Ali Peek Wilbur was raised to live and die with the Florida Gators. Three years ago, she turned that birthright into a business.
The New Tampa resident hosts “A Peek Inside Florida Gators Football,” a podcast she launched in 2023 that has grown to 18,800 subscribers and more than 6.1 million views. It is the latest stop in a sports media career spanning more than 20 years in radio, television and print, most of it covering high school and college sports in Florida.
Her credentials start at home. Only four families in University of Florida history have sent three generations of players to the Gators football team, and the Peeks are one of them, along with the Kynes, Jackson and Brown families.
Wilbur’s grandfather, Scotty, and her father, Skipper, both played for UF. Her brother, Scott, won a national championship playing for Urban Meyer in 2008. Her husband, Eric Wilbur, punted for the Gators’ 2006 national championship team.
“My dad took us to Gator home games our entire life,” Wilbur said. “My grandfather worked for University of Florida later in his life. I am one of seven children. I have three brothers, and my house was always dominated by my brothers having friends over and my dad and his football friends, and it just never crossed my mind that I couldn’t talk football with the boys.”
After her children were born, Wilbur, 41, scaled back but never stepped away.
“Since having children I’ve taken on opportunities to keep my toe in the water a little bit,” she said. “Spectrum called the last couple of years and they needed a sideline reporter for high school football championships. So my husband would sit in the stands with our toddlers and I would work the sideline.”
She also made guest appearances on other podcasts. What she lacked was a show of her own.
“I never stopped watching or researching, I just didn’t have a platform to talk about it,” Wilbur said. “A friend had several different college YouTube channels and he said there is a market for a Florida [football] YouTube channel. He said for the size of the fan base there is not enough content. So we started the podcast.”
Loved sports from the beginning
Wilbur’s family moved from the Beach Park neighborhood of South Tampa to Tampa Palms in 1989, when the community was still being built.
“My parents packed a picnic lunch to show us our lot. It was like we were going to the sticks,” she said.
She attended Tampa Palms Elementary, then Corpus Christi Catholic in Temple Terrace for middle school, where she “played every sport that they offered.”
“My parents believed that there were a lot of life lessons to be learned in youth sports,” Wilbur said.
She was a cheerleader at Tampa Catholic, where her media career began. Time Warner, now Spectrum, ran a high school sports show hosted by students, and Wilbur was the first to host it, as a junior and senior.
From there she went to Florida and majored in telecommunications news, before UF offered the sports broadcasting major it has now. During her four years in Gainesville, Sun Sports asked whether she would host a statewide version of the same high school sports show. She also worked the sidelines at state championship games.
“When I graduated I also did radio for iHeartRadio for the CBS affiliate in Orlando, ‘Gator Gameday,’ when I would be on location for every Gator football game,” Wilbur said.
She went on to host “The Peek Hour,” a drive-time morning sports show on 740 The Game in Orlando that covered every sport, making her the first woman in the Southeast to host her own solo sports talk radio show.
She met Eric at Florida. They married in 2012.
Crazy for football
Now a mother of four, all of whom attend Turner/Bartels K-8 School, Wilbur records the podcast from her home office in Grand Hampton.
“When my youngest weren’t in school I did everything when they went to bed at night, so it’s easier now interviewing people during the day,” she said.
Wilbur is well versed in every sport on campus. Her audience is not.
“The audience dictates the content,” she said. “I have done a little bit of other sports. I had Todd Golden [Florida’s basketball coach] on about a month ago, and when Florida is making a postseason basketball run I will do basketball videos. I went to the national championship game two years ago and did a lot of content around that.
“But, even on a championship run for basketball, it doesn’t get the views that football does. I could do a story on the color of the jerseys and it would do better probably than any other sport, which is crazy. I think there are so many other interesting stories in all of our [UF] sports, including the non-revenue ones, but that’s not what the audience says.”
Wilbur has covered the program from the Steve Spurrier years through the Billy Napier era, which ended midway through last season. Her show ranges from recruiting to game previews and breakdowns to coaching news.
She has high hopes for new coach Jon Sumrall, the 31st head coach since Florida began playing football in 1906.
“I love Coach Sumrall,” Wilbur said. “I think there is a certain type of personality that does well with Florida’s fan base. You can look to Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer as examples. They’re a little bit brash, they’re confident, they carry themselves in a specific demeanor and I don’t think Florida has had a coach quite like this since Urban.
“That won’t matter if they don’t win. But I think his personality type really fits the fan base and I think he’s done an exceptional job letting the fan base get to know him. The previous staff didn’t have any use for independent media, which is what I would consider all of our podcasts.
“The problem with that view is that today’s college football fan is consuming their content about their team through independent media the most. So if you want to reach Gator fans you go on ‘A Peek Inside Florida Gators Football’ or an equivalent. If you just want to talk to a casual football fan as a whole, that’s where you go on ESPN.
“But if you want to reach your fan base’s diehards, independent media is the easiest way to do that, and I think Coach Sumrall realizes that. He’s come on my podcast; he’s been incredibly approachable when we have questions. I was just around him at [Southeastern Conference] media days, and he’s warm, he’s inviting, and he appears very genuine. And I think that’s refreshing for this fan base.”
Florida also thrives when it is cast as the villain, Wilbur said.
“They don’t mind having to circle the wagons and only care about what’s going on internally because the outside world isn’t a fan of them,” she said. “I think we actually thrive in that scenario. They have no need to be the college football darling. And I think Sumrall has brought some of that back.”
Her prediction for this season: 8-4.
“If a game or two swings their way I think there’s a scenario where they win nine or 10 games, but I do believe eight is realistic for year one,” she said. “Coach Sumrall has won everywhere he’s been. He’s never won fewer than nine games as a head coach. So I think his track record would back up that 8-4 is definitely realistic.”
Know your game
Wilbur said she has not run into the obstacles some women face in a male-dominated field, and she encourages young girls to chase the goals she had — with one caveat.
“Know what you’re talking about and ask a lot of questions,” she said. “If you didn’t play the sport you’re covering, and this goes for men and women, you are going to be scrutinized a little bit tougher because they want to know why should I listen to you about something you didn’t participate in. But that dissipates really quickly if you can show that you know what you’re talking about.”