Episodes

  • REBROADCAST | Idaho's first black elected official remembers upbringing in Pocatello, time in office

    REBROADCAST | Idaho's first black elected official remembers upbringing in Pocatello, time in office
    Jan 19 2026
    Note: This episode originally published on Sept. 28, 2025.

    Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we're commemorating the occasion with a look at black history in eastern Idaho.

    This week on "It's Worth Mentioning," Rett Nelson speaks with Delphia Bradley. She moved to Idaho Falls in 2023 to escape harassment and racism. After operating a meal delivery service, Bradley now has a traveling art exhibit about African-American culture. The exhibit will be coming to Idaho Falls soon, where she hopes to eventually open an African-American cultural arts center.

    Bradley discusses the topic of racism and her experience living as a black woman in eastern Idaho.

    Then, we speak with Les Purce. The Pocatello man became the first black elected official in Idaho in 1973 and recently retired as the president of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

    It's an episode you don't want to miss.

    Season two is currently in production. If you have a topic or guest idea for an upcoming episode, email rett@eastidahonews.com.

    RELATED LINKS: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/10/local-woman-wants-communitys-help-highlighting-art-music-and-history-at-new-african-american-cultural-center/

    https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/01/woman-finds-refuge-in-eastern-idaho-with-vegan-meal-delivery-business/

    https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/07/pocatello-royalty-cuts-ribbon-on-newly-refurbished-purce-park/

    https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/09/festival-honoring-once-forgotten-historic-neighborhood-reminds-community-of-its-roots/

    https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/10/a-pocatello-mans-journey-from-high-school-athlete-to-heavyweight-boxing-gold-medalist/
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    47 mins
  • REBROADCAST | The man who tricked government officials into making Idaho Falls the home of what is now INL

    REBROADCAST | The man who tricked government officials into making Idaho Falls the home of what is now INL
    Jan 12 2026
    Note: This episode was originally published on Oct. 19, 2025.

    Thomas Sutton’s main goal weeks into his inauguration as mayor of Idaho Falls was to ensure Idaho Falls became the headquarters for the Atomic Energy Commission, the agency that managed the predecessor to Idaho National Laboratory.

    A great deal of schmoozing and lobbying by Sutton and others paved the way for the city’s future growth and the INL campus becoming the largest employer in the region.

    This week on “It’s Worth Mentioning,” Rett Nelson speaks with Sutton’s great-granddaughter about his golden moment in history and the unique connections she’s discovered about her deceased relative.

    Season two is currently in production. If you have a topic or guest idea for an upcoming episode, email rett@eastidahonews.com.

    RELATED LINK: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/04/how-former-mayor-helped-idaho-falls-become-home-to-nations-leading-nuclear-energy-research-facility/

    RELATED LINK: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/02/how-a-naval-proving-ground-became-a-national-lab-thats-changing-the-worlds-energy-future/
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    42 mins
  • REBROADCAST: The famous Wyoming cabins that were featured in a popular hollywood western

    REBROADCAST: The famous Wyoming cabins that were featured in a popular hollywood western
    Jan 5 2026
    Note: This episode was originally published on Oct. 12, 2025.

    Two cabins in Jackson, Wyoming are what’s left of a set for a Hollywood western filmed in the area during the 1950s. One of them is five miles north of Jackson in Kelly and the other is under the ownership of History Jackson Hole, a museum in town.

    This week on “It’s Worth Mentioning,” Rett Nelson speaks with local researcher Samantha Ford and dives into the history of these cabins, the film in which they were featured and why Jackson was selected as the production site.

    If you’re a cinephile or a fan of old movies, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!

    Season 2 is coming in 2026. If you have a topic or guest idea for an upcoming episode, email rett@eastidahonews.com.
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    30 mins
  • How ‘the father of Mormon Cinema’ lost his faith and found it again outside the LDS Church

    How ‘the father of Mormon Cinema’ lost his faith and found it again outside the LDS Church
    Dec 29 2025
    Editor’s note: This is part two of a previous conversation. Part one was published on Dec. 14 and is available here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-s-been-25-years-since-release-of-film-that-made-richard-dutcher-the-father-of-mormon-cinema--68984469

    Richard Dutcher was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 8. In 2000, the release of his film, “God’s Army,” created a marketplace for LDS-themed movies and earned him the nickname “the father of Mormon Cinema.”

    In 2007, it came as a shock to fans when Dutcher, the man behind four Mormon films, announced he was leaving the LDS Church.
    This week on “It’s Worth Mentioning,” Rett Nelson continues his discussion with Dutcher about his faith journey. Dutcher shares what led to the decision to leave his faith, and how that decision affected him personally and professionally.

    Dutcher also discusses how he found faith again, some of his other film projects and what he’s up to now.
    If you’re a person of faith and enjoy faith-based films, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!
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    54 mins
  • Santa's origin story, and why this author says he'll always be an integral part of Christmas

    Santa's origin story, and why this author says he'll always be an integral part of Christmas
    Dec 22 2025
    As Christmas approaches, many await the arrival of Santa.

    The man who's responsible for millions of Christmas mysteries every year has been around for more than 200 years in America, but his origins date back much farther around the world.

    This week on "It's Worth Mentioning," Rett Nelson speaks with Gerry Bowler, author of "Santa Claus: A Biography." They discuss Santa's origin story, including how he got started and his motivation for giving gifts. They also discuss the evolution of his image over the years. While he started as a Christian figure named Saint Nicholas who appealed primarily to adults, children's authors helped popularize him as a jolly old elf named Santa Claus who secretly delivered gifts for children with a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

    Bowler also discusses Santa's enduring appeal and why he believes Santa Claus will remain an integral part of Christmas for generations to come.

    Whether you believe in Santa or not, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

    RELATED LINK: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/12/how-father-christmas-became-the-secret-gift-giver-for-believers-across-the-globe/
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    44 mins
  • It's been 25 years since release of film that made Richard Dutcher 'the Father of Mormon Cinema'

    It's been 25 years since release of film that made Richard Dutcher 'the Father of Mormon Cinema'
    Dec 15 2025
    On March 10, 2000, a small, independent film premiered in theaters across Utah. "God’s Army" told the story of a rookie missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrestling with his own conversion.

    Aside from numerous films produced during the silent era and a Hollywood production called "Brigham Young," released in 1940, it was the first commercially produced film about Latter-day Saints and it was a hit. The $250,000 film grossed nearly $3 million at the box office and was the second-highest-grossing film in Utah that year. It had a similar performance when it was released in Idaho several weeks later.

    The film paved the way for many others and created a marketplace for filmmakers to tell Latter-day Saint stories. Since then, hundreds of LDS-themed movies have been made, creating a genre now referred to as "Mormon Cinema."

    Richard Dutcher, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in "God’s Army," is remembered today as "the father of Mormon Cinema."

    On this week's episode of "It's Worth Mentioning," Rett Nelson speaks with Dutcher in the first of a two-part conversation. In part one, Dutcher reflects on the 25th anniversary of this film and the genre he created. He shares why he wanted to make a film about Latter-day Saint missionaries, and how he got interested in filmmaking.

    If you're a film buff and enjoy movie trivia and history, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

    RELATED LINK: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/06/the-father-of-mormon-cinema-reflects-on-career-industry-he-created-and-why-he-left-the-faith/
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    43 mins
  • Small mining community near Challis rose and fell in 30 years, and now it's one of Idaho's ghost towns

    Small mining community near Challis rose and fell in 30 years, and now it's one of Idaho's ghost towns
    Dec 8 2025
    Gold had been discovered in the Sawtooth Mountains.

    It was 1879, thirty years after the California Gold Rush, and dozens of people from the southern United States, had come to central Idaho seeking their fortune.

    Samuel Holman was an attorney who filed one of the first gold claims in the area. He laid out the plots for a community to establish a mine. Soon after, the townsite of Custer -- named for Civil War General George Armstrong Custer -- was born.

    Over the next 31 years, the small community attracted more than 300 people. By 1910, the town folded and quickly faded into history. By the 1960s, it was a historic site managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Today, the old ghost town is managed by a nonprofit called The Land of the Yankee Fork Historical Association. Custer Days, an annual event held at the townsite on the second Saturday in July, attracts a large crowd every year for tours and reenactments. Thousands of tourists visit the site every summer.

    On this episode of "It's Worth Mentioning," -- a podcast about local history -- Rett Nelson makes a trip to Custer and interviews Diane Davidson, chair of the Land of the Yankee Fork Historical Association, on location. She has ancestral ties to the area dating back seven generations. They discuss the rise and fall of the short-lived community and the reasons behind it. They also get into the people and players involved in its founding, those who lived here during its heyday, and what daily life was like.

    Later, they talk about what led to the town's closure, its rediscovery three decades later, and why it holds such an important place in Davidson's heart.

    If you're a fan of ghost towns and Old West history, this is an episode you don't want to miss!
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    32 mins
  • The movie that was filmed downwind of a nuclear testing site and its devastating impact 72 years later

    The movie that was filmed downwind of a nuclear testing site and its devastating impact 72 years later
    Dec 1 2025
    A desert site about 65 miles north of Las Vegas had been selected for nuclear weapons testing.

    It was 1953 and 11 atomic bomb detonations took place here between March and June as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. The largest of these detonations, a warhead known as Harry, yielded 32 kilotonnes of radioactive energy — more than double the amount produced from the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.

    About a year later, the desert near St. George, Utah, which was downwind of the nuclear fallout, was selected as the filming location for a major Hollywood film.

    In his 2022 book, author Ryan Uytdewilligen highlights this brief period. On this episode of “It’s Worth Mentioning,” Rett Nelson speaks with Uytdewilligen about what happened, including the reason for the testing and the government’s response to locals’ concerns, why a desert in proximity to a nuclear testing site was selected as the filming location and the long-term impact of that decision.
    If you’re a cinephile and enjoy post-war history, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!

    Check out this related link: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/09/federal-act-providing-compensation-for-downwinders-reinstated-decades-after-nuclear-tests-in-idaho-and-other-states/
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    59 mins