ORLANDO, Fla. â Itâs all about the stories behind the music.
âIf you listen to it enough, youâll hear the story in a song or feel the music and as an adult. I have come to appreciate the music I grew up on which was rock and roll, blues and country,â News 6 meteorologist Samara Cokinos said.
The new podcast âRiff on Thisâ has debuted and may have you listening to new sounds.
Cokinos is the host of the podcast, highlighting just about every aspect of the music industry with guests who are producers, singers, promoters and musicians playing a variety of instruments. Youâll be surprised the talent of musicians and producers that live right here in Central Florida.
âA lot of people often forget when we have a big artist, they think Miami, New York, LA and they forget sometimes they come right from our backyard,â Cokinos said. âMusic itself can bring a lot of people together and hopefully the podcast with all these interviews coming together will do the same thing.â
Cokinos grew up in Central Florida and says her love for music started with her family.
Check out Riff On This. Every episode of the podcast can be found in the media player below:
âMy dad owned a music store, but I always grew up listening to live bands and hearing people in my family play instruments. I even learned how to play base guitar and I played trumpet in middle school... that was a mistake,â Cokinos said.
Her dad even makes an appearance on one of the episodes.
âWe talk about when my dad was in the music industry playing in bands. How music has changed from when there were live bands up and down Main Street to the DJ era and how Daytona Beach changed over the years. A lot of my DJ friends would carry crates of records with them to their gigs,â Cokinos said.
During the podcast youâll also learn some tidbits about Cokinos.
âI started to get to know people in the industry through bartending. Everybody has a past and I did a little bartending here and there and met a lot people that Iâm still connected with today,â Cokinos said.
Even through Embry Riddle, getting her meteorology degree, Cokinos made a musical connection with her former meteorology professor. Youâve got to listen to the podcast to hear this story.
âHe came and he brought a 12-string guitar and played it on the show,â Cokinos said.
âRiff on Thisâ not only shares stories from popular artists you may be familiar with, but also puts a spotlight on up-and-coming musicians in genres ranging from rock to country, R&B to classical.
âThere will be little moments in there that I hope make you chuckle because music invokes emotion and I believe their stories do too. I hope you get a laugh out of it, learn a little something and maybe listen to different music,â Cokinos said.
You can find âRiff on Thisâ on most podcast platforms as well as Clickorlando.com and YouTube.