Matthew Peddie was born in Saskatoon, Canada, in 1976. At around a year old, Matthew and his family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, after a brief stint in England from Canada. Matthew recollected memories of his upbringing in New Zealand, particularly enjoying the various outdoor activities offered by Christchurch's diverse landscape. Matthew attended the University of Canterbury, majoring in English and French. After his undergraduate studies, Matthew worked at a rural and local high school teaching English and French. He realized through this experience that he did not want to pursue a teaching career further. This experience, however, also connected him with a colleague from Japan, which sparked Matthew's interest in the possibility of teaching language abroad in Japan. As a result, from 2001 to 2003, Matthew worked in Niigata, Japan, teaching English to schoolchildren and recounting his personal and professional experiences living in a country and culture completely foreign to him. In 2004, Matthew pursued a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Western Ontario in London, finishing a year later. Matthew explained how his joy with writing and curiosity about the world drew him to study journalism. In 2005, he married his wife, who was from Orlando, and they spent five years in New Zealand before permanently settling in Central Florida. Matthew worked as a journalist at a radio station in New Zealand and continued in that occupation once he arrived in Orlando in 2010. He explained his appeal with radio journalism compared to print and television. Matthew produced several programs for public radio station 90.7 WMFE (now known as Central Florida Public Media) from 2012 to 2022. Since 2022, Matthew has worked for WUSF in Tampa, Florida, although he still lives in Orlando. Matthew detailed his time at WMFE and WUSF, emphasizing his takeaways about Florida, radio’s continued utility, and the current state (c. 2025) of public media. He shared the general reactions he received from his programming. Lastly, Matthew discussed his broader observations about the Central Florida and Tampa Bay regions, their changes, differences, and challenges since 2010.