The UK’s leading radio and audio industry charity, The Radio Academy, announced today they will be called ‘The Audio Academy’ from January 2026.
Established in 1983, the charity has been dedicated to offering support and promotion to the very best leading and rising stars in the UK radio and audio industry. Each year, The Radio Academy has provided an extensive calendar of events bringing people together from across the sector, including the much-anticipated Audio & Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) which has celebrated the most impactful audio moments and people of the year. Last year, The ARIAS added brand new award categories to reflect the today’s blooming audio industry, including Audio Brand of the Year, won by Gary Lineker’s production company, Goalhanger.
The Audio Academy will continue to be at the forefront of championing the excellence of in UK radio and audio, whilst making the conscious decision to better reflect the changing landscape of the industry.
As announced at The Radio Academy Festival 2025, by Chair Helen Thomas, who said: “This is an important moment for the Radio Academy which I’m proud to announce as I step down as Chair because I want to leave us as the best and most inclusive organisation we can possibly be. In the survey we asked you to describe your area of work – and you gave us lots of different answers. While we are proud of our history and passionate about our past – less than 40% described themselves as now working solely in radio. So from January next year we are proposing to reflect this change and we will become The Audio Academy. We look forward to continuing our friendship with you and to welcoming many more people from all corners of our ever-expanding industry in the months and years ahead.”
The UK radio industry continues to thrive with over 86% of the adult population still listening to the radio each week, whilst podcast listening on the rise (Edison Research latest study ‘The UK Podcast Consumer 2025’ revealed that 51% Brits consumed a podcast in the last month). This exciting rebrand is set to be just the start of an important conversation about the future of audio and representation of the breadth of talent in the UK’s thriving industry across radio, podcasts, streaming services and beyond.
