WILMINGTON — Zach Beauchemin moved to the port city to attend UNCW. Now, he has grounded himself in learning the history of this this area, demonstrating a knowledge of the past that even some locals may find admirable.
After returning from a trip to South America and learning about some of their coup d’états, Beauchemin was surprised to read that Wilmington had a coup of its own, which happened to be the only instance in the United States where a plan to overthrow the government succeeded.
His curiosity led him to do more research about the coup d’état known as the 1898 Massacre. As Beauchemin learned more about Wilmington, he felt a responsibility to listen to and help share the stories of locals – that is when he developed a media outlet he coined Dub City Heartbeat.
At the heart of Dub City
Upon visiting Dub City Heartbeat’s website, one can find interviews and event recaps conducted through podcasts, articles, videos and Q&As.
“I’m really looking to put people on the site who are leaders or people who can really speak to certain issues affecting the community.” —Zach Beauchemin
Beauchemin posts this content with the intention of “exposing systemic inequality, encouraging local civic engagement and political accountability, uniting the community, and lifting up the arts.”
A few of the dozens of interviews include features dialogues with Christopher Everett, who directed “Wilmington On Fire,” and Christopher Scott, who was exonerated after being wrongfully imprisoned for 13 years. Beauchemin also got a chance to interview Caylan McKay, who ran for Wilmington’s City Council.
Regarding the decision making process for interviews, Beauchemin said, “I’m really looking to put people on the site who are leaders or people who can really speak to certain issues affecting the community.”
Beauchemin’s investment in discussing matters that impact Wilmington leads him to openly discuss topics that are controversial.
“I think it does our country a tremendous disservice to act like race isn’t an issue that affects us,” he said. “There are still lasting affects of housing policies, like redlining, that impact the way our communities are set up today and why inner city schools are often a lot worse and have much fewer resources than suburban schools.”
Dub City Heatbeat released its first piece of content in March of 2017, which was a Q&A with New Hanover Board of Education candidate Kevin Spears.
The days ahead
A little over a year has passed since then and Beauchemin admits he is still learning the best techniques for running a media outlet. He sometimes recruits the help of friends, especially Joseph McCall and Pete Castagno.
Eventually, he hopes to have a full team, but for now, he grinds it out whenever he isn’t at his full time job.
For Beauchemin, the long days are worth it if it means promoting culture and magnifying the voice of citizens who are not always heard.
“I like to promote diversity, and different art styles. Being in an area that’s really interesting and that has a lot of depth, I want to characterize that depth,” he explained.
Dub City Heartbeat debuts content on a regular basis via the dubcityheartbeat.com website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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