Crew Bios

Larry currently hosts and produces "NAPA's North To Alaska" which airs on VERSUS. These programs showcase Larry's experience as a fisherman and hunter and his enthusiasm for outdoor sports and conservation.

Csonka also travels the country visiting various clubs and corporations as a Sports Humor/Motivational Speaker, operating within his own company known as Csonka Promotions, Inc. His speeches are laced with humor and dramatic personal experiences, and have been well received by some of the nation's top companies.

Csonka currently resides at his home in Oak Hill, Florida and maintains a farm in Lisbon, Ohio where he has Csonka's Country Night Spot and Outdoor Entertainment Complex which includes a USSSA sanctioned softball complex, and probeach volleyball courts. His other hobbies include operating heavy machinery, fishing and hunting.

Learn more about Larry... check out his BIO page at LarryCsonka.com

Larry Csonka
Executive Producer & Host

Audrey is a native of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Her love of the outdoors began with childhood family camping trips, and her love of fishing with instruction from her grandfather. She was attending Jacksonville University in 1984 when she was presented with an opportunity to work for the Jacksonville Bulls, a franchise in the newly formed USFL football league. It was there she met Larry Csonka who eventually became General Manager for the Jacksonville Bulls. During this time, Audrey and Larry began working together to promote Larry's sports humor/motivational speaking career.

For several years Audrey and Larry continued to build the successful speaking business, along with several other business ventures. They became interested in outdoor programming in the early 1990's when contacted by various outdoor fishing shows interested in booking Larry as a celebrity guest. They also made several personal trips to Alaska during this time and dreamed of producing an outdoor adventure series. In 1996 the dream became a reality and North to Alaska was produced.

Audrey truly enjoys the challenge of producing outdoor adventure programs and the opportunity to share a dream with viewers. She encourages couples and families to enjoy the outdoors together!

Audrey Bradshaw
Executive Producer &
Co-Host

Joe and Larry Csonka have been family friends for a long, long time. After 5 years of appearing on "Csonka Outdoors" as host of his Cooking with SmokeeJo segment and Larry's favorite "camp cook," Joe has moved his popular segment to Larry's "Napa's North to Alaska" series. While Joe will continue to provide us with unique and easy ways to prepare fish and game from Alaska, he'll also make occasional guest appearances in the shows - experiencing first hand some Alaskan adventures for himself. He'll also provide some creative tips for making the most of camp ingredients! An AVID outdoorsman, Joe finds it hard to describe Alaska's wilderness, fishing and hunting opportunities. He says, "it's beyond words!"

Joe is a lifelong native of Northeast Florida. He grew up in Palm Valley, a rural area roughly 20 miles north of St. Augustine. From the time he was big enough to cast a rod or fire a gun he hunted and fished the local woods and waterways with his father. It was in those early days, helping his dad prepare and cook the game for the family meal, that Joe became interested in cooking.

Joe’s parents also managed the “Palm Valley Fish Camp” where Joe would listen to the customers tell their fish stories and give their insight into cooking and seasoning. Many years have passed since then and Joe has honed his skills in his own kitchen, taking recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation and experimenting with his own spices and sauces.

Today Joe is heralded throughout the area as the host of hosts and his parties are not to be missed. You can always count on a good time and plenty of good eatin’ at SmokeeJo’s!

"SmokeeJo"
Joe Barkoskie "Camp Cook"

Born in Stuttgart , Germany, Pat grew up on US Army bases in Germany, Missouri, North Carolina, France, and Georgia. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Pat worked as a photographer and cinematographer for the Georgia Agriculture department. A freelancer since 1988, Pat started sharing tents in good and bad weather with Larry while shooting for ESPN's Suzuki's Great Outdoors. He followed Larry to Alaska in the second season of North to Alaska, and has been working with Zonk! Productions ever since. An avid harmonica player, Pat is great to have around the campfire.

Pat Smith
Field Producer &
Cameraman

Kevin started photographing Alaska at an early age. His interest
changed from still to moving pictures in High School. After college he
worked for several of the Alaskan TV stations. In 1994 he went free
lance and stared his commercial and documentary work as a cameraman.

He has worked on many exciting projects as Camera and Director of Photography for clients ranging from, The Iditarod Dog Sled Race Committee, The Discovery Channel (Deadliest Catch) and National
Geographic (Expeditions to the Edge) Animal Planet (Raising up Baby)
among many others. Kevin is an Emmy nominated Videographer,
for work in Sports Documentary (Iditarod). When not working on NAPA's North to Alaska, Kevin continues to work in the Alaska production community providing camera and technical support services on many film and video projects all over Alaska.

Kevin Kurka
Cameraman

Dan was born in 1980 and was raised in Lisbon, Ohio, only a couple of miles from Larry’s farm. Right outside his front door was a 15-acre lake which he fished nearly every clear day above 40 degrees. His parents and those years outdoors taught him to love and protect nature. At a young age he enrolled in a school for public speaking and now gives public lectures on religious and environmental issues. During high school Dan enrolled in Kent State University for Mechanical Engineering, and went on to win first place in both regional and statewide machining and CNC programming contests.

In 2000 Dan was working as CNC programmer when he married Abigail Wylie- ZONK! Productions office assistant. After some training in 2004, Dan took over work on Larry’s websites, and got out of the machining trade. In 2005 he spent the summer in Manhattan at a school for Video Editing. There he trained with award-winning editors whose work has been seen in movies such as X-Men, and the commercials of Geico. Then he was tested and certified by Apple Computer. 2007 is his first season as a professional editor for ZONK! Productions, Inc. Somewhere between the production studio and home Dan still manages to squeeze in some bass fishing, bow hunting, and several holes of golf here and there.

Dan Foster
Editor & Website

As a retired member of the US Olympic Ski team with three national championship titles, the Nagano Olympics and a top ten World Cup finish in his wake, Sacha has finally settled on Alaska as his playground. He has found that his on-mountain experience and new love of being “behind the camera” are a great combination. Sacha defines versatility… camera, sound, grip, set construction, safety… you name it. He has worked on projects for The History Channel, National Geographic, USArmy and The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to recall a few.

Sacha Gros
Cameraman

Tom is a lifelong Alaskan who grew up working and playing in many of the locations featured on "North to Alaska." Following college in Northern Arizona and a few additional years spent knocking around the globe in places like the South Pole and New Zealand, he returned permanently to Alaska in 1992 where he commenced his work as a commercial and documentary cameraman. With camera and Director of Photography credits on projects for clients ranging from The History Channel, The Discovery Channel and National Geographic to Homer, and Alaska's highly regarded Pratt Museum, Tom continues to work today as a jack-of-all-trades in the Alaska production community. He provides camera and technical services for large and small-scale film and video projects throughout the state and the world.

Tom Pillifant
Cameraman