gistfile1.php

<?
// 2013-09-30 18:00:00 to 2013-09-30 20:00:00 (contents of #markup)

$dates       = explode(' to ', $items[0]['#markup']);
$time_format = 'g:i A';
$date_format = 'F jS, Y';
$s = $dates[0] . " -0500";

$start       = strtotime($s);
//$start_date  = date($date_format, $start);
//$start_time  = date($time_format, $start);

$start_date  = format_date($start, 'custom', $date_format, 'America/Chicago');
$start_time  =  format_date($start, 'custom', $time_format, 'America/Chicago');

dpm($s);
dpm($start);