Meaghan Taylor founded Women in Radio in 2016. She did it because she felt alone in an industry that had no infrastructure for bringing women together. A decade later, she runs a national organization, produces content for the Steve Harvey Morning Show, and just launched a ten-city dinner tour. She is not slowing down.
I caught up with Tayor to talk about what’s changed, what hasn’t, and why she’s rewriting the rules on how women get ahead in radio.
The Industry Has Moved. Just Not Far Enough.
Taylor credits the industry for one real shift: companies are now investing in their women, hosting events, and building internal communities.
“When I started, you found your sisterhood by accident, if you found it at all,” she said. “Now I can see the industry intentionally creating those spaces.”
But she draws a hard line between presence and power.
“Walk into most buildings and you’ll see women everywhere except where the decisions get made,” she said. “We’ve made enormous progress on presence. We have not made enough progress on power.”
Programming chairs. Ownership. Budget meetings. Those seats are still overwhelmingly male.
The Real Problem Isn’t Mentorship. It’s Sponsorship.
Ask Taylor about the PD pipeline and she doesn’t hedge. She calls it both a pipeline and a promotion problem — but says neither gets fixed without solving something deeper.
“Underneath both of those is what I’d call a sponsorship problem,” she said.
Mentorship is not the same thing as sponsorship. Taylor is clear on that distinction.
“A sponsor is the person who walks into a room you’re not in and talks openly about you,” she said. “That’s what moves careers.”
She points to Thea Mitchem and Monica Barnes as the women who did that for her. Taylor says that they opened doors she couldn’t have found alone. She calls herself lucky — and then immediately rejects luck as a system.
“For every woman who finds her Thea or her Monica, there are dozens of equally talented women who never cross paths with someone willing to say their name in the right room,” she said. “Sponsorship shouldn’t be a lottery ticket. It should be infrastructure.”
That’s the work Women in Radio does. Curated rooms. Intentional introductions. A vetted community designed to make sponsorship structural rather than accidental.
Atlanta in March 2020 Changed Everything
Taylor didn’t know Women in Radio was a movement until a room proved it to her. The moment came in Atlanta, three days before COVID shut the world down.
“None of us knew what was about to happen,” she said. “We were in this huge club/lounge, and the women just came. They showed up and supported, and we filled every single seat.”
She knew then the demand was real — not a follower count, not a bot. Real women showing up in person.
Why Ten Cities and Thirty-Five Seats
The 2026 Women in Radio National Tour is intimate by design. Thirty-five women per city. Ten cities total. The format wasn’t born from strategy — it started with budget reality.
When I asked her about why she switched from one large annual conference to a series of more intimate events, Taylor said “I’ll be honest with you: money. A couple of years ago, brands were sponsoring conferences and just about everything we did. That hasn’t been happening lately.”
The constraint forced a pivot. And the pivot turned out to be the best decision she’s made.
“When we were doing conferences, there was no way I could touch and talk to 150 or 200 people,” she said. “This is more intimate. I actually get to know people. I become real friends with them.”
She’s not going back.
The tour’s real metric isn’t attendance. It’s what happens after. Taylor points to Washington, D.C. as the proof point. She needed last-minute volunteers. Women stepped up fast. Then the messages came — gratitude, friendships, connections that kept going after the event ended.
“Attendance tells me people showed up,” she said. “Gratitude and friendships that outlive the night tell me the tour is doing its job.”
One Thread Across Every Market
The tour hits cities like New York, Chicago, LA, Houston. Heavy markets. Taylor expects the conversations to sound different city to city. They don’t.
“The beautiful thing is that the conversations are the same,” she said. “What one woman is feeling in Atlanta, another woman is feeling the exact same way in DC.”
That’s both comforting and frustrating, depending on the topic. The markets have their own flavor. The story doesn’t change.
Each city honors one woman for her impact. The honoree looks different everywhere, but the through line holds.
“She’s involved in her community. She mentors. And she’s a total badass at her job,” Taylor said. “It’s not just what she accomplished. It’s that her city can point to her and say, she poured into us.”
What Programmers Still Don’t Understand About Digital
Taylor produces digital content for one of the biggest morning shows in the country. She watches programmers treat digital and terrestrial as competing forces. That’s the wrong frame.
“Too many programmers treat it as either-or,” she said. “The stations that figure out how to link them intentionally are going to win the next decade.”
Social-exclusive content builds platform identity. On-air moments traveling online bring new listeners to the dial. Done right, they feed each other.
The Sisterhood Is Permanent
Taylor is clear about the future of Women in Radio. The need doesn’t expire.
“Ten years from now, success looks like that network being so established that no woman enters this industry feeling what I felt in 2016,” she said. “The fight will evolve, but the sisterhood is forever.”
And for the female leader reading this right now? Taylor has one thing she wants her to consider.
“The difference between mentoring and sponsoring. That’s what I want her to sit with. Then I want her to find a woman in her station, her cluster, her city, her state, wherever, and really sponsor her. Really understand her. Say her name in the rooms she’s not in yet. Because there are women right by you who need to be seen and shown up for.”
“You don’t have to look far. She’s already in the building.”
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Bethany Kent is a Music Radio Editor for Barrett Media. She spent nearly 20 years bringing radio to life on stages, across the airwaves, and through unforgettable listener experiences. Her career spans local markets including Providence, Philadelphia, and New York City, most recently serving as National Director of Music Initiatives for Audacy. From producing major live events like HOT 97’s Summer Jam to leading strategic national marketing initiatives, she has built a career at the intersection of music, media, and culture. She can be reached at bethany@barrettmedia.com.
