Audio Academy Festival 2026 

68 speakers
25 sessions
200+ bespoke career conversations
9 hosts
4 Stages

Full line-up includes outstanding broadcasters:  Greg James, Elizabeth Day, Mishal Husain, Elis James, Steve Lamacq and many others 

And exclusive content: Audible’s Dracula, The Rolling Stones official podcast in Dolby Atmos and John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Ultimate Collection.

Tickets available here

The Audio Academy Festival on Thursday, October 1st at the Royal College of Physicians in Regent’s Park, London, will bring together outstanding broadcasters and exclusive content.

Festival-goers will hear front-line thinking, cutting-edge content and red-hot gossip from the UK's top presenters, business leaders, audio pioneers and technological innovators.

Hosted by Magic Radio’s Neev Spencer and KISS’s Nick Bright, comedian, writer and broadcaster Jon Harvey, BBC Radio 1 Xtra’s Fee Mak, along with ARIAS award-winning broadcaster and poet Scout Tzofiya Bolton and presenter, music journalist and DemoFactor winner Katie-Louise Buxton, the Audio Academy Festival will showcase fresh conversations with radio stars, podcast pathfinders, audiobook experts and leading voices from music and sport, alongside world-exclusive sonic experiences. The Festival will be covered across social media by our back-stage hosts, singer/songwriter and BBC Radio Wales presenter Aleighcia Scott, Hits Radio Network Scotland host Beth Wallace and broadcaster and actor Mim Shaikh. 

Headline sessions include:

• Greg James (BBC Radio 1) chatting to Jeremiah Asiamah (new co-host of BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge) about sharing a tandem with HRH Prince William, co-hosting with your mates, and winning ARIAS Gold for his Breakfast Show
• Mishal Husain (Bloomberg) on her “Listen love, you’re trying ever so hard” exchange with Reform leader Nigel Farage, voted by you as Radio Times Moment of the Year at the ARIAS 2026 in conversation with Elizabeth Day, author, broadcaster and host of How to Fail with Elizabeth Day which won Gold at this year’s ARIAS
• Elis James and Dave Masterman on the magic of the Cymru Connection, the viral feature from the award-winning Elis James and John Robins podcast in which Elis is tasked with finding a connection to a fellow countryperson in just 60 seconds   
• Simon Myciunka (President of Audio at Bauer Media Group and CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK) in conversation with Steve Jones (CEO of Stingray Radio) on the future of commercial radio hosted by Absolute Radio’s Sophie K 
• Rhodri Talfan Davies (Deputy Director-General of the BBC) on the vision for radio and audio through Charter Review and beyond with, BBC Radio 1’s Katie Thistleton
• A first chance to hear Audible’s groundbreaking full-cast adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Jonathan Bailey, Ella Purnell and Aimee Lou Wood mixed in Dolby Atmos and released simultaneously in seven languages on Festival day with all-star casts across the globe hosted by Audible’s Robin Morgan-Bentley and Chris Jones, and Factory Studios’ Anthony Moore
• New research from Beano Brain on meeting Gen Alpha: why audio matters, and how to win their attention with Peter Maginn and Ben Younie from Beano Brain, Dom Hodge, Head of Yoto Studios, and Lydia Mossahebi, Head of YouTube Content and Programming Strategy, BBC Children’s and Education
• Live from Sydney, Australia Clive Dickens, Managing Partner of The Meliora Company asking Can You Trust Your Ears? AI, Authenticity and the Next Chapter of Audio
• The story behind Speaking in Tongues, the official Rolling Stones Podcast mixed in Dolby Atmos especially for the Audio Academy Festival, with producer Cup and Nuzzle’s Matt Everitt and Joe Foley, Polydor Records’ Ali Tant and Dolby’s Myles Clarke
• Forever Audio Presents: Mind, Body and Sound. With Kathleen Moroney, Executive Creative Director at Forever Audio, Katherine Templar-Lewis, Co-Founder of Kinda Studios and Emily Richardson, Co-Founder of LALA Music looking into the science and emotive power of sound, followed by an innovative, immersive sound bath experience that will take you on a journey like no other, mixed in full Dolby Atmos.

The four festival stages will also feature:

• Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty on her ARIAS Gold-winning BBC Sounds podcast, Fame Under Fire with Jane Mulkerrins (Times Radio) 

• • Broadcaster, DJ and producer Nerm on the future of AI in music, from The Beatles to the dancefloor
  • Hits Radio’s Victoria Glover on the shocking true story that became her ARIAS Gold-winning podcast, My Stalker Moved in Next Door

• Journalist, presenter and producer Adam Batty  (MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds) will lead a frank and open debate on the future sound of music journalism with Katie-Louise Buxton, Music & Culture journalist, The Culture Crypt & Rinse FM presenter, Neill Smith, Audio and Entertainment Analyst, (MIDiA) Laura Fisher, and BBC Radio 6Music’s Steve Lamacq

• Grace Jasper and Georgie Cavendish from BBC Audiences asking  “Everyone’s got a podcast these days. So why will audiences choose yours?” sharing tips on making your podcast first choice for listeners
• Matt Deegan (Folder Media, Podcast Discovery) sits down with the Hits Radio and KISS Network Content Director, Paul Gerrard and Steph Hill, Head of Content, Hits Radio and the team to find out what this relatively new station is doing differently to establish, grow and provide ARIAS award-winning content 
• Former policeman Alfie Moore on his ARIAS award-winning BBC Radio 4 crime comedy It’s a Fair Cop and how laughter helps us process trauma with Jon Harvey
• The Fastest-Growing Part of UK Radio: how local broadcasters have built new platforms, an audience measurement system and a national sales operation with Steph Hirst, Faridat Raifu, Dom Chambers and John Dash
• Who really won the World Cup? what it took to deliver the biggest World Cup ever with Heidi Dawson, Controller BBC Radio 5 Live and Head of the North of England, Liam Fisher, Head of talkSport, and Jon Gill, General Manager Sport, Goalhanger
• Steve Jones (CEO of Stingray Radio) introduces us to “Rock Star Leadership”, a blueprint to inspire people, and build hope, trust, compassion and stability in your organisation
• “Audio first: radio’s global future”; After ten years of living in Australia, and working with radio companies in Europe, Australasia and North America, the radio futurologist James Cridland shares what he’s learnt around the world - and the simple things we can be doing so that everyone, wherever they live, puts audio first.

Our state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos technology will also showcase:

• Mind, Body and Sound, Forever Audio's innovative exploration of the connection between science and soul, and how music can move, heal and connect us, with an all-encompassing sound bath experience to take you on a sonic journey like never before
• Reimagining John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Mixing the Ultimate Collections in Dolby Atmos, in which Chris Hawkins joins Simon Hilton and Sam Gannon in conversation about their work remixing John Lennon's classic catalogue in Dolby Atmos in innovative and creative ways, to deliver the ultimate experience to fans new and old.
• Demystifying Dolby Atmos, an expert-led deep dive into what immersive audio means for you, your productions and for your audience.

Expert analysts and media practitioners join host and consultant Matt Deegan, to talk about the top media stories and why they matter in a special recording of The Media Club podcast. A three-part Audio Academy Podcast, sponsored by Rayo, will be available after the Festival. 

Plus 40 of the most influential and respected figures in UK radio and audio offering exclusive 1:1 career conversation. Delegates can turbocharge their careers with top industry experts from Acast, Audio Always, Audible, Bauer, Bengo Media, BBC, Biscuit Jim, Dolby, Goalhanger, Little Dot Studios, Pocket Productions, Seasalt and Mango, Sony, Soundtruism, Spotify, The PMG, Persephonica, Reduced Listening, RNIB, Times Radio, Tortoise, Unedited, Virgin, We Are Grape, Whistledown and many more.

And as ever, we'll honour the memory of those we’ve lost from the world of audio, announce the new Fellows of the Audio Academy and round things off with networking drinks, courtesy of PPL and PRS for Music.

Visit the Audio Academy’s website and social channels for the full programme, with more exciting announcements to come before October 1st.

It’s the premiere event for catching up with old friends and making new connections. As one first time delegate said after last year’s Festival:

“Most treasured were the hellos with old friends and new. I walked in as a first-timer, self-employed freelance sole trader, thinking I knew no one. Within minutes I was reminded that I’ve worked on the fringes of radio for a while and picked up a few contacts on the way without realising it, people who made an effort to come over and say hi, which just doesn’t happen in every industry.”

About the Audio Academy:    
Established in 1983,the Audio Academy (formerly The Radio Academy) is the UK’s leading audio industry charity, dedicated to the promotion of excellence in UK radio and audio. Its annual Festival is a day of debate, discovery, and celebration for the audio community.

The Audio Academy Festival is proudly sponsored by Arqiva, Audible, BBC Sounds, Broadcast Bionics, RCS,  PPL and PRS for Music and Xperi.

Our heartfelt thanks also go to our Friends of the Festival, including Dolby, FX Rentals, High Left Music, James Mobbs Design, Motion Mapping, RadioPlayer, Rayo, RCP Events, Reelworld, TM Studios and Triton.  

Tickets are now on sale. Visit Audio Academy Festival for details. Festival bursaries for those facing financial hardship are generously provided by Audible.