Each week we feature “Meet the Staff Mondays” to help our viewers and fellow staff members learn more about the folks who work here at Idaho Public Television. Today we introduce our new multimedia specialist, Benjamin Weaver.
IdahoPTV’s Carol Beres sat down with Ben to learn more about this unique role. “Multimedia specialist is a brand-new position on the Communications team where I am the videographer…what I tend to tell people is that I’m the video guy for (the Communications Department); whereas, everyone (in Production) is a video person, but I am the first (Communications) videographer/producer. So, any of our content that we release to social media, that you see on our Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of that stuff, right now is being produced by me, sort of, and Jenessa (Carson, another IdahoPTV employee) and some other people. But down the road it will be all me.” Ben will highlight the programs that don’t get a lot of attention on social media, such as Idaho Experience and Idaho Reports.
Ben was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, but went to college at Seattle University in Washington. He is a recent college graduate, but he has plenty of experience in the media field. “Mostly during college, I worked for a newspaper doing social media content for them.” Then Ben found a freelancing opportunity in video production. “I started out doing sound and music for a documentary series for PBS,” he says. “During college, I interned as a sound effects editor…my role was throwing sound and music onto the series.” He’s fluent in Spanish and that came in handy on this project, too. “I could translate some of the interviews.”
After that experience, he moved to another PBS series called Wild Rivers. “It’s kind of like Outdoor Idaho, but it’s all about rivers. They would go shoot all of this footage out on the Colorado River.” Then the first series Ben worked on was approved for another season and he was hired as a finishing editor and postproduction supervisor for season 10. “That series is called, In the Americas with David Yetman. It’s a pretty popular series. Right now, season 9 is airing on 90-plus stations throughout the country and on a couple of stations in France.” He wrapped up the editing of season 10 while beginning his job here. That season will air on 130 stations, including Idaho Public Television.
He’s excited to be a part of Idaho Public Television. “PBS is special in the way that it’s educational and impacts people…the bottom line isn’t about money, it’s about people and telling stories and it’s public media; it’s for everyone.” Ben learned through his experiences that documentaries are for him. “I learned very quickly that I didn’t like doing narrative stuff…because I felt it was harder to tell stories…with documentary and unscripted stuff, you can develop relationships with people and follow them around with a camera and the emotions and the storytelling is there already. It’s just people telling their own stories.”
His hobbies are music (writing, singing and producing it), hiking and kayaking. “I hope I can get into some kayaking this summer,” he adds. He likes to cook for himself. “During the pandemic, I started cooking for myself every day. I got better at it and I started enjoying it. I cook all kinds of stuff.” He’s a fan of Cajun food, curries, pasta and sandwiches. Ben’s new to the Gem State, so he hasn’t seen much of it, but he has a good feeling about Boise already. “What’s interesting about Boise is it looks a lot like my hometown…after spending three years in Seattle, it feels like I’m back to Tucson, where it doesn’t rain a lot.”
When it comes to his favorite PBS Kids character, he remembers, “I watched a lot of Dragon Tales when I was a kid.”
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