5 takeaways from On Air Fest

By Daniel Karel

Over the weekend, the podcast industry—audio producers, show hosts, esteemed guests, diehard fans, and media people of various stripes—descended on the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn for On Air Fest, an annual event returning from a 2021 hiatus. Attendees packed into one of two spacious rooms to watch live tapings of their favorite shows, hear the industry’s cognoscenti muse about audio trends and solicit advice to would-be podcasters. The weekend culminated in the presentation of the 2022 Audio Vanguard Award, which honors a “creative icon” in the industry. This year’s honor went to Jad Abumrad, founder and host of “Radiolab” for two decades, who stepped down from the show this year.

Here are a handful of highlights from the festival’s triumphant return:

Jad Abumrad still struggles with how to do it
After 20 years as a host and co-host of “Radiolab,” a seminal show of the podcast era, Abumrad announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down from his creation to instead “focus on being.” He’s had a sterling two-decade run; and he made the near-impossible sound easy. In conversation with Anna Sale, the host of the “Death, Sex & Money,” Abumrad reflected on his career with candor. “No matter how many episodes you make, every episode you still confront the question: How the fuck do I do this?” he said.

Humor is essential, especially in harrowing situations
There’s no debating that Noel King is a real one. The respected broadcast journalist launched her career as a freelancer for Voice of America, reporting from Khartoum in 2004 during the war in Darfur. So as the world watched the early days of a war unfold in Ukraine, hearing King on stage with her “Today, Explained” co-host Sean Rameswaram interview a Ukrainian woman—even drawing an unforced laugh out of her as they joked about the absurdity of the invasion—was cathartic for everyone present. Guests dabbed at their eyes while King explained the importance of humor, even, and perhaps especially, when facing bleak circumstances.

Speaking of audio, movie soundtracking is an under-appreciated art
Listening to smart people argue and blab about topics they care about is, perhaps, the central pleasure of podcasts and radio. For 45 minutes on Saturday, Wesley Morris and Hanif Abdurraqib held the audience’s attention during a live taping of Abdurraqib’s acclaimed show, “Object of Sound.” The subject at hand was the evolution of the movie soundtrack: how it’s lost cultural cache over the decades, and how, when used properly, the right song can create a timeless cinematic moment that transcends the film it’s featured in. As an example, Abdurraqib asked for someone to dim the lights and played the opening scene of “Belly,” which involves a strip-club shootout set to an acapella version of Back to Life by Soul II Soul. The hosts joked about how the movie itself, following that moment, is basically forgettable—but the opening scene alone secured its legacy.

Storytelling is an art form with fundamental building blocks
Moth Storyteller Fonzo Lacayo kicked off the presentation by sharing a story about a nightmare haircut. When he was a kid, his cousin, brandishing a buzzer, tried to trim him up and went way too far. The story was artfully told—complete with sound effects, tension, humor, and perfect pacing. After Lacayo finished, the Moth’s artistic directors replayed the audio, and broke down why the story was so effective. They honed in on Lacayo’s powerful scene-setting (he described the garage where the deed was committed as “dilapidated” and “falling-apart,” which set an ominous tone for what was to come) and how the tale followed a clear emotional arc, resulting in a moment of realization: Lacayo would never be frivolous with his looks, or his hair, ever again.. The presentation functioned as an audio preview of a book coming out in April 2022: “How to Tell A Story, The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth.”

Chuck D shakes the planet
“Music is sight, sound, story and style,” said Public Enemy frontman and hip-hop royalty Chuck D in one of the final interviews of the weekend. The virtual conversation was an overview of both his career and a sneak peek his new show with Audible, called “Songs that Shook the Planet,” which investigates the historical impact of famous tracks by offering listeners context and analysis—from breakdowns of Billie Holiday’s 1931 “Strange Fruit,” a haunting song about the legacy of lynching, to Marvin Gaye’s rousing 1971 anti-war anthem “What’s Going On?” With his expressive, gravelly voice, Chuck D discussed the selections he made while wandering off into erudite tangents about his other obsessions, namely sportscasting.