Two repurposed cargo containers sit in the courtyard of Roberta’s restaurant housing a rustic looking radio studio. This is the home of the Heritage Radio Network, an internet radio station where Bushwick residents and the rest of the world can tune in to hear discussions and news on how the food we eat affects our world.
Listeners can hear local activists, restaurateurs, and chefs talk about efforts to make food more sustainable, avant-garde farming techniques, and good places to eat around the city. Programs about wine, coffee, and dairy are aired alongside shows about architecture and music.
The programming is varied, and there’s always something to learn.
For example, in between sets of electro and indie-dance on Snacky Tunes, Finger On The Pulse chatted with Cathy Erway about Hapa Kitchen. Hapa is a supper club that uses food from small farmers, and brings those farmers to the dinners.
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And Lisa Twomey, recently on The Heritage Report, talked about how dealing with the animals you eat can make a kitchen more efficient. She runs a program where kitchen staff visit her farm. “When you handle the live animal, you’re more likely to utilize more of the animal,” she posited. “You’re more likely to appreciate those pig ears in your salad. You’ll get more creative.”
Heritage isn’t just radio on the internet, either. All of its programming is immediately archived and available on its website, and the shows are broken up into segments to make finding what you want to hear easier. The site has prolific tags as well, so if someone were interested only in mixology, they could search the site for whenever the topic was mentioned.
The whole thing was the vision of Patrick Martins. Martins founded Heritage Farms USA, which distributes meat from small farms to consumers for wholesale. The company’s mission statement is to “promote genetic diversity, small family farms, and a fully traceable food supply.” Martins’ idea was brought to life with the help of founding producers Heather Hyman, Jack Inslee and Lorenzo Ragionieri. Nat Weiner’s engineering assistance was also essential — he built the studio.
Locating in Bushwick was a natural choice, says Inslee. “The industrial setting of Buswick couldn’t be a better spot for our ‘how-to’ movement. It seems like every day something new and sustainable is being built and we wanted to broadcast right from the center of the action.”
Currently, Heritage has 15 shows and airs 10 hours per week. They plan to expand their programming beyond only food as a subject, and they hope to begin streaming all day, everyday in the near future. If you have an idea for a show, they’d love to hear it: email info@heritageradionetwork.com or call 718-389-0985.
