The River Radius Podcast launched in 2019 publishing two episodes. And as 2020 opened up, we began publishing one episode a month. It took a few years to get up to up to 20 and then 24 episodes a year and now, we are publishing somewhere between 24 and 30 episodes a year.
Our guest is the river, even if it is subtle. Obviously the guests are also humans, but they come with a story about a river, or several rivers, and in some capacity, their relationship to rivers. The angle is to learn about rivers.
In these episodes, we learn about hydrology, riparian life, river running, boats, races, historical use of rivers, stories of rescue, stories of humans and rivers, rivers that can thrive with conservation support, fish and other aquatic creatures, riparian terrestrial animals, geology, weather and meteorology and how that impacts river, river flow forecasting, rivers that meet the ocean, rivers that dry up, dams and their consequences. The list goes on and on. We are 145 episodes in over 8 years. The episodes are organized by category in the episode menu drop down. A good place to start might be with the "Listener's Top 10" list. If you have a good topic idea, send us a message. We thrive from listener input.
Here is your host Sam Carter, back in the early guide days.
Probably on the San Juan River in Utah, ~ 2000.
My name is Sam Carter and I am the founder and host. I like to run rivers in boats. In Southern Illinois, I grew up about 45 minutes from the Mississippi River and went there often with my Dad to wade, throw rocks, watch barges and tugboats, wonder about the vastness of the river and just to be outside together. I was also obsessed with creeks as a kid, big and small creeks, and spent a lot of time messing around in creeks. Eventually I went canoeing on some rivers in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri at summer camps and was hooked on river running. Often I would also get on lakes in canoes and peddle boats and Sunfish sailboats with my Mom. My Dad took me to Idaho as a teen and we joined a commercial river trip for a few days down the Lochsa River. That was the magic that set all things for me moving towards western rivers. At various times in that western river era, I returned to Southern Illinois to visit my family, and took my parents to those same places on the Mississippi to mess around outside at the river, until the end of each of their lives. And we always appreciated the river and our time together. And the magic continues now. Different without them, and yet magic still.
There is a lot in between that first time at the Lochsa River and today. For many years I worked as a commercial guide with teens and adults as passengers, but mostly teens on longer overnight trips. And then more and more private boating with friends, finding new rivers. Eventually I was invited to join a Spill Committee for the Dolores River out of McPhee Reservoir with the Bureau of Reclamation. And soon after I served on the Board of Directors for a non profit working to get more water in the Dolores River. And then the incredible job for one season as the BLM Ranger on the Dolores for a long spill year. And through a lot of that Dolores time, I was hosting a radio show, River Radio, about rivers on the local public radio station, and that radio show is the birth of this podcast. Eventually I quit the radio station, and launched this podcast.
Today, I am telling river stories on and on. I knew there were so many stories to be shared when I was brave enough to start the River Radius, and still I am in awe of the stories, and how the depth and global importance of rivers grows, year after year.
The River Radius? Where does the name come from?
That radio show I had was "River Radio". It was a perfect name for the radio show. When I started the podcast, I knew I would need to trademark the name so it couldn't be copied or fall into any other messy entanglements. River Radio was in use, but not trademarked, by three different entities. One was a radio network where I grew up, in the land of rivers. Two others were church radio shows. That meant I would not be able to secure the trademark. So I had to get creative. If you can imagine, as a past school teacher I had big pieces of paper slapped up all over the house, asking all my friends for suggestions, writing all of them down. I think I had almost 100 options. Most were eliminated pretty quickly. Then I went deep into the etymology of "radio" because I still wanted to use "River Radio." Radio comes from the Latin word, radius meaning spoke, ray or beam. In the modern dictionary, radius has several definitions and this one felt like what I was looking for: a line segment extending from the center of a circle or sphere to the circumference or bounding surface. Sounds like a radio signal off a tower. Or a message from a source. Or the ripple wave from a rock thrown in water. And so it is. The River Radius Podcast. And yes, it is on record, the name and the logo, with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Today I still like to hang out with rivers. In the warm and hot summer days, swimming feels so good. When it comes to running the river, I prefer rowing. I like the way it feels, physically and also mentally. Something about the crossing brain hemisphere hand eye work, and the counter intuitive feel, that becomes dreamy instinctual. I have a 12' cat boat with a one person frame, no floor, designed for rowdy whitewater; that boat is really amazing. In the past few years I have enjoyed learning how to R2. That side by side style of paddle rafting is incredible, especially when not much needs to be said for navigation. Also a packraft sometimes, for the sneaky narrow creeks and streams.
That's me in the white helmet, just hangin' out.
Earth 2026
