Met Radio’s 24 Hour Radio Challenge ’25

Grab your notebooks, your headphones, your best buds and biggest ideas, because Met Radio’s 24 hour challenge returns this March! 

For the fourth time, we’re challenging you to make the tightest, smartest, most surprising and inventive piece of short audio that you can in just one day. 

This year’s challenge runs from March 1st to 2nd. Here’s how it’ll go down:

Step 1: Sign up for the challenge before February 28th at 5pm EST. You can participate solo, or with a team of up to four people. Total beginners and experienced producers alike are invited to register! The challenge is based out of Toronto, but you can compete from anywhere in Canada. Hindenburg is generously offering all of our participants 2-month Hindenburg PRO licences (with 50 hours of free transcription). Learn more about our special Hindenburg offer in the sponsor section below!

Step 2: Check your email at 10am EST on March 1st to learn the secret theme – this will be the inspiration behind your radio piece!

Step 3: Get to work! You’ll have until 10am EST the next morning to write, report, record, edit, and submit a 3 – 6 minute piece of radio based on the theme. 

Step 4: Take a nap while our esteemed judge’s panel listens and scores your work, determining who will walk away with prizes. 

Check out the final pieces! 

The Prizes

First place:

Long and McQuade prize pack, including:

• Samson Meteor USB Mic

• L&M Branded Toque

• L&M Branded Playing Cards

• L&M $20 rental coupon

 + a one-year subscription to Hindenburg editing software for each team member

Second place:

Met Radio sweatshirt + Kops Records gift card

Third place: 

Met Radio t-shirt + beanie

All prizes are per team member

Our Sponsors

Long and McQuade: Long and McQuade has been serving Canada’s musicians since 1956, when it opened its first location in Toronto. Since then, the company has grown to include over 100 locations from coast to coast, making it the country’s largest musical instruments retailer. Besides sales, it offers in-store financing; daily, weekly and monthly rentals; music lessons, and online shopping at long-mcquade.com. After over almost 70 years, the company is still 100% Canadian, and owned by the Long family. We appreciate their generous donation of a prize package containing a Samson Meteor usb microphone, Long and McQuade branded toque, branded playing cards, and a $20 rental coupon for our grand prize winners. We encourage you to check them out for all your audio gear rental needs!

Hindenburg is a professional-grade audio editing software that’s intuitive, reliable, and designed to meet the unique needs of audio storytellers. Hindenburg PRO has every tool and feature you need to record, transcribe, edit, and master professional spoken word recordings – and all radio challenge winners will receive a free 12-month subscription! Hindenburg is also kindly offering 2-month licenses to all challenge entrants. By participating you also have the exclusive opportunity to acquire Hindenburg Pro subscription for the first year at a unique 25% discount on top.

Kops Records: After selling his first vinyl records in 1965 while in England, Martin Koppel opened his first Toronto record shop on Queen Street East in 1976 and has been selling records in the city ever since. Kops continued to grow with the opening of a second location in Oshawa.  

The record store boasts a collection of over 40,000 individual titles, and customers can check out its “ Discogs page for some of our weirdest, rarest, and wonderfulest stuff,” according to Kops’ website.Met Radio is excited to partner with Kops Records for this year’s 24 hour radio challenge to celebrate our shared love for radio and music. Kops is generously gifting second place contestants of the challenge with gift cards up to $50 to use at its two retail locations and online website.

 

Our Judges

Jasmine Rach

Jasmine Rach is a Toronto-based bilingual podcast producer, journalist, and consultant with a talent for turning great concepts into award-winning shows. As the head of business development and senior producer at Lead Podcasting, she works on acclaimed series like Borders & Belonging and Canadian Time Machine. With over five years of experience, Jasmine specializes in helping organizations and brands build podcasts from the ground up—everything from shaping the concept to producing polished episodes that listeners love, and clients are proud to share.

 

max collins

max collins is an audio-focused editor, producer, and development consultant, currently serving as Director of Audio & Creative Production at Canadaland. With a background in campus radio thanks to CFUV 101.9 FM in Victoria, max has made a career over the last decade by wearing a vast array of audio production hats. max has reported for the BBC World Service, acted as a director for current affairs programs at CBC Vancouver, and sound-designed some of the most beloved podcasts to come out of Canada. max’s work has garnered attention from the Ambie Awards, the Signal Awards, the Webby Awards, the iHeart Radio Awards, the NCRA Awards, The New York Times, Vulture, The New Yorker, IndieWire, Psychology Today, Chatelaine, SAD Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, and more. Outside of the podcasting industry, you can find max organizing music gigs with the Toronto collective New Friends DIY.

 

Yasaman Mansoori

Yasaman Mansoori is an audio and digital artist based in New York. She is the creator of That Intimate Feeling, recently awarded “Best in Podcasting” by the NCRA. She is pursuing her MFA at Hunter College.

 

 

 

 

 

Stop, Drop and Roll (Runners-up of the 2024 Radio Challenge!)

Sarra, Micah, and Delphine are audio producers living and working in Toronto. Sarra and Delphine are Met Radio’s Collective Coordinator and Music Director respectively, and Micah is an Emerging Artist facilitating programs with VIBE Arts. They had a lot of fun participating in last year’s challenge and are excited to be on the other side of the judging process!