I sat down with one of our new employees, Community Engagement Manager Morgan Keating, recently to talk about her background and what she feels Idaho Public Television provides to our state. “My duties will be to build awareness of and support for our station,” she says. In the future, she’ll be learning more about our audience and supporters and how we can build meaningful connections with them. “A lot of out-in-the-community work, andbuild on our digital strategies, too,” she adds. “Making good connections with people even when we can’t be in the exact same place, which is helpful in a state as big and broad and diverse in many ways as ours is.”
Morgan is an Idaho native but she ventured out of the Gem State for college and some adventures. “I graduated from Boise High, and then moved to Seattle for college.” She lived in Seattle during the 1990s, “…right at the peak of ‘grunge’ time, this is the late '90s, so Seattle in the 90s was incredible.” Morgan worked at a coffee shop while going to school and “…made all my ‘pop’ dreams come true,” she says. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Sleater-Kinney and Smashing Pumpkins were on her playlist. “And then I came back to Boise; I traveled around in Europe a little bit, and then came back. We chose to raise our family here; we live in Meridian…it’s just such a nice place to be.”
Speaking of her family, Morgan knows the importance of PBS Kids, “…because it is the most meaningful digital resource for my family… Back in my day, we only had one channel and you had to wait for your favorite program to come on. But now, they know their safe zone on our TV is channels 4.1 through 4.5 at our house; and there’s no arguing, it’s never been an issue….it’s been safe guardrails for us. And, I love the programming. There’s something for everybody, all the time. For children, adults, teens: it’s got everything.”
In her free time, Morgan likes to get out in the Idaho outdoors: “I love to ski; I love to camp.” She’s also a fan of crossword puzzles and Wordle. “I have the checklist of puzzles that I do every morning and to start the day, wake my brain up, and then to close the day,” she laughs. She grew up skiing at Bogus Basin and now she’s passing that hobby on to her daughters every weekend during the ski season as a family. And her go-to foods are coffee, “All day, any day! I love coffee,” fave snacks in her house are popcorn, cheese and apples. “And that can be dinner, if we need to.”
When it comes to her favorite parts of the state, Morgan lists the Sawtooth Mountains in summer. “We always start summer and end summer in Grandjean.” McCall is another favorite vacation spot. North Idaho is another area she appreciates. “We have family that lives in Coeur d’Alene.” Morgan is a long-time fan of PBS Kids: she remembers watching and connecting with Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow as a child. Now, her kids continue to connect with some PBS Kids characters, such as Curious George and Wild Kratts. And her older daughter is a fan of an older program, Design Squad. “…Groups of adolescent girls do design challenges. It’s like a reality-ish show.”