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The life of Richard Nelson

Alaska Public Media | By Eric Bork
Published March 6, 2021 at 5:37 PM AKST
the cover of Raven's Witness
Richard K. Nelson and the cover of Raven's Witness The Alaska Life of Richard K. Nelson, courtesy of Hank Lentfer.

On the next Outdoor Explorer, our guest is Hank Lentfer. His book “Raven’s Witness: The Alaska Life of Richard K. Nelson,” won the 2020 Banff Mountain Book Grand Prize after winning best in Mountain Literature. The distinctive opening to Richard Nelson’s public radio show “Encounters” was an easily recognizable signal that you were about to take a journey into the sound of Alaska. Richard’s Alaska life spanned across the state from the North Slope to the Interior to Southeast. He immersed himself in village life and Native culture and spent his life studying the relationships between people and nature.  Richard died in 2019 but he lives on through his influential radio and written work.

HOST: Lisa Keller

GUESTS:

Segment 1: Hank Lentfer, author of “Raven’s Witness: The Alaska Life of Richard K. Nelson.”

LINKS:

BROADCAST: Thursday, March 11th, 2021. 10-11 a.m. AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday, March 11th, 2021. 8–9 p.m. AKT

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Eric Bork
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs. After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
See stories by Eric Bork