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\n\tIn 2024, radio gained a massive star: Shaboozey<\/a>. Thanks to an ambitious five-format strategy by the EMPIRE label to break \u201cA Bar Song (Tipsy)\u201d to the widest possible audience, the singer-songwriter\u2019s signature track hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July and remained there for a record-tying 19 weeks<\/a>, making radio history along the way.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShaboozey walked into the steps of Bailey Zimmerman<\/a> and Morgan Wallen<\/a> and on and on,\u201d says Randy Chase, executive vp of programming for Birmingham, Ala., radio chain Summit Media. \u201cBecause they changed our format sonically and texturally and taught radio: \u2018Don\u2019t get in your little box.\u2019 It really opened up people\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut Shaboozey\u2019s triumph, along with Post Malone<\/a>\u2018s surprisingly smooth crossover from pop and hip-hop to country, was among the few major radio success stories in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe biggest story was the continuing decline of radio as an industry. Although iHeartMedia and other radio giants point to rosy statistics showing radio\u2019s ongoing popularity, MusicWatch surveys show the \u201cincidence of listening to music\u201d on broadcast radio dropped from 79% in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 50% in last year\u2019s fourth quarter. And while radio continues to reach 52% of music listeners, according to MusicWatch, time spent listening has dropped from five hours a week in 2016 to two hours last year.<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the broadcasters laying off large numbers of employees: iHeartMedia, Audacy, SiriusXM and, presumably, author Stephen King\u2019s three long-running stations in Bangor, Maine, which punctuated the year in radio by announcing they would close<\/a> Dec. 31. Major labels responded in kind, laying off numerous longtime promotion execs.<\/p>\n \n\tAs part of Billboard<\/em>\u2018s look at 2024 in a variety of areas, from record labels<\/a> to the concert business<\/a>, here are the year\u2019s biggest radio stories.<\/p>\n