Try listening to an episode of Tom Flip’s Key West Podcast without spending the rest of the day with its simple, but catchy theme song running through your head. It’s not possible, which is why Flip gives credit throughout the episodes to its composer, Miguel Perez.
Anything goes on the podcast Flip started in November 2020, after teaching himself the technical requirements that have sent plenty of would-be podcasters running for the hills, their new microphones barely unpacked.
Other than the theme song and a single question that starts off the conversations Flip has twice a week, nothing is off-limits. There’s profanity, tangents, complaints about Key West’s parking issues and fond, if foggy, memories of former bars, first apartments and bad bosses.
“I always start with the same question — What brought you to Key West? — because everyone has a Key West story. It’s almost that mandatory elevator pitch you have to be able to tell a tourist whenever they ask,” said Flip, who honed his own Key West story while bartending at El Meson de Pepe and while taking film photos in the 1990s of tourists boarding snorkel boats.
“I was working for Ron Scott of Pro Photo,” Flip recalled during a recent podcast interview with yours truly. “We were still shooting film, so I’d take pictures of people boarding snorkel boats and getting their fins and masks. Then, while the boat was out, I’d race over to Pro Photo on upper Duval Street to develop the prints with the boat’s logo printed on each. Then I’d race back down to the dock and have the prints set up on an easel when the boat returned. Crazy times,” Flip said.
His current professional set-up is much more comfortable, ensconced as he is in his Southard Street kitchen, with a smoking porch, a sweet dog and two microphones set up on a high-top cafe table.
Flip typically does two hour-long interviews a week, then spends a few days editing each one. Guests have included Joe Madaus of Comedy Key West, photographer Nick Doll, Landon Bradbary, Dionte Dunning, Audrey “Super Girl” Samz, Beth Rooney, this newspaper editor and a dozen others.
“So far I’ve been interviewing people I know, but I want to start branching out to people I’d like to get to know,” Flip said, proud of the fact that his is one of very few Key West-centric podcasts that has survived more than a few months. “Consistency is key. Once you start skipping episodes, people stop listening. It’s definitely a commitment, and way more work than someone thinks when they, ‘Hey, I want to do a podcast and just rant on a microphone each week.’”
There is some ranting on Flip’s episodes, but mostly sarcasm, shared experiences and locals’ look at life in a tourist town.
Check out all the episodes at listennotes.com and at all the podcast streaming services. Then try to get the theme song out of your head. “…the Tom Flip Podcast Show….”
(Editor’s note: The episode featuring Key West Weekly editor Mandy Miles will be online this week.)
