Diana Bregman hails from New York, but with her pioneer spirit she has lived in Portland, OR.; Florence, Italy; Putney, VT, Napa, CA and on a tiny island off of Cape Cod accessible only by boat. From following The Grateful Dead as a teen to playing in orchestra, college bands and open mics, and living through the ’90s grunge scene in the PNW, music has had a gravitational pull and been source of inspiration and support throughout her life.
Diana discovered WSLR in its early years listening on a paint-covered radio while restoring an old house in Sarasota.
Having studied life science, art and history, Diana enjoyed a fulfilling career as an environmental educator with New York Audubon, The Wildlife Conservation Society and Hudson River Clearwater, (founded by Pete Seeger!) teaching wildlife conservation, citizen science, ecology and water quality monitoring to underserved communities in the classroom and out of doors — often with a guitar and a song to helping get messages across while bringing people together.
For her second career Diana teamed up with her art director husband, Shawn, to design and build sets for film and television on location across the country before settling down as the house Art Department team at Comedy Central in NYC.
After 5 years of non-stop film shoots, urban stress and burnout, Diana turned to the country and to her original love, horses, which she had ridden, trained and cared for all her life. She taught horseback riding to enthusiasts age 8-80, coached the Vermont Academy Equestrian Team, and managed horse and livestock farms in Sarasota, Vermont and Massachusetts.
After decades of living the SRQ snowbird life Diana and Shawn moved into their now restored Sarasota house full-time in 2019. In 2023 Diana began working at WSLR+Fogartyville, where she is soaking up the power of community radio and music and deeply supporting the mission of promoting equality, democracy and social justice. Diana enjoys the people she gets to connect with every day and loves her team and her job.
Diana (The Cat Lady) also hosts The Cat’s Meow on alternating Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. on WSLR.
