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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According to a report from the Education Data Initiative there are more than 75,000 kids in Idaho who are food insecure. -
Across the U.S. there's a pilot shortage, particularly when it comes to women, which is why one Idaho program is working to change that. -
Dr. Jeff Meldrum was Idaho's preeminent researcher into the cryptoid known as Bigfoot. -
Yesterday, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was murdered while speaking on a college campus in Utah. -
In Idaho, there are 450 different systems to take care of wastewater and more than 2,000 systems that bring safe drinking water to homes across the state. Now, a new report has revealed that many of these treatment plants are old and falling apart. -
Every year in Idaho West Nile returns as a threat to the public. Now, the Canyon County District is asking for your help to solve the problem. -
For three decades the City Club has been bringing people together to have conversations about everything from politics to health care to art. -
Idaho’s coroner system is broken and a joke. That’s just one response to a survey of county coroners who struggle with too little pay, too few resources and too little training. -
What’s it like to hang in the vastness of space and stare down at the Earth? Well, Astronaut Steve Swanson has a pretty good idea. -
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
