The Actor/Director Says Love Of Country Led Him To Co-Found The Storytelling Startup, Hearhere
Video: Kevin Costner discusses family road trips and HearHere
BELLEVUE, Wash. — An investment in new mobile travel and audio entertainment platform, HearHere, turned AAA Washington (based in Bellevue) and actor/director Kevin Costner into strategic business partners. Costner, a Co-Founder of HearHere, sat down with AAA Washington’s Director of Travel Products, Lisa Anciaux, to discuss his passion for road trips and learning about the history and people of a region. HearHere provides real-time, location-based stories — some told by Costner himself — to curious road trippers, a group AAA has served for decades.
“I love stories and I guess there’s no real secret about that,” Costner told Anciaux. With a chuckle, he added, “I’m also the guy in my family that stops at all the historical marks along the highway. It usually brings moans from my children, from everyone in the car, but it was this continuing curiosity that I began to think HearHere could satisfy anyone that had the same feelings I do without having to leave the car.”
Costner says the company made a commitment to enriching a traveler’s experience with stories focused on first people and stories that have never been heard or may be forgotten.
“We agreed as a group that no matter the region, the history of first people and the stories of first contact would always be the most important,” said Costner. “I not only saw it as our responsibility, but as our obligation to do this first and to understand and pass on faithfully the stories of the people who flourished here for thousands of years before we ever came.”
Costner says his love affair with the family road trip and exploring America stretches back into his own childhood.
“I didn’t grow up with the trappings that maybe people associate with me,” said Costner. “Our vacations were rubber tire, they were Coleman stove and canvas tents and they were the High Sierras.”
HereHere launched in August 2020 and hosts a library of more than 6,000 stories for road trips through the Southern, Eastern and Western United States. Currently, you can listen to HearHere while traveling through 29 states, including Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California, with more to come before summer 2021.
To watch AAA’s complete exclusive interview with Kevin Costner, visit aaa.com/costner.
About HearHere:
HearHere is a mobile travel and audio entertainment app for the curious road-tripper that shares the stories and history of the places they are traveling through and to. Launched in August 2020 with more than 4,000 stories for road trips through the Southern, Eastern and Western United States, HearHere will publish more than 10,000 audio stories across the United States by summer 2021 with themes including Colorful Characters, Culture, History, Local Insights, Music, Natural Wonders, Special Places of Interest and Sports. For a free trial of HearHere, download HearHere on the App Store for iPhone or visit www.hearhere.com for more information.
HearHere Media Contacts
Woody Sears | C: 310-529-4224
Website: hearhere.com
Twitter: @HearHereDotCom | Facebook: HearHere
