Photo: Ismael Quintanilla III
Jonathan Goldstein took the mic to accept the Pioneer Award at the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards presented by The Hartford on Monday evening (March 11). Presented by My Favorite Murder hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Goldstein received the Pioneer Award for Heavyweight, a podcast full of personal stories that made its debut in 2016.
“Maybe you’ve laid awake and imagined how it could have been, how it might yet be, but the moment to act was never right,” Heavyweight’s description reads. “Well, the moment is here and the podcast making it happen is Heavyweight. Join Jonathan Goldstein” — an audio industry veteran, author and podcast host — “for road trips, thorny reunions, and difficult conversations as he backpedals his way into the past like a therapist with a time machine.”
This year’s iHeartPodcast Awards took place live during the SXSW Conference and Festivals at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, Texas. The show, which streamed live on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel and became available on demand after the initial stream, celebrates some of the best podcasts throughout the year across all genres. Other honors included the Innovator Award (Rotten Mango), the 2024 Social Impact Award (Wrongful Conviction), the fan-voted Podcast of the Year presented by The Hartford (New Heights, which earned a special thank you to Taylor Swift’s “Swifties” during an acceptance speech by Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce), and others. See the full list of winners here.
Congrats, Heavyweight!