A new Newstalk documentary digs deep beneath Manhattan with New York's legendary urban miners, The Sandhogs...
From laying the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, through to building The Lincoln Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the entire subway network, and the tunnels that ferry the city's water from upstate, the Sandhogs are integral to the survival of one of the world's greatest cities. In ‘The Sandhogs’ , producer Pavel Barter, explores their story.
Few New Yorkers know these tunnel workers exist: out of sight, out of mind. Fewer know how integral Irish workers are to the city's underground network. Irish immigrants and their offspring have dug as deep as skyscrapers are high. And where the Sandhogs dug below, New York grew above…
In this documentary, Pavel Barter takes a journey through generations of this father-son union. He ventures into Local Union 147 (Sandhog base in the Bronx), and deep into the tunnels of New York, to experience the fruits of the Sandhogs labour and the dangers they face on a daily basis.
Barter speaks to 147's retired political director John "Chick" Donohue, business manager Richard T. Fitzsimmons, union president John Ryan, and a host of Irish tunnel workers.
The Sandhogs features Thomas Kelly, a former miner who now works as television writer and producer. Kelly's TV credits include The Black Donnellys, Borgia, Blue Bloods, and Copper. He is currently producing The Get Down, a Netflix Originals series out 2016, with director Baz Luhrmann.
‘The Sandhogs’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Saturday 29th August at 7am, and repeated at 10pm.
QUOTES from The Sandhogs:
"It was the kind of job where only the hungriest would go anywhere near it. The Irish kind of made it their own. The Irish seemed to have an obsession with being the hardest workers, doing the most dangerous jobs. It was like a fierce competition between gangs. Sandhogs had an obsessed, almost deranged, work ethic."
"We used to have a rule of thumb: a man a mile. For every mile of tunnel, you'd end up with a dead tunnel-man."
“If one Sandhog gets hurt, everyone looks after him. The Irish are very good out here for each other."
"We share these accommodations mostly with rats."
"It's the closest you'll ever come to working on a pirate ship in modern America."
"We are all brothers down there. All brothers."
BROADCAST DETAILS: The Sandhogs is part of the Summer Season of Documentary on Newstalk.
BROADCAST TIMES: ‘The Sandhogs’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm on Saturday 29th August at 7am, and repeated at 10pm.
The Sandhogs can also be listened to online at: www.newstalk.com
Podcast available at: www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk after the broadcast.
CREDITS: The Sandhogs was produced by Pavel Barter and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.
