(By Cameron Coats) As the holiday season begins, we at Radio Ink want to pause and reflect on a year that has been as challenging as it has been rewarding. 2024 brought more anxiety to the radio industry than any of us would have cared for, from recent layoffs to continued economic pressures to the approaching 11th hour for the AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act.
Yet even with these trials, there’s so much to be thankful for.
We’re thankful for the heroes in Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and Florida who stayed on the air during and after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. You rallied your communities and showed the country exactly why AM/FM matters in a modern media world.
We’re thankful for the local newsrooms that – even under mounting financial pressures – ensured sweeping, fair, and unbiased coverage of this year’s elections at every level.
We’re thankful for the sales departments bringing new revenue streams to the industry while leading digital buyers back to radio.
We’re thankful for the programmers and on-air talent who keep AM/FM the most listened-to audio medium in America – even after a century.
We’re thankful for the leaders, on Capitol Hill and off, who tirelessly fight in defense of radio.
As for Radio Ink, we’ve had a year of unprecedented growth and evolution. We’re grateful for your trust and readership as we’ve expanded our fiercely independent daily industry coverage with the Radio Wrap, delivered fresh perspectives with our redesigned modern look in July, and continued our mission to serve this industry. We’re also grateful for the in-person connections we’ve shared this year at Hispanic Radio Conference 2024, the Radio Masters Sales Summit, and Forecast 2025.
From our entire team – our management, editorial staff, contributors, directors, and advertising consultants – thank you for engaging with our daily headlines, exploring our print issues, and being part of the conversations that keep radio strong and dynamic.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and for the excuse of overeating, we’re taking a short holiday break. Our daily headlines will pause tomorrow and Friday, returning on Monday, December 2. The Radio Wrap will still arrive in your inbox on Sunday.
As we head into this season of gratitude, perhaps it’s best to leave you not with our words, but with the words of North Carolina resident and Helene survivor Denise Potter:
“I can’t say enough. Radio is so critically important to people everywhere. I think sometimes we forget because you can flip on a TV or the internet. But when that’s not available, what would you do without radio? I honestly don’t know. So I’m very, very thankful. God bless radio.”
Thank YOU RadioInk! We love your publication! It’s like a cocoon nourishing readers with only good news. Hard truths on the dire state our industry faces are rigorously scrubbed, insulating us from the reality we’d rather not confront. Thank you for helping make our lives less stressful!