Photo Credit: Bridge the City Podcast
Hagge and Rangel interview local activist Bria Smith.
Just one city block in Milwaukee can have a variety of moving parts. From small businesses to corporate chains, from non-profits to private banks, from public and private schools to police departments. However, these moving parts often don’t understand each other well, or work together when it comes to local issues.
This is something that Kyle Hagge and Ben Rangel, creators of the Bridge the City podcast, understand. That’s why it’s their goal to change this across the community—one podcast at a time. The podcast focuses on many of the local issues and questions Milwaukeeans deal with every day, including police and community relations, education, voting, the courts system and local elections—among many others. They discuss these issues with local figures, such as with activists like Reggie Jackson, politicians such as Gov. Tony Evers, developers and businesspeople such as Alex Lasry, and figures in education such as Marquette University’s president Michael Lovell.
“I think a big thing about the podcast is that it’s really supposed to be empowering,” said Hagge. “How do we flip that switch and focus on more local issues. How do we make it feel like you can wake up and actually make a difference?”
Hagge and Rangel do this by offering action steps for listeners at the end of their podcasts.
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“People can look at the national news and feel so disempowered...our goal is to make people feel like you don't have to have access to your congressperson to make a real difference,’ said Rangel. “A little bit of work can go a long way at the local level.”
Starting in December 2017, they have produced 25 episodes thus far. The episodes vary from “Milwaukee Talkies,” or discussions with Milwaukeeans, election specials with Wisconsinites running for public office and themed episodes that discuss local issues with local people.
Hagge and Rangel are both postgraduate fellows in Marquette University’s Trinity Fellowship, which focuses on social and economic justice. They first met each other when they moved to Milwaukee to serve with AmeriCorps. Although they grew up nearly six hours from each other, their love of podcasts and public service motivated them to start Bridge the City. Having won the second-place prize at Marquette’s Brewed Ideas pitch competition last year, they hope to grow and expand the podcast in 2019.
“I think we are intentional about getting guests that are outside of our own thoughts or outside of our own networks to make sure that we are bringing some equity in regards as to who is being interviewed,” said Hagge.
Hagge said his favorite moment in the last year was when he heard that one of their listeners, a woman in her 50’s, had voted in her first non-presidential election because of one of the episodes they produced with a local politician.
“To hear someone that isn't our traditional demographic, probably being one of the first podcasts that they have listened to, and it was able to encourage her to go and get involved… that was really rewarding for me, but it also felt like this is a worthwhile project to keep pursuing,” he said.
It’s even Hagge’s and Rangel’s goal for there to be like-minded podcasts in other cities similar to Milwaukee. Maybe “Bridge the City Cleveland,” or “Bridge the City Indianapolis.” But for now, when Rangel was asked what he has learned in the last year of doing the podcast, his answer was simple.
“I learned that Milwaukee is full of hardworking, intelligent and inspiring people, but also just nice people,” he said. “People who are able to say yes when you want to interview them. People who will spend an hour with you when you never met them to talk about their project.”
You can learn more about the podcast and listen to it here: https://www.bridgethecitypodcast.com/
