New York in late February is a recipe for seasonal depression. The sidewalks are slushy, days and tempers short. But since 2017, Brooklyn’s On Air Fest has claimed this unforgiving season as its own. Serving up live recordings, panels, installations, and workshops like experiential hot toddies, the four-day fete satiates those looking for community and celebrates the ever-evolving medium of podcasting. On Air Fest itself has morphed over the years, founder and director Scott Newman pointed out, expanding in tandem with the industry it serves.

ORIGIN STORY

On Air exists not despite the midwinter gloom but because of it. The festival, which began in 2017, was born of a fortuitous partnership with the Wythe Hotel during a dead time in tourist bookings. 

“ I was very friendly with the owners,” Newman said. “We were hanging out, and they [asked], ‘What is happening in podcasting?’” At the time, Newman’s creative agency work x work — now rebranded as On Air Presents — was engaged with several radio and podcast clients, including WNYC and Stitcher. The Wythe’s owners were curious about how it all worked, Newman said: “They were like, ‘Is podcasting pirate radio? Should we have a pirate radio station at the hotel?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’” 

What followed was a multiday event, initially called work x work On Air. Contributors from Radiotopia, Vice, WNYC, and more convened for listening parties, live episode recordings, musical acts, and intimate performances staged in hotel rooms — which, thanks to the miserable winter season, were plentiful. It was a perfect time for an audio storyteller takeover, a sort of creative light therapy box to combat the winter doldrums. 

In the nine years since, podcasting has grown up, and so has On Air, whose 2026 guest lineup now overflows with legacy acts like Debbie Millman and Alec Baldwin, viral upstarts like Sydnee Washington and Marie Faustin, and a cornucopia of intellectuals and podcast-famous faces in between. Eric Andre will perform, as will guitar legend Kaki King. Roxane Gay will speak; Don Lemon, fresh from his arrest for acts of journalism, will host a live show. These are not pirate radio names. These are stars, nearly all of whom could fill a room in their own right.

That said, “filling the room” has recently taken on new meaning for On Air’s programmers. While the Wythe Hotel still acts as home base, On Air annexed the 15,000-square-foot XX Venue as a second location last year, and a third venue has been added to the mix this year, the Arlo Williamsburg. In addition to holding keynotes and live shows throughout the festival, the Arlo will host the sixth annual Ambie Awards on Monday, Feb. 23, emceed by Wyatt Cenac and DJed by Donwill. 

AMBIES + ON AIR

On Air’s official partnership with the Ambies is new, but the relationship goes back to the founding of the awards and their presenting organization, The Podcast Academy. When TPA launched in 2020, On Air Presents created the branding. “ We’re part of their history and their DNA,” Newman said. “We’ve been connected to them and the Ambies since the beginning.” 

The feeling is mutual according to Ami Thakkar, TPA’s new executive director. “As we were starting our conversations with On Air Fest last year, we were both thinking about how podcasting is evolving,” Thakkar said. “Every few months you’re like, ‘Oh my God, something new is happening.’ Both teams were thinking about how to create more meaningful in-person moments for the podcast community.” Thakkar doesn’t love using buzzwords like “mission” and “synergy,” but “it’s true,” she said. “Our missions are deeply aligned.” 

Like On Air Fest, the Ambies are in growth mode. This year, the awards boast 33 categories and honor 227 nominees, including emerging and independent shows as well as those in the perennial top 50. Submissions also topped 1,700 for 2026, an organizational record.

In keeping with the goal to cultivate more in-person moments, TPA is saving one major award announcement for the live ceremony: the 2026 Vanguard Podcaster of the Year, selected by the Ambies’ inaugural Vanguard Jury. “It’s going to be a big surprise,” Thakkar said with a smile. The considerations for this category go beyond content to encompass format and reach. “It’s about the holistic picture of a podcaster,” she said. “Someone who’s made a lasting impact on the podcast industry this past year. They’re good hosts, but they’re also expanding their influence beyond audio. So, live tours, or creating podcast-inspired derivatives like books or TV.” Because, Thakkar added, “that’s where podcasting is going.”

PODCAST BUSINESS SUMMIT

“Where podcasting is going” is, of course, the query undergirding nearly every industry gathering. Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman expects to return to it often as the host of On Air’s Podcast Business Summit on Tuesday, Feb. 24. This isn’t Carman’s first time leading the Summit, an invite-only day of industry panels, talks, and breakout sessions; she’s hosted previous iterations in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. But if the question about podcasting’s future remains constant, the answers have demonstrably shifted over time.

“One of the things that’s really changed in my programming strategy is this creator-slash-talent focus,” she said. Before 2022, “you had a lot of the central conversations happening at the network level.” More often now, Carman said, it’s the talent in the driver’s seat. “These creators are the ones really thinking about their businesses in unique ways, and using the networks as a way to carry out that vision.”

You can see these changes in action by looking at the guest roster for this year’s Summit. While not totally bereft of network execs (Goalhanger’s Jack Davenport, Paper Kite’s Jenna Weiss-Berman), the lineup Carman has curated tilts more toward owner-creators like Kara Swisher (“Pivot”) and Dallas Taylor (“Twenty Thousand Hertz”). Others include relative newcomers like Pablo Torre and Adam Friedland, whose embrace of short-form clip strategy has accelerated their reach and signals a direction podcasting seems to be headed.

“One of my favorite things to cover is emerging behavior and how it changes,” Carman said. “I’ve written about clips and how I think they might cannibalize podcasts.” She’s also clocked the rise of AI optimization tools that summarize podcast content, as well as streamers like Netflix and Tubi entering the space. (Notably, Carman broke the Netflix story back in November.) 

“ Streaming services entering podcasting has once again brought up this classic question of ‘What is a podcast?’” Carman said. “And I will show my cards and say, historically, I’ve been very not precious about this type of definition.  However, I think we’re now getting to a point where programs that don’t exist on any podcast app are being called podcasts. People have feelings about these things.” 

This is why, in addition to teeing up the inevitable conversations about video’s outsized place in the industry, Carman is also planning a breakout session focused on audio-first storytelling. “There is still iteration and invention happening on the audio level. And I’m excited to give people space to actually talk about that.” 

THE VIBE 

Every industry festival of note tends to cultivate a distinct personality. Some feel more like tech conferences housed in brightly lit convention centers. Others take on the sacred air of church, celebrating an art form that might slip away if the congregants don’t bear witness. 

So what’s On Air’s general vibe? Is it a party or a manifesto? A business roundtable, or a hard-nosed glimpse into the void? 

“It’s Brooklyn. It’s industrial chic. It’s premium,” Newman said, swirling the language of branding like olives in an invisible martini glass. And, in fact, there are plenty of premium-tier upgrades available to willing attendees; a two-day general-admission pass is $450, while a VIP pass costs around $1,200. In that sense — for better or worse — On Air does feel aligned with its time and place. Would it even be Williamsburg without some element of gentrification? 

But despite the price point, the hospitality upgrades, and the price of a cocktail at Mirror Bar, there is one democratizing factor in On Air Fest’s design: an intentional focus on interactivity. “We realized in the last couple years that we need to be more than just a stage and a studio,” Newman said. This year’s On Air includes themed installations, experiences, and collaborations with shows and brands, like a blackjack table sponsored by Big Money Players, or a room full of questions and answers tied to NPR’s “Wild Card with Rachel Martin.” 

In this way, On Air retains at least a filament of its original form, a pirate-radio takeover of an under-used hotel in winter. “The driving North Star of On Air Fest is to reflect the moment through people,” Newman said. “Our logo, the ‘On Air’ light box, is an iconic symbol that  represents being in a studio. When the light goes on, you’re on. If we take the on-air box to a Brooklyn Hotel and we fill it with artists and the light goes on, we’re on.”

Newman continued: “We’re gonna reflect [and] amplify the people and the stories of wherever we are at every given moment. That is really the only mission that we have.” He leaned in, invisible martini glass now still. “ Every year it just becomes what it’s supposed to become.”