Last night, our weekly podcast, All Songs Considered, was named the best music podcast of the year at the iHeartPodcast Awards. We did not expect to win, but I was hoping to attend the ceremony at SXSW in Austin. Tornado warnings around Washington, D.C., where NPR's headquarters are, prevented that from happening, but here's what I might have said on stage:

When NPR started All Songs Considered more than 25 years ago, the only way to hear it was streaming on the internet — and most people were still using dial-up modems. The typical home connection was so excruciatingly slow, we had to send the show out in mono (stereo files were too big). A mono music show. It seems comical, now.

But somehow the show found an audience and that audience grew. In 2005, All Songs Considered became NPR’s first-ever podcast, nearly a decade before the whole industry became an industry. At some point, member stations started playing the show on-air, making it the first NPR program to begin on the internet and move to the radio.  

Admittedly, the once-novel, future-sounding idea of an internet music show seems almost quaint in the age of streaming and all its endless possibilities. So, after more than a quarter century, I’m grateful the show is here at all, still connecting with people. I want to believe it’s because real, human connections, with real voices and ideas and feelings behind them, still matter more than any algorithm or delivery method. At the end of the day, that’s all we ever want or hope for: to keep it real and honest, and to connect deeply with all the other music nerds of the world who know that the right song, at the right time, can change your life.

I’m also grateful for all the amazing, creative people at NPR Music who’ve made the show possible — and for all the listeners who keep it going. And now, on with the show, which is dedicated to the same principles as always.