When the cameras aren’t rolling, a conversation about pirates, positive news, grandchildren and why America’s stories still start locally
By Lori Leath Miller
The first thing I learned about Steve Doocy is that he can carry on a full interview while jumping out of a vehicle, walking into Publix and searching for bottled water.
The second thing I learned is that despite spending decades on national television, the longtime FOX & Friends co-host is exactly what viewers see every morning: warm, approachable, genuinely curious and surprisingly funny.
I caught up with Doocy shortly after he landed in Northwest Florida as part of FOX & Friends’ nationwide America 250 tour, which recently brought the popular morning show to Fudpucker’s Beachside Bar & Grill in Destin.
Before discussing television, politics or ratings, we found ourselves talking about weather—specifically, what us locals affectionately call the “Destin Bubble.” After I explained our theory that somehow storms seem to part around Destin while sunshine magically appears, Doocy laughed. “That’s great. I love it,” he said. When I mentioned that some locals credit the Gulf’s unique weather patterns for helping create the phenomenon, he quickly connected it to another local tradition. “Well, that’s why the pirates came, I guess,” he joked.
As it turns out, Doocy had already been reading up on the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival and was preparing to be escorted by pirate ship during his visit to Fort Walton Beach. That could only happen on the Emerald Coast.
While the FOX & Friends team travels extensively, Doocy said Destin stood out as a natural stop for the show’s America 250 tour, which highlights communities, businesses and traditions that helped shape the nation. “As we travel America for America 250, we’re trying to highlight all these amazing towns and amazing places,” Doocy said. “The Panhandle was just one of those places we haven’t been to for a while, and it’s one of those places where people have heard about it, they’ve wanted to visit it, and we thought, ‘We should go there.’”
Part of the appeal was the location itself. “Fudpucker’s is legendary,” he said with a laugh. “You’ve got gators, you’ve got pirates, you’ve got a lot of happy people who need coffee. That’s a pretty good recipe for first thing in the morning.”
It wasn’t his first visit to the area. Long before arriving as a television host, Doocy first visited Destin as a college student making the trek from the University of Kansas in search of a Florida beach vacation. “It was the closest beach in Florida from Kansas,” he said.
Years later, he and his wife returned to explore the area as a potential second-home destination. “We absolutely loved it,” he told me. “We spent a couple of days looking around and thought it was just very, very nice.”
Like many visitors, he was particularly drawn to the communities along Scenic Highway 30A. During that trip, he even spent time exploring the area with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who maintained a home in South Walton for many years. Had he purchased property back then, he joked, he probably would have quadrupled his investment by now.
The conversation eventually turned to food — not surprising considering Doocy and his wife, Kathy, have authored several cookbooks together. When asked about memorable local dining experiences, he immediately recalled enjoying smoked fish dip while watching the sunset at Bud & Alley’s in Seaside. “It’s another iconic place,” he said. “Everybody has to go there.”
As our conversation continued, one theme surfaced repeatedly: the power of local stories. Although Doocy works in national media, he believes the stories that resonate most with viewers are often rooted in hometown communities. “When I was a reporter in Washington, D.C., every national story was a local story,” he said.
In today’s media landscape, he argues that local storytelling might be more important than ever. “Every national story starts somewhere locally,” he said. “And thanks to social media and all the different platforms we have now, a local story can become a national story overnight.”
That philosophy is at the heart of what we do. As publishers of all-positive community newspapers across Northwest Florida, we often hear readers say they appreciate stories that celebrate people, businesses and communities making a difference. It turns out Doocy hears much of the same feedback from FOX & Friends viewers.
“I think people love the segments because they’re positive,” he said. “There’s a lot of news on, and a lot of it is not great news. What I hear when I travel around the country is that people appreciate hearing stories about communities, businesses and people doing good things.”
One recent example came after a Route 66 broadcast. Doocy recalled a woman approaching him after the series aired. “She said, ‘I just wanted to tell you how much I loved that series,’” he remembered. “‘There’s just not enough good news out there.’” He paused and smiled while recounting the moment. “That’s a good report card.”
Those positive stories often create real-world impacts as well. Doocy shared how small businesses featured during FOX & Friends road trips sometimes see visitors arrive from across the country months or even years later. Recalling one Florida restaurant owner in particular, Doocy said one of the most rewarding aspects of the road trips is seeing the lasting impact on small businesses. “People would come in and say, ‘I saw you on TV,’” he said.
After more than three decades of commuting into New York television studios, Doocy said life on the road still brings a sense of adventure. “When you’re driving into New York every day for 30 years, you know exactly how it’s going to go,” he said. “Out here, you never know what’s going to happen. You’re going to meet interesting people, hear some great stories and probably have a few surprises along the way.” That unpredictability is part of what keeps the broadcasts fresh.
Doocy said one of the things he looks forward to most when the show travels is the enthusiasm of local viewers. “They’re so excited when we first walk in with the cameras rolling,” he said. “And the excitement really doesn’t diminish.”
In Destin, that enthusiasm was amplified by FOX & Friends’ nationwide America’s 250 RV giveaway, which had generated enormous local interest. “Everybody wants to win it,” Doocy said. “I don’t blame them. It’s a really nice vehicle.”
Perhaps nowhere was Doocy’s pride more evident than when discussing his son, Peter Doocy, now one of the most recognizable White House correspondents in America. When I asked how it feels watching his son follow in his footsteps, his voice immediately softened. “We’re really proud of him,” Doocy said. “In the beginning, we never pushed him into this business because it’s a complicated industry. But he’s worked hard, he’s done a great job and it’s exciting watching him succeed.” At the time of our interview, Peter was traveling internationally with the president. Like any parent, Steve watches closely.
Like any grandparent, he was equally happy discussing his grandchildren. A grandfather for only a few years, he smiled while talking about his young grandchildren and admitted there is nothing quite like the experience.
For all the excitement surrounding national television, RV giveaways and coast-to-coast broadcasts, those moments may have revealed the most about who Steve Doocy really is. By the end of our conversation, I found myself hoping this wouldn’t be Steve Doocy’s last visit to the Emerald Coast.
What was scheduled to be a short interview stretched into a much longer conversation about family, food, local communities, television and the stories that connect us. In a profession where interviews can sometimes feel rushed, scripted or transactional, our conversation felt more like catching up with an old friend who happened to have spent the last three decades on national television. It was one of the most enjoyable and genuinely pleasant interviews I’ve conducted. And I think he had fun, too!
Before ending our conversation, I asked if there was anything he wanted local readers to know. His answer was simple. “Thank you for the wonderful welcome and the great rollout,” he said. “We really appreciate it.”
By the end of our conversation, Doocy wasn’t talking about ratings, television production or celebrity. He was talking about communities. About local businesses. About people gathering together. About stories worth telling. “Every story is local,” he said.
And in a place like own Destin, that’s a story worth telling.
