Holding It Together
(pretty close)                                                                        

 

Outdoor Idaho has an impressive pedigree, with a bloodline that can be traced to two state agencies, each well respected, each with a tradition of delivering the goods. Perhaps it was inevitable that Idaho’s Fish & Game Department and Idaho Public Television would one day partner up. But in 1983 there was no blueprint to follow. Both agencies were hiking new trails with Outdoor Idaho and doing it on a shoestring. 

 

Something Outdoor Idaho did have, however, were two key people who genuinely liked each other and weren't afraid to try something new.  Fish & Game employee Royce Williams handled the content part of the equation. That meant he found the stories and wrote the scripts and tried to keep the top brass at Fish & Game happy by occasionally conducting interviews with the Director of Fish & Game.

Idaho Public Television employee Peter Morrill handled the television matters. He excelled at it all, shooting, editing, organizing of equipment, and making sure the show was ready when the airdate arrived.

Both men realized that what they were attempting to pull off might not last long. The audiences of the two agencies were just different. Public TV had Big Bird and Fish & Game had a hunting season on big birds. So there were going to be some bumpy cultural challenges along the way.

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The early Outdoor Idaho shows emphasized hook & bullet stories, but to appeal to a wider audience, Peter suggested something that the duo began calling "location pieces." The video was already being shot, so why not add some lyrical words from Royce and make them the first part of each program. These three-minute location pieces might, as an example, feature Craters of the Moon, and be known by that name internally, even though the program consisted of segments on Bear Lake cutthroat trout, turkey hunting and handicapped access. Other shows had names like Hells Canyon, Shoshone Falls, the Henry's Fork, and Silver City. These location pieces helped mask a gap that would only grow wider with time. The possibilities for a show called Outdoor Idaho were so much more than hunter orange and fish tagging, and those working on the show had come to realize the show's potential.

                                                    

When Fish & Game decided to end its partnership with IdahoPTV and began partnering with the largest commercial TV station in the state, KTVB, I figured much of the blame was on me. Royce and Peter had moved on after six years, and Sue Nass from Fish & Game and I were left to satisfy the demands of the strong-willed General Managers of two agencies, both strong willed and both with different notions about theirTV baby.  

I had not hidden my feelings about being tethered to a "hook and bullet" agency. My vision of Outdoor Idaho was a way to show people their far-flung state, to maybe explain Idaho to Idahoans, where the joke was that the state had three Capitals: Boise, Spokane, and Salt Lake City. 

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By the time the amicable divorce was finalized, Outdoor Idaho had already built a decent-sized audience. The show was starting to earn its keep. We knew that was true because during our pledge drives, folks would call in with their donations, and the balloons would start popping.

Nancy Viano, the woman directly responsible for raising the dollars, remembers those days. "I would say Outdoor Idaho 'earned its keep' by the value it brought to the institution as a whole," she said.  "The series became one of the top reasons why donors supported IdahoPTV. Along with highlighting the beauty of Idaho, you wrote and delivered the stories of Idaho people, places and issues in a manner that fascinated viewers.  You can’t put a price tag on that, which is what I always tried to tell the accounting department!"

"When we traveled the State to raise dollars for the IdahoPTV Endowment, I would hear comments like this: 'Outdoor Idaho has taken me to places that I never would have been able to explore on my own.'  'What a gift to have these experiences from my living room.' 'Outdoor Idaho is one of the many ways Idaho Public Television enriches my life.'  Outdoor Idaho certainly made it easier to ensure a lasting legacy for IdahoPTV."

Before I joined Idaho Public Television in the 1980's, one of the jobs I had was being the editor of the Idaho World weekly newspaper. Back then we didn't really have much concern about subscriptions because, well, we were the only paper in the county. But at Idaho Public Television, even though we were non-profit, we still needed to produce shows that had viewership. It was the way we generated donations, which was important because the vast majority of our funding came from individual contributions.

 

But during the annual fundraisers on public television, Outdoor Idaho could never outperform "Celtic Women," an hour-long program with high production values and charming women singers. For some reason, beautiful costumes, bouncy music, CDs and tickets to their performances always seemded to outdraw and out-pledge Outdoor Idaho.  More than once I thought Outdoor Idaho could benefit from someone co-hosting with me. Maybe the Celtic Woman second from the left would work. She could sing and dance and play music in the background. Luckily, I kept the idea to myself. 

 

However, it did become a goal of mine to knock off Celtic Women as the station's fund-raising champs, and it took the most unlikely of companies to pull it off: Idaho Power Company. 

Each night of our two-week pledge drive, there was a different phone group. They would answer calls from people wanting to support various shows with their dollars. Programs like "Nature" and "Masterpiece Theatre" and "Nova" were some of those heavy hitters. 

Each night of our two-week pledge drive, there was a different phone group. They would answer calls from people wanting to support various shows with their dollars. Programs like "Nature" and "Masterpiece Theatre" and "Nova" were some of those heavy hitters. 

When Idaho Power Company requested to be the phone bank for Outdoor Idaho, things really picked up. But it didn't start out that way. The first time the Idaho Power employees joined us in the studio to answer phones, it was mysteriously silent. Nancy couldn't figure out why. "I turned around and looked at the group, and they were all on the phones calling out, so no one could call in."

They were calling their colleagues to extract a pledge!  When the Break ended, Nancy suggested to the phone group that they only call out while the show was airing, and leave the phones open for people to call in during the Breaks. 

"We had a good laugh," said Nancy. "Idaho Power volunteers set the bar high. They came in organized and ready to work, and they always wanted to work on Outdoor Idaho's night. So we reserved that night for them."

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The audience for Outdoor Idaho continued to grow, but the program was tied to an agency often fighting headwinds over other shows it aired, like "It's Elementary," an hour documentary that examined how a handful of public schools across the country were helping children of gay parents feel more welcome in the classroom. 

 Peter Morrill was by then the General Manager of IdahoPTV, and he remembers the buzzsaw of criticism the station faced that year, even before "It's Elementary" had aired.

"It was not unusual to get calls about TV programs that we aired," said Peter, "but we were receiving literally thousands of phone calls and emails from both sides about whether or not we should air ‘It’s Elementary.’ This was a head-scratcher to me because PBS stations all around us -- Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington -- had virtually no calls or letters before or after the show aired.

"Frankly, the show was rather boring," Peter commented to me. "There was no violence or sexuality, just teachers and parents talking about how to make the classroom a friendlier place for kids whose parents happened to be gay. It certainly didn't fit the mold of a fire storm, and I felt strongly that if we gave into political pressure over such a low-key production, it would throw open the floodgates. So IdahoPTV did air the program in September of 1999, but we felt the repercussions for years."

Although I personally wasn't that impressed with the production values of "It's Elementary," I was impressed with how Peter and Ron Pisaneschi, Director of Content, handled the matter. "We moved the show from the regular documentary time slot of 10 pm to 11 pm as a compromise," said Ron. "But there was never any doubt that we were going to air the show. We held firm on that."

 

That certainly didn't satisfy everyone, but Idaho's Governor and Congressional Delegation thought it was a good-enough compromise, and they moved on to more important issues.

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Outdoor Idaho did offer some support for Peter and the station during this uproar, as did our other home-grown productions like Idaho Reports, Dialogue, and Science Trek. They reminded politicians that there were many good things happening at Idaho Public Television that benefited the citizens of Idaho. Besides, who didn't love Nature, Nova, and Downton Abbey... and apparently Celtic Women. 

 

Each year Peter had to appear before the legislative budget committee to plead his case for the station's budget. And this was right in the middle of a multi-million dollar move from analog to digital transmission. So the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) peppered Peter with pointed questions about why it would cost $15 million to make the switch from analog to high definition television. 

I made sure I was in the audience in those years, to give Peter some moral support. Besides, I enjoyed it. I didn't have to speak, and some of the questions were quite humorous, as legislators tried to wrap their heads around the complexities of a statewide television station moving into the digital age. Many of the lawmakers were ranchers and farmers, so it was hard to blame them. Even engineers were sometimes stumped. During one line of questioning, after a 25 year old video mixer finally gave up the ghost, one legislator asked, "Mr. Morrill, did that unit have a surge protector?" I tried not to laugh, but I was the only one who found it funny.

 

Another reason I enjoyed those JFAC meetings was because Representative Maxine Bell, co-chair of the powerful committee, always made a point of saying something nice about Outdoor Idaho and about me sitting in the back pew. And she always made sure IdahoPTV had enough state dollars to pay for the transmitters and translators that kept the signal going to all the rural towns in the mountainous state.

 

There were always those lawmakers who believed the government had no business supporting statewide television, and I respected that. It was always interesting being in the House Chamber when the Station's budget came to the floor for a final vote. A handful of lawmakers would wait to see how close the vote was going to be. If it looked like the budget might fail, they'd hold their noses and vote Aye. 

In the final seconds, before the large electronic voting machine was locked in, the votes would fluctuate wildly between pass or fail. But our budget always passed, sometimes with only a vote to two to spare. I think there was a consensus that Idaho Public Television had proven its worth to the residents of our far-flung state, Of course, I liked to think it had something to do with Outdoor Idaho.

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It was during Peter's tenure as general manager that Governor Butch Otter, in his 2010 budget address to the Legislature, tried to defund Idaho Public Television. State dollars make up about 30% of IdahoPTV's funding, which goes to keeping the statewide system operational and beaming the signal into all the mountainous regions.

“Fundamentally, if state support went away, statewide public television would really need to pull back and become Boise public television," said Peter. "There was no way that the private dollars we raised around programs could cover the transmitters and translators, the nuts and bolts of the statewide system. And most of the legislature agreed. They figured that was the state's responsibility, and they knew the ones who would be hurt the most would be the rural areas."

 

Ron Pisaneschi remembers what happened next. "Viewers heard about the move to defund us and they let their legislators and the Governor know in no uncertain terms that they didn't approve of that idea. They would write and call them, saying, 'Don't take away our Sesame Street and Outdoor Idaho.' In fact, the negative response was so extensive that JFAC Co-chair Maxine Bell told me she couldn't get her work done, because her voicemail and email box was completely full of our supporters."

Ron knew that the Otter administration was also hearing from supporters of Big Bird and Outdoor Idaho when a call came in from the Governor's office from Jon Hanian, spokesman for the Governor. "He asked us to 'call em off,'" remembers Ron. "He said, we hear you loud and clear. People love their public television, and they especially love shows like Outdoor Idaho and the other home-grown productions. The Governor understood that IdahoPTV is the only over-the-air channel serving some of the rural communities, and it mattered to them."

 I suggested to Peter and Ron and Nancy that we invite Governor Butch Otter onto the set of that year's pledge drive. I used to play basketball with his younger brother and Butch appreciated the fact that Outdoor Idaho had produced a few shows on ranch life. 

Ever the wag, the Governor was his jovial self that evening during the station's pledge drive. His suggestion for providing funding to public television was for everyone in the state to contribute one dollar to the cause, to which Peter responded, "Oh Governor, can't we do a little better than that?" But his appearance on statewide television did stop the calls to his office, and thanks to all the viewer comments and behind-the-scenes lobbying from people like Friends Board member and long-time Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Jerry Evens, Governor Butch never again tried to de-fund us. 

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In many states, locally produced programs are almost always the first thing to disappear when there's a financial crisis. I've always appreciated that Idaho Public Television has fought hard to keep programs like Outdoor Idaho and other local shows a part of the family and not eliminate them at the first hint of an economic downturn. 

Local productions -- on a per minute basis -- are the most expensive local service a station can provide, so why wouldn't you cut them first? The answer is because people are more apt to support a station if it's doing more than just parroting the national feed.

It hasn't been easy, especially in a state where the threat of zero funding is a constant threat.   It's even difficult at the commercial TV level. The fact that the KTVB show "Incredible Idaho" lasted only a few years suggests that Outdoor Idaho's 40-year record of traveling the state and producing Idaho stories will not be broken any time soon.