Heritage Radio Network wants to do for food coverage what ESPN did for sports

Founded in 2009 as a broadcasting operation based in a couple of shipping containers, Heritage Radio Network became a nonprofit in 2012 as its operation grew. The Bushwick organization now broadcasts live over the Internet, with 35 weekly shows that hit on food, drink and agriculture. Each show is also available in its ever-growing archive as a podcast.

The idea is to talk about food without sycophancy, according to Erin Fairbanks, the organization’s first executive director (who we introduced you to here).

“The long-term goal is to do for food what ESPN did for sports,” Fairbanks told us. In that Heritage wants to give food its own space and focus. In fact, the station has even moved into food news.

For a small organization without a developer on staff and a long wish list of technological updates, Fairbanks was able to speak provocatively about the evolving technology of podcasting. Here are a few problems for podcasters she raised in need of tech solutions:

• How do you scan a podcast like you do text? What if the answer you need for a question is only out there in podcast form? How would you ever find it with a search, in the way you can with text?
• How do you consume parts of a podcast without having to commit to the whole program?
• How do websites, like Heritage’s, devoted to presenting audio content on a visual menu make better use of audio on the page, so there is more dynamism between the video and the audio?

“Tech is an interesting space because there is so much room for beauty and ease,” Fairbanks said.

However, Heritage Radio Network doesn’t have much capacity to experiment around these questions right now, she said. The organization is actively looking to deepen the tech expertise on its board. Technologists with an interest in food should get in touch.

One thing that struck us when talking to Fairbanks about podcasting and where the medium is going was her insight into where iTunes is heading.

Apple is notoriously opaque from podcasters’ perspective, so it surprised us to hear that Fairbanks talks to people inside iTunes from time to time. “We just got on their radar because there’s really not anyone else doing what we’re doing,” she said.

Moving forward, she says podcasts will have a more prominent place in iOS 8, including a feature called CarPlay, which should make it easier to listen to podcasts on the road.

The most popular show on the network is Cooking Issues, Fairbanks said, which often veers into technological topics.

Heritage Radio Network has a staff of three with one part-timer. Its next season, which begins September 7, will debut some new shows.