Samantha Wright
Idaho Matters Senior ProducerExpertise: Reporting, producing, writing, editing, hosting, interviewing, board operating
Education: Boise State University + interviewing every expert and reading every book I can find to constantly keep learning
Highlights
- I got to chase Martian Dust Devils in the Oregon desert
- I wisely skipped breakfast the day I flew in a Red Baron Squadron Stearman stunt biplane
- My tombstone will probably read “Brought the Parachuting Beavers story to Idaho”
- I rode in the belly of an M1 Abrams Tank across the Idaho desert
Experience
As Senior Producer of our live daily talk show Idaho Matters, I’m able to indulge my love of storytelling and share all kinds of information (I was probably a Town Crier in a past life). My career has allowed me to learn something new everyday and to share that knowledge with all my friends on the radio. I am so grateful to have been honored by my peers with Edward R. Murrow Awards for my stories including wheelchair rugby, blind bird watching, making pies for Lent, learning to can food during a recession, and walking through a living nativity.
I love playing with audio and had great fun putting together my Canning Makes a Comeback story which won Best Use of Sound from the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA). I love interviewing fascinating people from Idaho musician Rosalie Sorrels to best-selling author Sharon Kay Penman. I also sat down with three of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders and several of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen. I hosted “Folk Trails” on KBSU for several years and got paid to play celtic, bluegrass and folk music while chatting with everyone from “Artis the Spoonman” to singer Christine Lavin.
I’ve followed guide dog trainers for Voice of America, reported on how road noise affects Boise’s Foothills for New Yorker Magazine, gathered sound for This American Life, trekked to Stanley, Idaho for NPR for the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and reported for the New York Times and National Native News. I loved producing stories for the Idaho Storycorps Project each time it came to Boise and had great fun hosting the Legislative Breakdown podcast for several sessions of the Idaho Legislature.
My goal is to find out what’s on the mind of our listeners and to Never Be Boring!
Email: If you have a suggestion for an Idaho Matters segment, please email idahomatters@boisestate.edu.
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As the weather warms up, snow is melting and water is filling up the Boise River, sometimes overfilling the river banks. -
As the need for energy grows across the West and more focus is being shifted to low-carbon resources, people are asking important questions like: How do we bring this kind of energy online reliably? -
Scientists are finding that some landscapes can come back on their own after natural disasters, like wildfires. And there are more and more examples of this kind of restoration popping up around the West. -
A jury has been picked for the Chad Daybell murder trial, being whittled down from a pool of 50 people to 12 jurors and six alternates. -
Boise is known as the City of Trees, and despite being in a desert, it has a fairly substantial urban forest. -
Idaho's Superintendent of Public Instruction has been watching the Idaho legislature closely this year as lawmakers consider giving public schools a giant chunk of the state budget. -
In February, a company called "Change Healthcare" was hit by a cyber attack. Idaho Matters finds out how this has impacted hospitals, doctors and patients. -
Meridian recently gained a new community space that is focused on uplifting black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in Idaho. -
Idaho Matters takes a look at the first day of the Chad Daybell multiple murder trial. -
Did lawmakers at the Idaho legislature violate open meeting laws? That’s the question swirling around the statehouse after an impromptu and unannounced meeting of some of the members of the powerful budget writing committee last Thursday, March 28.
