Hear us out! From Feb. 28 to March 1, On Air Fest is returning to Brooklyn’s Wythe Hotel for its annual flagship festival — bringing together storytellers, audio creatives, multimedia artists, musicians and listeners.
“It’s a great time for creators,” On Air Fest founder Scott Newman said. “If you’re an artist, a storyteller or a publisher, you should be looking closely at audio right now.”
The festival, described by Fast Company as “the Coachella of podcast festivals,” has taken place in Los Angeles, California and in Brooklyn since 2017, bringing together radio hosts and podcasters to push the boundaries of audio storytelling.
Podcasts have exploded in popularity in the last few years — podcast advertising in the U.S. has generated more than $1.8 billion in revenue as of 2022. With no growth ceiling in sight, podcast ad revenue in the U.S. might reach four billion dollars in 2025, according to a report by Stadista.
At the 2024 edition of On Air Fest, programming will spread across three stages throughout the Wythe Hotel, with a lineup that places media powerhouses alongside emerging voices.
“One way we break down those walls is by including as many voices as we can and at On Air Fest that’s represented not just in different body sizes, shapes, creeds, and colors but in a plurality of ideas as well,” said Forbes podcast writer Joshua Dodley.
The lineup includes a special session with “Fresh Air” co-host Tonya Mosley, who is also the host of the award-winning podcast “Truth Be Told,” which explores Black liberation; and an exclusive live edition of “Design Matters” with Debbie Millman, a show about design and creativity, which has featured guests like “New York Times” bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald, Comedy Central star Roy Wood Jr., record executive and producer Rick Rubin and New York City’s own New York Nico.
The festival will continue live recordings of “Sing For Science” with singer and songwriter Sid Sriram, one of Apple Podcast’s top 10 music interview shows; “The Allusionist” with Helen Zaltzman; and “Twenty Thousand Hertz” with host Dallas Taylor. Also returning to the festival is the “Talkhouse Podcast,” which won a Webby Award for Best Live Podcast Recording for its 2021 episode recorded at On Air Fest with The Root’s Black Thought and Wyatt Cenac
Across its three days of programming, On Air Fest will also feature the Hot Pod Summit, presented in collaboration with Hot Pod and The Verge. This year, the festival is adding evening events in a cinema-style screening room and an array of unexpected audio installations around the hotel and beyond. And, for true podcasting die-hards, the recipient of the 2023 Audio Vanguard Award, which has honored trailblazers and icons such as Audie Cornish, Ira Glass, Terry Gross and Jad Abumrad will be announced at the On Air.
On Air Fest returns to the Wythe Hotel at 80 Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg from Feb. 28-March 1. Passes are available online starting at $175.
