Young audiences aren’t “lost.” They’re just somewhere else.
This session brings together leaders and broadcasters from youth-focused radio brands alongside voices from outside the industry who understand cultural behaviour at street level, to explore what young people really want from media in 2026 – and where radio fits into that.
We’ll examine shifts in consumption, community and identity, and whether radio can take advantage of an audience where ‘friction maxxing’ culture is pushing back against passive, algorithm-fed convenience and looking for something more participatory and human. And underneath it all, we’ll ask a simple question: what would radio look like if we built it for young people now – not for how we’ve always done it?
