Tag Archives: Women in Radio

Radio Waves: Remembering CBS Radio, Taking Back the Airwaves, Women-Led Radio Stations, Russian Great Firewall, and WLRH Audience Crisis

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, NT, and Mark Pascoe for the following tips:

Remembering CBS Radio’s Beginnings (Radio World)

The recent news that CBS is shuttering its radio network caused us to reflect on the glorious 99-year history of the company’s radio business, and gaze backward from this stretch of the road toward the media organization’s beginnings.

In the 1920s, Arthur L. Judson was a well-known manager of musical artists. After a meeting with RCA chief David Sarnoff, he thought he had a verbal agreement to provide musical talent for the new National Broadcasting Company, but he soon discovered that Sarnoff had instead set up his own NBC artist’s bureau. Furious over the humiliation of being outmaneuvered, Judson resolved to start his own radio network, to be called the United Independent Broadcasters.

He lined up a few investors, rented studio space at WOR in New York and signed up 16 stations. The network would pay the stations for carrying its programs, plus the talent costs and the hefty AT&T network line charges. All expenses would be paid for by advertising. The Columbia Phonograph Company agreed to provide an infusion of cash, and it became the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System. [Continue reading….]

After CBS: Let’s Take Back the Airwaves (Radio World)

It’s a wakeup call. Our future should belong to Main Street not Wall Street

The announcement of the pending shutdown of CBS News Radio isn’t just another media headline — it’s a wake-up call.

A clear example of what happens when decisions about our information, our communities and our voices are made in corporate boardrooms disconnected from real life.

This wasn’t a programming failure. It wasn’t a lack of audience. It was an accounting decision — made by people who don’t live in the communities radio serves, don’t rely on it and don’t understand its true value.

And that’s exactly why they got it wrong.

Radio has never been more important. In an era flooded with misinformation, algorithm-driven content and faceless digital noise, radio remains immediate, local and — most importantly — trusted. It’s the one medium that still shows up live, every day, in real time, for real people. [Continue reading…]

Empowering Airwaves: Women-Led Radio Stations Amplify Unheard Voices (Nieman Reports)

On March 8, 2021, a new radio station launched in Kabul: Radio Begum, run by women, for women. The timing was deliberate — the station opened on International Women’s Day, and just as the United States military was withdrawing from Afghanistan.

“I decided to launch this radio station in order to be ready for the day the Taliban takes power,” said Hamida Aman, the station’s founder. “We knew that as soon as they take power, it will be segregation, and again, it will be against women.”

Five months later, the Taliban retook Kabul and imposed new laws restricting women’s access to schools and their movements in public. Five years later, Radio Begum is still on the air. The station follows the letter of the law, even as restrictions tighten. It doesn’t cover politics or any subjects that are off-limits to public discussion among women under Taliban edicts. Instead, it focuses on health, religion, and providing educational programs to replace the schooling women are now prohibited from receiving.

“They banned schools, but not education,” Aman said. [Continue reading…]

Does a ‘Great Firewall’ loom? Why Russians are buying up walkie-talkies and road maps (SBS News)

Pagers, walkie-talkies and portable radios have reportedly been flying off the shelves of Moscow after the city’s roughly 13 million residents were hit with week-long internet disruptions, which some believe could be part of the Kremlin’s trial of a nationwide internet censorship system.

The blackout, which was first reported on 5 March, occurred initially in some of out suburbs in the capital, Moscow, before later spreading through the city’s downtown areas.

During the disruption, many foreign websites were blocked on mobile phones, while online government services, top banks and taxi apps also stopped working.

Russian media outlet Kommersant estimated that a five-day shutdown cost the city’s businesses between $54 million and $89 million. [Continue reading…]

An Audience Crisis at WLRH (Michael Krall – Blog)

The latest audience numbers from WLRH reflect a new reality — the audience that once listened for NPR programming is gone.

The station posted a 1.3 share for January 2026 (Nov-Dec-Jan).

This is a real loss caused directly by the format change.

Because WLRH dropped all NPR programming on October 1, 2025, this book represents the first full three months of the new format. (See my previous post for a more detailed explanation on how the Huntsville radio market is measured.) [Continue reading…]

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Radio Waves: Research on Gen Z Listenership, Early Women in Radio, Carlos Latuff Interview, and “Your Next Tech Purchase Should Be a Radio”

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Jeb, Dennis Dura, and Dan Van Hoy for the following tips:

Edison Research: 55% Of Gen Z Listen to AM/FM Radio Every Day But… (Radio Insight)

n their latest Share Of Ear study, Edison Research notes that over 55% of 13-24 year-olds listen to AM/FM radio daily.

However the study notes that these Gen Z listeners spend 50% less of their total share of time listening to AM/FM radio than the average 13+ population meaning they spend less time with radio than older generations. They also mostly listen to AM/FM in the car with 50% of their listening coming in vehicles. The study also notes that these 13-24 year-olds use a radio receiver 50% less than the average 13+ population, and they use their phones for listening 75% more than the average 13+ population with 58% more of their total share of time listening to streaming audio than the average 13+ population. Their share of YouTube listening, which is surveyed only for music and music videos, is 98% higher than the average 13+ population.

The study also notes that 89% of their listening to AM/FM is done through a traditional radio and only eleven percent coming from streaming of broadcast brands.[…]

The Women Who Overcame Radio’s Earliest Glass Ceilings (Radio World)

Before the dawn of broadcasting, women were frequently hired as wireless operators, and so it was not a surprise that women’s voices were heard as announcers and program hosts in the early days of broadcast radio.

Sybil Herrold was perhaps the world’s first disc jockey; she played Victrola records on her husband Charles Herrold’s experimental station, which broadcast in San Jose from 1912 to 1917.

In Boston, Eunice Randall’s voice was heard on a variety of programs over AMRAD station 1XE (which became WGI in 1922). In New York City, WOR audiences regularly heard Jesse Koewing, who was identified on the air only as “J.E.K.” while Betty Lutz was the popular “hostess” heard on WEAF.

At WAHG (now WCBS), 16-year-old Nancy Clancy was billed as the country’s youngest announcer.[…]

Coffee and Radio Listen – Episode 2 Carlos Latuff (Coffee and Listen)

Carlos Henrique Latuff de Sousa or simply “Carlos Latuff”, for friends, (born in Rio de Janeiro, November 30, 1968) is a famous Brazilian cartoonist and political activist. Latuff began his career as an illustrator in 1989 at a small advertising agency in downtown Rio de Janeiro. He became a cartoonist after publishing his first cartoon in a newsletter of the Stevadores Union in 1990 and continues to work for the trade union press to this day.

With the advent of the Internet, Latuff began his artistic activism, producing copyleft designs for the Zapatista movement. After a trip to the occupied territories of the West Bank in 1999, he became a sympathizer for the Palestinian cause in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and devoted much of his work to it. He became an anti-Zionist during this trip and today helps spread anti-Zionist ideals.

His page of Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/carloslatuff/) currently has more than 50 thousand followers, where of course, you can see his work as a cartoonist and also shows his passion on the radio.[…]

Your Next Tech Purchase Should Be a Radio (PC Mag)

As the pandemic drags on, it’s time to return to a slower, older technology, one that frees you from the unending sameness served up by algorithms.

Quarantine has slowed everything down so much that it almost feels like we’re going back in time. The first few weeks were measured in sourdough starter, then in seeds sprouting from patches planted in backyards or squeezed into space on windowsills. Things are quieter now, but maybe too quiet.

Commutes used to be accompanied by music and podcasts piped in through earphones or car speakers. This casual sensory stimulation seems disposable, but it’s one of many small pleasures that have slipped away nearly—but not quite—unnoticed.

That’s why it’s time to return to a slower, older technology that can provide auditory companionship and match the new pace of your days: the radio.

Radios, more affordable and portable than TVs, used to be household staples and a more intimate part of people’s days—a companion in the bath or during a solitary drive or walk. Now they’re mostly found in go bags and as vehicle infotainment center afterthoughts.[…]