"Podcast" meant nothing and everything at On Air Fest

"If anyone claims they know how to do it, they're lying. A couple of people are making money, but they're not here. Rachel Martin, host of NPR's Wild Card, highlighted the fundamental uncertainty surrounding audio economics at the festival's opening session, suggesting that despite industry growth, sustainable business models remain elusive and those achieving profitability were notably absent from the discussion."

"What value is there in chasing the same story as everyone else? Brian Reed's question encapsulated a central festival theme: frustration with traditional journalism's limitations and a desire to differentiate through unique storytelling approaches, reflecting broader industry movement away from conventional narrative structures toward more experimental and independent content creation strategies."

"Eight years later, things are very different. Most of the programming consisted of live episode tapings rather than discussions of craft, and I heard the term 'creator' just as often as 'journalist' at On Air Fest; some of those 'creators' were longtime journalists like Don Lemon, who's now doing his own thing after leaving CNN in 2023; others explicitly said they were not journalists, even if they borrowed some tools of the journalism trade."

At On Air Fest, a two-day audio festival in Williamsburg, industry professionals acknowledged that audio economics remain poorly understood, with few genuinely profitable models. The festival reflected a significant shift from 2018's Third Coast event, which emphasized craft and narrative techniques rooted in public radio traditions. Current audio programming now prioritizes live episode recordings over craft discussions, and the distinction between journalists and independent creators has blurred considerably. Participants include both established journalists transitioning to independent work and creators explicitly rejecting journalistic identity while adopting journalistic tools. This evolution demonstrates audio's movement away from traditional public radio models toward diverse, creator-driven content strategies.

Read at Nieman Lab