Las Vegas got loud this week, but one of the biggest statements to come out of the NAB Show did not come from a gadget, a stage demo, or some shiny new promise about the future. It came when Ruth Presslaff was recognized as the 2026 recipient of the MIW Frances Preston Trailblazer Award, the top honor from Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio. The recognition unfolded on April 20 during NAB Show week with a public conversation led by MIW founder Erica Farber at TV and Radio HQ, followed by the formal presentation at MIW’s annual Lipstick & Lobster Dinner.
That title carries real weight in this business. MIW describes the Frances Preston Trailblazer Award as its highest accolade, presented each year to a woman whose leadership and accomplishments create opportunities for other women in radio. The award also bears the name of Frances Preston, the longtime BMI president and CEO, which means this is not some throwaway industry nod built for applause and a photo line. This is the kind of recognition that asks whether a career changed the business for somebody else, not just whether it looked impressive on paper.
And when you stack Ruth Presslaff’s career next to the purpose of the award, the fit is hard to argue with. Her MIW bio and NAB Show profile trace a path through college radio, commercial radio, affiliate relations, sales, and revenue strategy before the launch of Presslaff Interactive Revenue. MIW’s profile says she sold that company to Second Street in 2017 and remained closely tied to the industry as a speaker, consultant, mentor, and board member, with a sharp focus on first-party data, audience value, and the revenue possibilities radio too often leaves sitting on the table.
What makes this honor hit even harder is that Presslaff did not just support MIW from the sidelines. She helped steer it. MIW announced in 2024 that Sheila Kirby would succeed Presslaff as president in 2025 after Presslaff had served as MIW Board President since 2020, and the organization credited that period with helping shape its future. The group’s own materials from that stretch show MIW strengthening its nonprofit footing, building mentorship opportunities across multiple disciplines, and expanding partnerships designed to move more women toward leadership in radio.
That is why this moment felt bigger than a ceremony. This was not radio admiring a résumé from a distance. This was radio acknowledging a woman whose fingerprints are on the work of mentorship itself. At a time when the industry keeps talking about talent pipelines, leadership gaps, and the need for stronger succession planning, Ruth Presslaff’s recognition landed like a reminder that none of that gets fixed by talk alone. Somebody has to build the bridge. Somebody has to keep the door open. Somebody has to make advancement more than a slogan. MIW’s entire reason for being is tied to that mission, and Presslaff has been one of the people doing that work in plain sight.
The lineage of this award only makes the story stronger, because the women attached to it are not ghosts from a better era. Many are still actively shaping radio right now. Deborah Parenti, the 2025 Trailblazer honoree, remains president and publisher of Streamline Publishing’s media division. Caroline Beasley, honored in 2012, serves as chief executive officer and board chair of Beasley Broadcast Group. Julie Talbott, the 2018 recipient, continues to lead Premiere Networks as president. Ginny Hubbard Morris, honored in 2011, remains a senior force at Hubbard Radio. This is not an award with dust on it. It is an award with current power attached.
And that may be the real story here. In a week when so much of the conversation in Las Vegas has revolved around technology, platforms, AI, transformation, dashboards, and whatever else the industry thinks will save it next, one of the clearest messages came from something more human than all of that. Mentorship still matters. Leadership still matters. Pulling other women upward still matters. MIW put that truth on display again, and Ruth Presslaff’s name now sits at the center of that message for 2026.
So no, this was not a small-item radio brief. This was one of those moments that tells you what a business values when it stops moving long enough to say something meaningful. Ruth Presslaff did not receive MIW’s highest honor because she simply had a long career. She received it because her work kept creating lanes for others. In a business that is always looking for the next thing, that might be the most important kind of leadership there is. And at NAB Show 2026, MIW made sure radio saw it.
-JPS