Museum of The City of New York and Historian/Producer Kevin Burke Launch 'Your Hometown' Podcast

Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), New York's storyteller for nearly a century, together with producer and historian Kevin Burke, today announced details of a new podcast and live event series, Your Hometown, a show about growing up and how where we're from shapes who we are.

The first season of this innovative audio offering, a co-presentation between Kevin Burke Productions and MCNY, focuses on New York City as a hometown and features prominent New Yorkers-representing a range of backgrounds, neighborhoods, and industries-sharing often never-before-heard details of their formative years growing up in and around the five boroughs. Your Hometown launches on February 2 with the first of a two-part interview with Darryl "DMC" McDaniels (Hollis, Queens), co-founder of the legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC, and will coincide with a live virtual event featuring a conversation between Burke and McDaniels. Future episodes (guest list below) will be released bi-weekly on www.yourhometown.org and be available on the Museum's website and wherever podcasts are available.

Conceived and hosted by Burke, Your Hometown seeks to illuminate and reveal one guest, one hometown, and one coming-of-age story at a time. In the case of NYC, this deep and personalized view allows listeners to gain an understanding of the vastness of human experience in the city. At a time when many feel placeless, Your Hometown uses the power of storytelling to connect listeners to our guests, their own roots, and to each other.

"Hometowns exist at the unique intersection of time, place and memory. They are the crossroads of our coming-of-age-years and composed of people and places that shape us forever," says Kevin Burke. "Whether we stay, move away, or come back, our hometowns loom large and cast longer shadows, marking a permanent geography within our lives that take on mythical aspects in the rearview. Everyone is from someplace, and everywhere is somewhere."

"New York as a hometown is one of the most iconic, dynamic, and resilient hometowns in the United States," says Whitney Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director and President of Museum of the City of New York. "As the City's storyteller for nearly 100 years, we are thrilled to partner with Kevin to bring this series to life and to share these formative tales from New Yorkers and the neighborhoods that helped shape who they are today."

"I couldn't be more thrilled to be partnering with the Museum of the City of New York on this inaugural season," Burke adds. "More than any other cultural institution in the city, MCNY's mission is to tell the New York story from the ground up, and it has a long track record of engaging a diverse audience interested in knowing the real New York. This is a show about what happened to our guests here and how they met the world before the world met them. It's a model I hope to bring to other iconic cities and towns across the country, and it's exciting to be establishing that blueprint here with my friends at MCNY."

Several Your Hometown interviews were recorded on site at the Museum of the City of New York, and the Museum will present live virtual events in tandem with the episodes, including one timed to the February 2 launch show with Darryl "DMC" McDaniels. Other upcoming talks include fashion designer Danielle Guizio on Thursday, April 9. Tickets are donation based and can be found at mcny.org.

The production team includes award-winning radio journalist and executive producer Robert Krulwich, a brilliant storyteller with vast broadcasting experience including WNYC's RadioLab. Krulwich met Burke in the New York neighborhood they shared, which in itself is a testament to the podcast's concept.