Bill Bartholomew Is A Charlestown Story

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Leading up to the 2018 election, Bill Bartholomew sent CCA links to some of his podcast interviews with candidates for state offices. The CCA Steering Committee likes to keep the website and Facebook content focused on Charlestown, so they didn’t share Bill’s links at that time. But in learning more about Bill Bartholomew, it is now clear that Bill himself is a Charlestown story!

Bill on “A Lively Experiment”

Bill is a native of Charlestown, graduating from CHARIHO in 2002. He went on to study at URI and graduated in 2006.

Growing up in Charlestown, Bill developed a love of our local environment while swimming at our beaches and exploring our town’s many hiking trails. At CHARIHO Bill was deeply involved in the music program with mentoring from music teachers Kathy Hughes and Mike Zielski. He was inspired in liberal arts and critical thinking by his CHARIHO teachers Dan Potts, Cathy Peters, Stacy Haines-Mayne and Chris Greene. A talented musician, Bill played in local bands while he studied political science at URI. In addition to music, Bill developed a love for RI history, RI media and RI politics.

After college, Bill moved to Brooklyn, NY to pursue music. There he flourished in the Brooklyn music and arts community for a decade as an original singer-songwriter-musician-producer. But in 2016 he felt it was time to return to Rhode Island and moved back, along with his wife and his band Silverteeth, settling into the Newport, RI artist community. Bill slowly began to reengage in the day-to-day inner-workings of RI politics and media, first as an observer and citizen, then as a frequent caller to WPRO as “William in Newport“.

In late 2017, Bill decided that parallel to his work as a musician, he wanted to begin a path in broadcasting.  Combining his experience as an audio engineer, producer, and hustler with expanded political broadcasting confidence, he launched “The Bartholomewtown Podcast” in 2017, featuring Lt. Governor Dan McKee as his first guest.  He set up his studio in a large loft in a former brewery building in Providence.  Through the podcast, he began to develop his own unique journalistic approach, relationships with political, cultural and media figures, and express his creativity in a new way.

By the summer of 2018 the podcast was gaining momentum, serving as a sought-after platform for the 2018 RI elections. The podcast has continued to grow to a dedicated, large state-wide audience.  Bill was awarded a producer’s grant for PVDFest 2019 to produce “Bartholomewtown LIVE!”. He is now a recurring panelist on RI PBS’ A Lively Experiment; he has contributed print pieces to The Avenue Concept and Motif Magazine; and is a frequent fill-in host on WPRO radio. Bill is still active in music too.

When Bill is interviewing politicians for his podcasts or appearing on PBS or radio he brings with him an understanding of the natural and cultural history of Charlestown. Charlestown or South County may rarely be the topic of discussion, but when it is or when there is an issue that may impact our area, it’s reassuring to know there is someone with a local perspective asking the questions.

You can listen to Bill Bartholomew’s podcast at http://bartholomewtown.com/ or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Learn even more about Bill’s podcast at:

Ruth Platner

 

 

You can learn more about the author, Ruth Platner, at her profile page.