oil Spill Sites - Check These Links For The Latest News

• Florida Department of Environmental Protection Latest News

• SERT GATOR Gulf Interactive Map

• Deepwater Horizon Official Site

• Bay County Public Information Website

• NOAA Deepwater Horizon Response Page

• NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Trajectory Maps

• Deepwater Horizon Wikipedia Page

• Deepwater Horizon Response Facebook Page

• NWFL Panhandle Volunteer Beach Rescue Group Facebook Page

• Crown Weather Oil Spill Page

Updated Stories On Oil Spill Affecting Emerald Coast (Newest links on top)

• Oil spill: Battle rages on surface of Gulf (August 5)

• Oil spill: Ala. waiting to reopen fishing area (August 5)

• Oil spill: BP funds go to Pensacola Beach fun (August 5)

• BP finishes 'static kill' by pumping cement down well (August 5)

• Cleanup operations downsized as bags of tar balls recovered from Bay (August 5)

• Fishermen vent about VOO program at standing room only meeting at Destin City Hall (August 5)

• EPA says Gulf dispersants not more toxic than oil (August 2)

• BP: Upcoming kill attempt might do the trick alone (August 2)

• Is mullet safe to eat after the oil spill? (August 2)

• Escambia fishing waters reopened Saturday (August 2)

• Florida beaches past the worst of the oil (August 2)

• BP refuses business owner's May claim (August 2)

• BP boss says it's time to scale back cleanup (August 2)

• Ebb tide at Crab Island: Regulars say oil spill has scared many away (August 2)

• Destin captains turn to task force to save season (August 2)

• NOAA: Surface oil no longer a threat to Fla. (August 2)

• Johns Hopkins to study how spill affects aquatic life (August 2)

• Are the Oil Spill Public Health Notices Hurting the Economy? (August 2)

• Water quality report for local beaches (July 29)

• For some, oil spill hard to cope (July 29)

• Pensacola Beach beautiful today (July 29)

• Oil spill: BP moves to oust CEO Hayward (July 29)

• Oil spill: Response efforts hit downturn (July 29)

• Blowout capped: Where's the oil? (July 29)

• BP to reimburse Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge (July 29)

• State oil spill task force asks BP for 'our seafood is safe' marketing money (July 29)

• Californians find the real oil story in Destin (July 29)

• Oil spill: Ships back at drill site after storm peters out (July 26)

• Pensacola camps help children cope with oil spill (July 26)

• Surf store co-owner's optimistic on spill (July 26)

• Downtown FWB businesses struggling amid fallout from oil spill (July 26)

• With cap in place, Destin tourism industry waiting for a pick-me-up (July 26)

• BP scaling back it's response in Bay County (July 26)

In the last podcast, I talked about Intrawest finalizing the sale of Sandestin Resort to Tom Becnel. Rumors of this impending sale have been circulating in the community for many than a year, so I thought I would provide a little more information to our listeners regarding the resort and the effect of the sale on those who own property and who work at Sandestin.

Becnel is a developer who already operates resorts, luxury condos and townhomes in the area, most notably the Silver Shells Resort, The Palms, and One Beach Club in Sandestin. Many people including John Russell, Senior Vice President of Operations at Sandestin, view the sale as a good thing since Becnel is a local with knowledge of the property and existing relationships to many individuals in the community. The sale of the 2,400-acre resort property, which is home to timeshare villas, condominiums, town homes and hotel accommodations, could also be viewed as a sign that the real estate market in Destin is improving.

Like I said before, anyone whose ever been out to Sandestin knows that it's nice, but I did a little research to see what the resort actually has to offer, and as it turns out, the Sandestin Resort is home to 4 golf courses, 15 tennis courts, 19 swimming pools, 7 miles of beach and bayfront, and a 98-slip marina, plus the pedestrian village which has tons of restaurants, bars and shops. The Sandestin Wine Festival is also happening soon at Baytown Wharf from April 22-25, where you can taste over 600 domestic and international wines in all price ranges.

If you work at the Sandestin Resort, don't be too concerned with the change in ownership, as it appears Becnel will retain the staff excluding those involved with Intrawest sales, and keep day-to-day operations pretty much the same. If you own a home, condo or Destin timeshare at the resort, little should change for you as well.

Work continues on a waterfront condominium complex that has encountered a host of delays.

Construction vehicles and mounds of dirt remained in front of the Presidio condominium site Monday at a time of year when the project’s backers had hoped the complex would be ready for occupancy.

But the 16-floor development on the south side of U.S. Highway 98 near Fort Walton Beach City Hall should soon be ready for its first tenants, said Joel Meriwether, Presidio’s sales director. Full story at http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/9496

Story Title: Podcasts play up Destin
(We Are In The Local Daily Paper)!

As many of our local friends and family already know now, our local daily paper Northwest Florida Daily News just published a featured story about this podcast! We want to thank Business Section Editor Kari Barlow for this great article about us.

Click to read Podcasts play up Destin

If you have not heard our most recent episode, please scroll down to check out our last episode, to listen or download it.

iTunes users... click to iTunes button on the right sidebar to subscribe to our feed. Everyone else... You'll want to come back time and time again to enjoy our new episodes and other posts.

Thanks for everyone's support!

Harley

We'd like to thank Joyce Owen of the Walton sun for this great article about us:

Tourists can listen to latest beach news on the Web

Welcome to all the new listeners who found us through the Walton Sun article!

DestinFloridaPodcast.com has been publishing (podcasting) twice monthly since December of 2006. We are actively doing marketing and public relations to grow show awareness and are happy to report significant growth in our worldwide reach.

We are listed on iTunes where we rank extremely high under a search for Florida podcasts, plus have already received significant local coverage:

Published News Stories About Destin Florida Podcast

• Podcasts play up Destin
• Tourists can listen to latest beach news on the Web

At this time, we very much appreciate information and local press releases to better help us get area information out to our listeners. Please feel free to put:

ted.newkirk@gmail.com (podcast producer)

on your press release and marketing list if you are a local business, professional, government/news agency, non-profit or other concern looking to get your information to both locals and tourists.

We are accepting advertising inquiries regarding campaigns starting in 2008. We'd enjoy talking with you, and seeing if we are a great fit to help our listeners find out about business or professional concern. Please contact:

ted.newkirk@gmail.com (podcast producer)

Who's Running The Show Here?
Visit Our About Destin Florida Podcast Section

Want to view our media kit and find out how to get your information included on our show? Please visit our
Destin Florida Podcast Media Kit

Who Runs This Show...

Harley Van Hyning

The voice of DestinFloridaPodcast.com is Harley Van Hyning. Harley was born and raised in the Fort Walton Beach, Florida area. Growing up just minutes from beautiful beaches, Harley was always at the beach and in the water. This would later introduce him to activities like surfing, fishing, snorkeling and skimboarding. Today, he still has a hard time leaving the beach!

Harley graduated from Fort Walton Beach High School in 2000. He continued his education at Pensacola Junior College where he earned his Associate of Arts degree. The University of West Florida is the university he finished his last two years to obtain his Bachelor of Arts. Harley majored in public relations, and minored in advertising/marketing, also known as an area of concentration.

While in college, he had the opportunity to create two advertising campaigns. The first campaign was for Panhandle Animal Welfare Society. Harley carried out the role with creating the radio spots, which aired on local radio stations. His role through the campaign was the creative director and campaign presenter. Everything from the logo to the slogan, Harley was dropping ideas.

The second campaign with the Florida Army National Guard was difficult and time consuming. Harley took on the role as a creative director and campaign presenter. Again, he created the radio spots and dropped creative ideas. Both experiences gave him a very good understanding of what the professional world is all about. Harley received a Golden Addy from the Advertising Federation(which he is a member) for the radio spots he created in the P.A.W.S campaign.

Harley still enjoys the things he did as a child, such as surfing. He has always had a love for music and frequently attends concerts. Speaking of music Harley was a Cyber Jockey his last two years of college. A CJ is a television host on the internet. He worked with Inter Axis Television; an internet television network. He had the opportunity to interview the Belgian music artist D.H.T in Biloxi, MS. At the time the group had a hit single out titled, “Listen to Your Heart�. Harley thought it was a great experience to be someone small interviewing a group that was on Regis and Kelly the day before.

Through one of the founders of Inter Axis, Harley later came in contact with his podcast partner Ted Newkirk. Today, Harley has combined all of his experiences in to one, which would give him an exciting venture as a podcaster!

Email Harley at DestinFloridaPodcast@yahoo.com

Ted Newkirk

Ted Newkirk has been making a successful living as the CEO/Owner of AccessVegas.com and consulting on internet marketing since 1995. He has also been a consultant to businesses interests including real estate, mortgage, attorneys, gaming properties, and even "mom and pops" in helping them greatly increase the traffic to their websites and turn that traffic into sales.

The following is the complete, original Q and A from the Northwest Florida Daily News story Podcasts play up Destin. What follows is the Daily News Business Editor Kari Barlow's interview with Ted regarding this podcast:

NFDN: First, what's your official title?

Officially, I'm the Producer of the Podcast. However, that title is slightly misleading. Harley and I are basically equal partners. He does the news research and records in Navarre. Because of my resources here in Southern Nevada, the editing and website work are done here.

NFDN: How did you and Harley get into the podcasting business?

Ted: I'm a nearly 10 year visitor to Destin and Panama City Beach. A group of far flung friends, one of which was an area native, set up a weekend get-together on Okaloosa Island. I flew in, and was wowed by the area just as millions of others have.

I not only continued to return on vacation, but really sunk my teeth into learning about the history and happenings of the Emerald Coast and developed a deep appreciation for the area beyond a typical 'I Love Destin' tourist. Because of this, I developed numerous friendships with area residents.

Harley was involved in a video project run by a friend-of-a-friend. I have an internet tourism marketing background. Harley had just finished college studies related to PR and marketing. We were put in contact with each other, talked, and thought this might be a fun project to try.

We weren't blind to the business possibilities. The general area has over 3 million visitors each year, many which come a number of times a year and/or are second home owners. Prime candidates for information presented in the podcast format. But this started as a labor of love.

NFDN: What's the appeal of a podcast?

Ted: A podcast is targeted radio on demand at the very core. We are all so used to Tivoing our favorite TV programs, or renting movies to watch them at our convenience. We are used to reading a newspaper or visiting a news website when it is convenient for us.

But radio has until now has been something one must tune into at a specific time to hear a specific show. In addition, radio must reach a very broad market to be successful. A podcast can be more concerned about addressing a specific topic, but with worldwide reach. A visitor from Europe can listen just as easily as someone from Atlanta.

Because the format is audio, podcasts can be listened to when out-and-about, driving, or even doing mundane chores. While people are certainly welcome to sit at their computer and listen, they can also take possession of a copy of the actual show at no cost and listen to it on their iPod or even burn it to a CD and listen in the car just as they might do with any other MP3 audio files on their computer.

The audio format also allows a podcast to include music. In the case of DestinFloridaPodcast.com, we feature a truly local artist's music toward the end of each show. This is an invaluable feature, providing added exposure for area artists and temporarily transporting far-flung listeners to their favorite vacation spot for a few minutes.

NFDN: Who's your target audience? Is the idea to tap tourists from outside of the area or locals as well?

Ted: Tourism podcasts in other areas have show strong ability to attract an audience ranging from locals to those who may only visit a destination once a year, but dream about it all year. Locals may be interested in the host's take on a news story, or hear about an event or musical artist they were not really aware of. Tourists get fresh information they won't find in a generic area tourism brochure. Over time, we are expecting a mix of 80% out-of-area listeners, and 20% local.

NFDN: Harley mentioned you are the tech guy. What's your role?

Ted: Harley records his segments and writes up the show notes right there in Navarre, and then emails them to me. Just as you may email a song or a photo or short video clip to a friend. We then add in the theme music and local band song, and convert the entire show into the MP3 format, which can be played on a computer, iPod, or burned to a CD for on-demand listening. We place it online at DestinFloridaPodcast.com just as one would update a personal blog or photo sharing page they maintain online.

NFDN: In your opinion, do podcasts work?

Ted: Although still a maturing medium, they have already been shown very effective across all genres. News junkies can listen to established programs like Meet The Press on demand wherever they are instead of having to spend an hour in front of the TV.

More importantly, niche interests shine. A nationally syndicated radio or TV show about, for example... preschool moms, vegan dining, acid jazz music, a political third party, or an area like Destin wouldn't work even though tens of millions have an interest in each of them. The air time is too costly. Podcasts are far less expensive to produce and distribute, while more effectively targeting a specific niche of people who are also much more likely to help the podcast grow via word-of-mouth.

NFDN: Also, how integral is technology like podcasting to tourism these days and in the future?

Ted: Technology is no longer the future of tourism marketing. It is the present. The traveler with the disposable income to visit Destin is most likely to have broadband internet, multiple computers at home and work, and is very comfortable using the internet to both research and book their vacation. They tend to be 'on the go' people who value the ability to absorb information from a podcast while they eat lunch, ride on an airplane, or are stuck in traffic.

The advantage of the audio format is that you are actually in their ear during a time when their attention isn't divided on other primary activities.

NFDN: Feel free to add anything else about podcasts and what you hope this venture leads to ...

Ted: I've always enjoyed helping and mentoring up-and-coming people like Harley who are sharp, hard working, and have tremendous potential. We've already been doing the podcast for a number of months and the only goal was to see if it was something he enjoyed and if working with him was a good fit with my appreciation of the area. It has, and we've developed a great friendship as well.

Things have gone well, interest is growing, and Harley is working very hard to expand awareness of the podcast and improve it with each episode. Down the road, we feel it may be an affordable and targeted advertising opportunity for Emerald Coast tourism related businesses. But the core success of any project is usually a love of what you do. We both really enjoy telling people about Destin and the Emerald Coast!

Email Ted at ted.newkirk@gmail.com

Want to view our media kit and find out how to get your information included on our show? Please visit our
Destin Florida Podcast Media Kit