I am mourning the passing of an old friend today. On Friday, June 5, Radio & Records will print for the very last time.

R&R has been the go-to trade magazine for the radio industry. I remember picking up my first copy while babysitting the satellite feed for AfterMidnite with Blair Garner at WAIB-Tallahassee in 1996. R&R was the first place you went to look for radio jobs. Even then, I would comb over the rotations and adds for every Top 40 station in America.  Staring at those logos made stations seem larger than life. I wanted to work at every single one of them.

Years later,  I would finally see my own name in R&R. First, as a music director and Assistant Program Director. Then,  as a PD. I was still small market at the time. Market #159. But, I was proud to see my name in R&R. I had made it.

This is sad day for the entire industry. I feel for the staff of R&R. I feel for the part-time weekend air talent who will never know what it’s like to pick up a copy and dream.

- Jason