UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A podcast series focused on shortwave radio, from its little-known and influential history to its resurgence among a variety of niche audiences, has earned the 2025 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism.
“The Divided Dial: Season 2,” a four-episode series from “On The Media,” earned the award that annually honors work that evaluates news media coverage of significant subjects or issues. The series, hosted by reporter Katie Thornton and edited by executive producer Katya Rogers, was the result of nearly two years of research and writing. The award will be presented on campus at Penn State at the start of the fall semester, when Rogers and Thornton will visit for classroom visits, sessions with faculty and students and a public event.
The Bart Richard Award for Media Criticism, presented by the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State, annually considers constructively critical articles, books, and electronic and online media reports; academic and other research; and reports by media ombudsmen and journalism watchdog groups.
Faculty screeners from the Bellisario College reviewed entries for the respected national award and then forwarded finalists to external judges. Those judges — Andy Alexander, a retired visiting professional at Ohio University and former Washington Post ombudsman with more than four decades of journalism experience; Jill Billante, a Penn State alumna and executive producer at NBC News Now; and Russ Eshleman, associate teaching professor emeritus at Penn State and an award-winning journalist who covered Pennsylvania politics for the Philadelphia Inquirer — were unanimous in their selection of “The Divided Dial: Season 2.”
Judges said the podcast series was consistently strong.
“Sometimes over a series of podcasts, the last one might be weak or simply wrap things up,” Alexander said. “This series was strong from start to finish, and that final episode felt revelatory with new information. Plus, the series focused on the shift away from the airwaves being used in the public interest, and that type of information really seems to meet the spirit of the award.”
Likewise, Billante said the podcast was interesting and timely, especially with what it indicated about the impact of media consolidation. Eshleman said the series was award-worthy because it was much more than a historical summary, instead finding impact and strength because it broke new ground with the information it provided.
The winning four-episode podcast series about shortwave radio, which is far-reaching but less listened to than AM or FM radio, focused on the creation and science of the medium as well as its adoption, growth, success, anticipated demise and even its resurgence among certain audiences. Along with the reporting and research, the series included a trove of audio clips that heightened interaction and provided historical context.
Thornton is an award-winning freelance audio and print journalist. She has published with the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, the Atlantic, the Guardian, the BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, 99% Invisible, and many others, and received a prestigious Fulbright-National Geographic Fellowship for her storytelling work. She is especially interested in long-form, historically informed reporting that shows how infrastructure and communications technologies impact the daily lives and deeply held beliefs of Americans. She spent years working behind the scenes at small radio stations and radio-related organizations, which has influenced her interest in, and admitted soft spot for, the medium. Thornton’s work previously earned the Bart Richards Award in 2022 and 2024.
Rogers is the executive producer of “On The Media,” which is produced by WNYC and aired nationwide on 450 stations with an audience of more than a million weekly listeners. During Rogers’ tenure at the helm of the show, it has won multiple awards, including the Peabody, multiple Mirrors, and the Front Page Award. “On the Media” has earned the Bart Richards Award four times in the award’s 31-year history.