We thought our readers/viewers might like to learn about some of the folks that work at IdahoPTV. Because there are so many people who work behind the scenes, you may have seen some of them, or maybe only heard about them. Today we would like to introduce Assistant Programmer Jeanne Gayler.
Jeanne works at our satellite office in Moscow, where KUID and KCDT reach our Idaho Public Television viewers in north Idaho and eastern Washington. IdahoPTV’s Carol Beres spoke with her about life in Moscow and her beginnings at Idaho Public Television.
Originally from Nevada, Jeanne moved to Idaho in 1994. Her husband’s job took them to Moscow a couple years after that. “We had heard nothing but great things about Moscow,” she remembers. “So we jumped on it. We took the opportunity to raise our two young kids in a nice small town.” She was a stay-at-home mom for a few years. “The day that our youngest started first grade, I interviewed at KUID, almost 20 years ago.”
She worked part time for 13 ½ years, and full time for the last six. “When I worked part time I did a lot of special projects. When I went full time, I started assisting Sherri Walton, our programmer, with programming the digital channels and maintaining a lot of the database information for our programs. I also help the communications department with the Channels magazine.” She still works on special projects from time to time, helping her stay connected to coworkers around the state. ”Working on special projects gives me a chance to know and work with a lot of the employees in Boise and Pocatello that otherwise I wouldn’t get to interact with and get to know. I feel very fortunate to be able to work for Idaho Public Television and continue in Moscow here. It’s been a wonderful fit for me.”
When it comes to her downtime, heading into the mountains of the Gem State is where she loves to go. “We love the St. Joe, Lochsa and Selway Rivers – or anywhere we can park a camper and fish.” She and her husband have bought a trailer and hope to do some more camping in the future. And she loves to ski. “We’re going to McCall soon to go skiing.”
Another hobby that Jeanne really enjoys is scrapbooking. “One of my favorite projects was when we celebrated KUID’s 40th anniversary. I took all of the historical photos and things that I could round up and I put them in a scrapbook to document all the history before it could get lost.” She remembers KUID was on the air in 1965. “That’s our claim to fame. KUID was the first public television station in Idaho, before they brought them together under the umbrella of Idaho Public Television.”
One way Jeanne has been giving back to her community for many years is through Christmas for Kids. “It’s a program where we gather donations of gifts and distribute them to low-income kids. This is my 22nd year doing that. We have an amazingly generous community here.”
Jeanne has stayed with Idaho Public Television in order to challenge herself. “It’s a chance for me to take my experience and really build on it and benefit the organization in some really new and exciting ways.” And she remembers relying on PBS Kids when her children were younger. “My kids didn’t know that anything else existed besides PBS kids shows. I feel like they got such a good start in life because of all of them.” Arthur is a favorite show of hers.
A fun fact about Jeanne’s name – it’s pronounced the French way, similar to John. “I’m named after my grandmother, who was French Basque. And my grandfather was Spanish Basque.”