Uncategorized
Brooklyn

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

The scrappy Internet radio nonprofit broadcasts 35 shows a week, celebrating food in all its forms. We talked with executive director Erin Fairbanks about the future of audio. "Tech is an interesting space because there is so much room for beauty and ease," she said.

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.

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending
Technically Media