One of KMUW’s radio shows will truly live up to its name on Tuesday.

Radio New Zealand will broadcast the world music program “Global Village” for the first time on its 62-station system, making the show an international program for the first time. According to a KMUW press release, the expansion follows the show’s wins in “Best World Music Radio Show” from the Reader’s Choice World Music Awards and the PRX (Public Radio Exchange) Zeitfunk Award for “Most Licensed Series” last month.

Veteran broadcaster Chris Heim feared her first international music show’s lifespan would be six months before material would run dry. She now has enough material and music to host and produce Global Village five nights a week. The show has aired regularly for about six years.

Today, Global Village broadcasts on 100 stations in 26 states. Heim said her show expanded to include music from almost every continent and a cross-section of cultures. She attributes this to a perk of living in the digital age: international music is easier to track down than ever. And culturally, world music popularity is on the rise.

“I think people are more open to different kinds of music (and) more interested in different kinds of music and so there’s a place for that now that there wasn’t before,” Heim said.

National Public Radio is known for introducing offbeat music to its listeners. It also utilizes human programming, which Heim calls a “dying art” in a time when digitally selected music is often used.

“I think there’s a need for this kind of programming…there’s evidence that public radio listeners aren’t just news-junkies. They’re interested in the whole world and they’re interested in culture,” Heim said. “I think this is also a mission of public radio to offer a program like this.”

Heim stumbled into radio broadcasting while earning her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Chicago. She said she hoped to delve deeper into her passion for music by listening to campus broadcasts, but never pictured herself behind the microphone.

“It was an absolute and complete accident,” she said. “I was so uninterested in radio that I hadn’t even bothered to walk into the studio.”

One of the hosts had a sudden absence, and Heim had to fill in for the show. She had 15 minutes of training before going on-air.

“…It was one of the most nerve-wracking and embarrassing experiences I’ve ever had,” she said. “As far as I know, no tapes exist, and if I find them I’ll pour gasoline on them or something.”

She stuck with the program and never left radio. In 1989, she began working with Chicago NPR stations. Heim called public radio music in that time more “free form,” meaning that a radio host could take a show into a myriad of genres and directions. She began specializing in blues, jazz and international music.

Today, Heim hosts two other KMUW music programs in addition to Global Village: the blues and jazz-centric Night Train and Crossroads.

Heim explained her success by comparing radio programming to performing jazz. Both require knowledge, practice and intuition.

“I feel like my job is kind of a bridge,” Heim said. “It’s a bridge between artists who are doing amazing work and an audience that would love this music if they only had a chance to hear it.”