The other day, I was on a video call with a programmer I respect. I was sitting in my office. He was on my screen, and behind him, lined up on a shelf, were his trophies. We were talking programming philosophy — how you build a station, how you coach talent, how you know when a song has run its course. Good conversation. But I’ll be honest. Part of my brain kept drifting to that shelf. I worked hard as a programmer. I still think about radio every single day, and now I get to write about it. But a Marconi never happened for me.
So when I see somebody win one, there’s a little bit of jealousy. And a whole lot of admiration.
More Than a Trophy
That’s exactly how I felt seeing this year’s Marconi winners announced Tuesday night in New York.
Winning matters. So does being nominated. In a business where so much of the attention goes to what’s struggling — the layoffs, the consolidation, the ratings that slipped — this is a night that points the spotlight at people doing exceptional work.
An award doesn’t settle every argument about what great radio sounds like. It was never supposed to. What it does is make me curious. What are these people doing that the rest of us could learn from?
The Story Behind Every Name
The winners list is a starting point. The people behind it are the story.
What shaped their programming philosophy? Who took a chance on them when nobody else would? Which decisions paid off — and which ones blew up in their faces? How did they earn the confidence of the people down the hall and the loyalty of the people listening in their cars?
I don’t want to guess at those answers. And I don’t want to assume every winner followed the same blueprint, because they almost certainly didn’t. Those are questions for interviews, not assumptions for a column.
I also want to include the nominees. Making the final list in your category means you’re doing something right. Those stories deserve attention, even if somebody else’s name got called when the envelope opened.
A Personal One
I’ll admit one result hit a little closer to home. Seeing 98 Rock — WIYY in Baltimore — named Rock Station of the Year made me proud.
I spent 12 years there. That building was a meaningful part of my career, and it taught me plenty about what it takes to build a station and then keep it great year after year. That second part is harder than people think.
This one belongs to the current team. They earned it. My history just explains why I was grinning when I saw the news.
Put It to Work
Here’s my advice to anybody who brought hardware home: use it.
Recognition is a powerful tool. Tell your listeners. They chose you, and they’ll enjoy knowing they picked a winner. Give your advertisers a reason to understand what it means — their message is running on one of the best stations in the country.
And recognize the people whose contributions will never put them onstage. The producer. The promotions coordinator. The engineer who kept you on the air through the storm.
Managers, this is your chance to tell employees specifically how their work contributed. Not a generic “great job, team.” Specifics. Let the celebration reach beyond the person holding the trophy.
Done right, an award becomes a source of pride throughout the building. And an invitation to keep building.
Your Turn
My job is to get to as many of these stories as I can and share what the rest of us can learn from them.
So help me out. If there’s a winner or nominee you think I should talk to — or a story behind the story — send it my way. My email is at the bottom of this column.
To every winner and every nominee: congratulations. This recognition deserves to be celebrated. It also deserves to be used thoughtfully.
I never took home a Marconi. That doesn’t keep me from appreciating what it means to the people who did. A little jealousy? Sure. But a whole lot of admiration.
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