Meet Sam Carter | Host, Producer, Founder of The River Radius Podcast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Carter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
There are roughly 2.8 million podcasts available for people to choose from on podcast players, but only about 700,000 are truly active and publishing new content on a regular basis. Many podcasts get started and the people starting them aren’t aware of how much work really goes into defining the topic and curating the interviews into stories that people will dedicate an hour of their lives to listen to. So after a few episodes, the podcast fades away. And then inside the active 700,000 podcasts, there are two basic styles of podcasts. One is the talk show style where one or more people are talking on topics and very little editing happens. The second is the layered production style with several focused conversations, lots of editing to work the content down to the most poignant content, all following a storyline that concludes with a focused, deliberate understanding of the topic. And this last style takes hours and days and sometimes even weeks to build out.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Building podcasts episodes for me is audio art. All I have are sounds, voices, stories. This all has to be strong in content, framed with unexpected questions, patient enough to let the guests be themselves, and put into a storyline that is easy to listen to while doing the dishes or driving somewhere, but keeps the listener glued to the story and won’t let them get out of the car until the episode is complete.

The River Radius travels to the river and the river people telling the stories. This puts us in the context of the story in realtime with real life. For me, my focus is on well prepared interviews, and capturing high quality audio. When the listener plays the episode, I want them to hear the place where the interview happens, I want them to be able to create imagery in their mind that builds the story for them as they listen.

All this focus on audio and questions and sound and story is working. Listeners respond with messages and emails talking about the stories and how they relate to their lives and help them learn, keep them connected to the rivers when they are far away, keep them excited about being part of the river community.

Getting here to a place where The River Radius is my only gig, has been a combination of all my previous work pathways: professional river guiding, teaching public high school, volunteer and paid work in public radio, river conservation work, and all the work that was just a grind. When I made the push to get this thing rolling, I would run interviews and do editing at all hours of the early mornings and late nights, the weekends. And in the first two years after I quit teaching school and was building the podcast, I was working so many jobs to keep it all fluid. Teaching for my company and for local schools, packing UPS trucks, river conservation work, demolition construction. It was stressful often, and I just stayed focused on my belief that the river people wanted a podcast for river life. I kept building it all and right this minute, people are listening to episodes.

The River Radius is a grind, the good kind of grind. The interviews are about rivers, river people, river history, the future of rivers, the wildest rescue stories, the science behind river hydrology, the relationships of people and rivers, and the changing land and riverscape. The stories are built on topics I want to learn about and created to bring river people closer to their river love and to each other.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For the past two summers I have joined the South Platte River Cleanup with Protect Our Rivers. This is a cool way to see and learn about this urban river. And the river people from Denver that show up are so passionate about the South Platte. It’s a few hours and then after there is always a meet up at a great local restaurant and bar. Last time we went to the Golden Mill right on Clear Creek in Golden. All kinds of food vendors and local brew options available, all on the same ticket. So good. Going to see “The Book of Mormon” musical at the Buell Theater is a must. “The Book of Mormon” has won 3 Tony Awards and is written by the South Park masterminds. Casa Bonita has always been an experience and now that is re-opened with upscaled food, it should again be an even better place to spend a few hours. Union Station is cool to wander around in and see the railroad culture that is still very much alive. Across the street is a sanctuary of books at the “Tattered Cover” bookstore. Go in for some cool afternoon air, get a coffee and disappear. I’ve seen some great music at the Fillmore in Denver and recommend going there for a night of music and dance.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are layers of people who ride shotgun for support of The River Radius. Rose my rad girlfriend is the pinnacle of support. The next layer are all my river running friends who motivate me, and then there are my colleagues in the river industry who keep my focus on the relevant topics and answer my unending questions. And so importantly are the people who listen. Shoutout to those listeners who I don’t really know, but know because we love river stories together.

Website: https://www.theriverradius.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riverradiuspodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theriverradius/

Other: The River Radius Podcast on all podcast platforms.

Image Credits
2 pics of Sam working on boats: Francisco Kjolseth. 1 pic of Sam working on yellow boat interviewing guy in blue shirt: Mike Fiebig 1 pic of Sam from back with River Radius shirt: Kent Vertrees. All others no credit needed.