On Air Fest

Creative craft festival

Called the "Coachella of Podcasts" by Fast Company. Leans creative and editorial rather than ad-tech and sales. The 2026 edition ran February 23-26 in Brooklyn with The Ambies ceremony folded into the programming. Walkable across three Williamsburg venues. Closer in spirit to a music festival than a trade show.

On Air Fest is the audio storytelling festival held annually in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, running since 2018 and described by Fast Company as the "Coachella of Podcasts." The 2026 edition ran February 23-26 across three walkable venues — the Wythe Hotel, Arlo Williamsburg, and The XX Venue — featuring Alec Baldwin, Roxane Gay, Don Lemon, CNN's Audie Cornish, Malcolm Gladwell, Radiolab, Heavyweight, NPR's Code Switch, La Brega, Hrishikesh Hirway, The Telepathy Tapes, Odd Lots, Touré, and more. The four-day schedule structures roughly as: Feb 23 for The Ambies (the Podcast Academy's awards), Feb 24 for the invite-only Bloomberg Podcast Business Summit, Feb 25-26 for public-facing programming with live tapings, talks, and performances. Starting in 2026, The Ambies moved into the festival weekend permanently — meaning the awards ceremony, the Bloomberg Podcast Business Summit, and the public-facing live programming now all stack into the same Brooklyn long weekend. If you make narrative or interview podcasts, this is the event most worth attending — it's where your favorite hosts and producers actually go. If you're chasing ad deals or platform partnerships, Podcast Movement is the better business event. Public passes have historically sold out in advance — book early or risk only catching the spillover programming around the venues. The festival is produced by On Air Presents, the Brooklyn-based creative studio behind it, and the Williamsburg neighborhood is part of the vibe.