It's fun to speculate about the connection between a landscape and its culture and people. There are certainly a lot of "characters" in Idaho, and maybe it's not a coincidence that the landscape is some of the west's most varied and remarkable. Below are a handful of the "characters" we profile in our Twentieth Anniversary program.
 Delbert Blickfeldt |
Rockhound Delbert Blickfeldt helped us discover some of the hidden treasures of the Oywhee desert. We profiled Delbert in our 1990 program "High Desert Country."
 Olive Purcell |
Olive Purcell, lady cowpuncher, has spent the past twenty-five years in charge of a herd of cattle near Hells Canyon. Olive was featured in our 1996 program "Never Say Quit."
 Wally Beamer |
Long time outfitter Wally Beamer was a fixture in Hells Canyon, taking passengers up and down the rough waters of the Snake River. In addition to guiding, Beamer was also the mailman, each week delivering mail to residents of the remote canyon. We profiled Wally in a 1986 program.
 Morley Nelson |
Morley Nelson was featured in the very first "Outdoor Idaho" program in October of 1983. Long recognized as one of the world's leading raptor experts, Morley showed us his favorite raptor, a gyrfalcon named Thor, for a 1990 program.
 Chatburns herding cattle |
We profiled the Chatburn family, a six-generation ranch family near Albion, Idaho. In fact, we found them to be so fascinating that we did an entire half hour show on the family, called "Ranch Family Album," in 1993.
 Rodney Wolf |
Rodney Wolf is definitely one of the best fly fishermen on the St. Joe River. Before he became a fly fisher, he was a logger, one of the best in a region full of legendary loggers. We profiled Rodney and the St. Joe River in 1995.
 Suzanne Connor |
Suzanne Connor gave up her desk job more than twenty years ago, to start her own business giving folks glider rides high above Sun Valley. We profiled her in 2001 for our show, "A Job With a View."
 Omer Drury |
Omer Drury wasn't satisfied just being a doctor in Salmon, Idaho. He ran rivers, too. His 16 mm films captured some remarkable scenery, as well as memorable "characters" who lived along the Salmon River. The characters are long gone, but, thanks to Omer's generosity, his films are now part of several "Outdoor Idaho" programs, including "The River of No Return."
 Ernie Lombard |
And we traveled with Ernie Lombard, to the well preserved ghost town of Bayhorse. The retired architect has probably visited and photographed more ghost towns than anyone else in Idaho. We featured Ernie in "Gold Rush Days and Ghost Towns."