Award-winning account explored
rise of conservative talk-radio company 

Belated kudos to freelance reporter Katie Thornton for winning the 2022 Peabody in Radio/Broadcast with WNYC’s On the Media, for The Divided Dial, a five-part account of the rise of Salem Media Group as a right-wing radio empire. 

The series, which also won the Bart Richard Award for Media Criticism and a nomination for a Mirror Award, evolved from a flurry of correspondence and conversations in 2021. 

“I am very grateful to FIRE for the assistance available through my Editorial Consultancy,” Thornton wrote. “It was very helpful as I conducted my prereporting and developed the outline and plan for this series.” 

Thornton continues to work as a full-time freelance reporter in both print and audio. She is currently working on a project that builds on the reporting and investigative work conducted for The Divided Dial.

For a full list of FIRE-supported story releases, see our Reporter Updates.