Radio World Staff Picks: Best of 2024 (Paul’s Edition) – Radio World

The editorial team shares some of the most impactful stories from the year

As 2024 comes to a close, the Radio World editorial team is reflecting on their coverage from the past year, noting stories that were particularly news-worthy, meaningful or simply fun to write. The author is a content producer and staff writer.

A little secret about this job: Putting together Radio World is fun. We get to choose from all kinds of interesting topics, and we get to interview all sorts of interesting people, most of whom share our passion for everything radio. Yes we want our stories to help readers in their jobs and careers, but we also want the articles to engage them and their love of radio, to make them laugh or think, or look back on a favorite memory.

Here are some of the stories of 2024 that I found most interesting or am most proud of.  Happy holidays!

Skeptics Question Disappearance of Alabama Radio Tower

Did Brett Elmore fake the theft of the station’s own 200-foot AM radio tower? Some skeptics thought so, and I’ll confess I’ve had my doubts too, even after speaking to him personally. But we may never know. I was proud of the way we covered the story, as in this article by Randy Stine. Sadly, Brett Elmore passed away later in the year. 

Read the story here.

New Report From Quu Does a Real Service for U.S. Radio

For years we’ve been hearing from “the experts” that radio stations should pay more and better attention to how their stations appear on the dashboards of new cars. When Quu issued its report, I was at first mildly impressed. But then I dug down into the listings for each automobile and I realized I could access a multitude of photos that demonstrate just how wide the variation is in what consumers will see in these cars. It’s almost as good as sitting in 100 cars on dealer lots.

Read the story here. 

NRG Media Has Embraced AI-Based Tools

In the course of putting together a feature about how stations were deploying AI tools, one of my most insightful interviews was with four executives of NRG Media. I learned about how NRG was using AI to create client videos, prepare sales presentations, voice an air shift and more, using tools from companies like Waymark, Futuri, Grammarly and Scribe. 

Read the story here. 

Special Report: Transmission 2024

I asked 11 leading radio engineers to identify the most important trends in the design and feature sets of transmitters, and the key technical questions or concepts a manager should be thinking about in purchasing a transmitter. This was from a Radio World ebook. Researching those is one of the most educational parts of my own work.

Read the story here. 

These Were the Carts of Our Lives

Articles about great radio products from the past are always popular with RW readers. Frankly I’d like to publish more that focus on the second half of the 20th century. Well, this article by Criss Onan was super fun. (However, my time on the air in radio came at the height of the cart machine era, so I may be biased here — nyuck nyuck.)

Read the story here. 

How iHeart’s WWNC Has Covered Helene and Its Aftermath

Contributor Nick Langan had not yet joined our staff full-time when we asked him to interview Mark Starling after the hurricane. Starling and WWNC were covered by many news outlets. I was particularly pleased with Nick’s story. 

Read the story here. 

Conrad Trautmann: A Gentleman and an Engineer

When our publisher John Casey and I launched the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award in 2004, we hoped to establish it for the long term. We intended to find honorees who represent the highest ideals of the profession and reflect those ideals through their contributions to the industry. I think we met that goal. Conrad Trautmann, our 21st recipient, is not only worthy, he’s just a plain great guy.

Read the story here.

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