The festival opened with a keynote address by James Cridland, who presented a forward-looking roadmap positioning radio as a multi-platform audio experience rooted in connection rather than frequency. The perspective set the tone for the festival, framing AI not as a threat to creativity, but as an enabling tool that can free human talent to focus on emotional depth, narrative richness, and meaningful audience engagement.
This was followed by a live demonstration of RJ Sia, India’s first AI radio jockey, presented by Anurita Patel from Radio City. The demonstration showcased the technical possibilities of AI-led voice cloning and language synthesis, offering insight into how AI can support localization, speed, and scalability in radio broadcasting.
A key highlight of the festival was the Inaugural Panel, which brought together senior policymakers and industry leaders including Shri Harivansh Narayan Singh, Mr Sanjay Jaju, Mr Tim Curtis, Ms Nisha Narayanan, and Mr Shashi Shekhar Vempati. The discussion focused on AI’s role in expanding access, strengthening public voice, bridging linguistic divides, and ensuring that community radio remains central to India’s digital and media future.
Ms. Archana Kapoor, Director, The Radio Festival, emphasized on the penetration of AI in the communities by saying “As AI reshapes every sector, we must ask whether it will include the 120 million people community radio already reaches, or bypass them as many technologies have before. This moment is urgent, not just to celebrate radio, but to reimagine it as critical infrastructure in the age of AI.”
Shri Harivansh Narayan Singh, Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha reflected on radio as “a window for air from all directions,” highlighting its enduring role as a medium of openness and plurality. He raised important concerns about whether AI development in India would remain limited to dominant languages, cautioning that linguistic diversity must not be sidelined in technological progress. Mr. Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, described radio as a powerful medium for change and acknowledged the transformative moment represented by AI. He stated, “AI is the technological disruption with positive and negative spin-offs. It will not just bring in productivity gains but at the same time it will also expand the market.” Mr. Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Co-founder, AI4India and former CEO, Prasar Bharti, argued that AI must serve the public interest, particularly by scaling localized content for marginalized communities where traditional production costs were previously prohibitive. He highlighted the shift from unidirectional broadcasting to AI-enabled bidirectional engagement, enabling a richer spectrum of conversations and feedback loops. Mr. Tim Curtis, Director & Representative, UNESCO New Delhi Regional Office for South Asia, emphasized that access is the ultimate currency of the AI era, positioning radio as the most accessible medium in a digital-first world and framing AI as a tool to augment, rather than replace, the power of voice. Ms. Nisha Narayanan highlighted AI’s potential to bridge linguistic divides and ensure that regional voices are woven into the national narrative, reiterating that the future of radio is intelligent, multilingual, and deeply human.
The festival further explored the impact of artificial intelligence on audio storytelling, music production, and content creation, examining how AI can assist across ideation, scripting, production, and localization while reaffirming that empathy, judgment, and creative intent must remain human-led. Discussions on AI-generated music addressed both efficiency gains and ethical concerns, including consent, originality, and fair use of creative data, reinforcing the need for responsible frameworks as technology advances. Audience engagement and consumption patterns were also examined through discussions on Gen Z, highlighting their preference for authenticity, mental well-being narratives, climate consciousness, and meaningful conversations, and reaffirming radio’s relevance as a space for genuine human dialogue.
A dedicated masterclass focused on the practical application of AI tools in communication, emphasizing that the quality of AI output is directly linked to effective prompt engineering. Speakers highlighted emerging multilingual technologies, including initiatives under the Bhashini project, while drawing attention to the significant imbalance between English-language and Indian-language digital content. The discussions reinforced the importance of accuracy, human verification, and ethical safeguards in the adoption of AI for public communication.
The Radio Festival 2026 successfully repositioned the audio industry at the forefront of the AI revolution by reframing artificial intelligence as an assistant rather than an adversary. By replacing technological fear with strategic optimism, the festival demonstrated how AI can serve as a modern creative palette - enhancing reach, efficiency, and inclusion, while ensuring that trust, storytelling, and the human voice remain at the heart of radio’s future.
At the conclusion of the sessions, Ms. Archana Kapoor, Director of The Radio Festival and Founder of SMART, made a significant announcement regarding the launch of the Community Media Alliance (CMA), a proposed global alliance bringing together community media practitioners from the Global South across radio, print, digital, and social media platforms who work within communities to provide essential, critical, and credible information that enables informed decision-making and strengthens democratic participation.
