Brendan Bunting O’Connor is being recognized for being a mover and shaker in Orlando, Fla.
For roughly eight years now, the former Saultite has been editor-in-chief of Bungalower, a hyperlocal local news website which covers the downtown Orlando area and surrounding ‘bungalow neighborhoods.’ But more recently, Bunting O’Connor has received the nod as one of this year’s 50 Most Powerful Ones to Watch by Orlando Magazine.
“I’ve actually been on it before, two years ago,” said Bunting O’Connor, speaking with SooToday from Florida Tuesday. “Mostly I thought it was funny — it was like, what, they’re still watching me? I better put some pants on. This is crazy.”
“But no, it’s good. It’s nice to win awards like that, so you know you’re still doing things right and people are listening and watching. It’s always a big kick in the butt, you know?”
According to Orlando Magazine, Bunting O’Connor is a “ubiquitous” radio and podcast host whose online publication has become a “top online news resource for Orlando.”
“Which to me means too much, so I’m a little worried about that. But I’ll take it,” Bunting O’Connor said about being referred to as ubiquitous by the magazine. “I’m kind of known for being everywhere at once here.”
Considering his output, it’s no wonder: on top of being the face of the Bungalower, Bunting O’Connor is also behind a radio show, a small magazine and has recently launched a television program about food in his adopted city.
“My mom called it ‘Gay Fieri,’ because it’s gay me going to restaurants and eating,” he said with a laugh.
The Bungalower is known in Orlando as being a go-to news source when disaster strikes, and it was no different when Hurricane Ian recently made its presence felt in Orlando.
“Our busiest times are when there’s some sort of disaster or something because people trust us. They come to us to know how it affects them, and a lot of the larger outlets, they’ll cover the larger stories — where is the hurricane, what are the wind speeds and then move on. That’s mostly their coverage,” said Bunting O’Connor. “But we’ll be covering what streets are closed, who’s experiencing flooding.”
While the hurricane gripped the state of Florida, Bunting O’Connor was busy updating the Bungalower Instagram account throughout the storm, sharing videos made by others based on what they were seeing, including people using kayaks to get around the city and others being saved by boaters.
“We got 7,000 followers in just that one night, just because we were the only one that was sharing that type of content,” he said.
The Bungalower started off as a local news website, but would later expand its footprint by incorporating radio, television and magazine content. Bunting O’Connor believes the expansion was spurred on by another disaster: a 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando where 49 people died after a shooter opened fire.
“I was a gay, local journalist with a tie to Canada, so CBC rang me up and we got to talk on all of the different stations across the country. I think that’s when things really started to pick up for Bungalower and for me, just because people trusted what we were putting out,” he said.
The ubiquitous editor-in-chief is still everywhere at once these days. He’s still hoping his food-based television is picked up for a second season, and is currently touring a book he helped author entitled 100 Things to Do in Orlando Before You Die.
While he would love to come back to the Sault Ste. Marie area and visit his parents in Goulais River, the graduate of Mountain View Public School and White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School seems like he isn’t quite sure that he would know what to do with himself back home.
“I’m not afraid of being super busy. I would love to go back to the Sault, but I don’t know what I would do, just because I keep so busy in Orlando,” said Bunting O’Connor. “But if the Sault could keep me this busy, I’d be there.”