Every Conversation Worth Having in Radio Right Now Will Happen in Riga This Month. Here Is What to Watch For.

Radiodays Europe 2026 opens on 22 March. The agenda tells you exactly where the industry thinks its problems are.

March 07, 2026

Radiodays Europe 2026 runs 22 to 24 March in Riga, Latvia. More than 1,500 people from 65 countries will be in the room. The speaker list includes senior leaders from the BBC, Spotify, Bauer Media, Swedish Radio, NRK, The New York Times, and MIT Technology Review. That is an unusual combination for a radio conference. The presence of MIT Technology Review and The New York Times alongside traditional broadcasters signals something deliberate about the agenda. This is not a conference about defending radio. It is a conference about what audio becomes next.

The Sunday Summits on March 22 are where the real working conversations happen. The topics confirmed for those sessions include AI in audio, programming innovation, podcast growth, monetisation, youth content, and inclusion. The AI sessions are described by the organisers as designed to move beyond hype and into practical application. That framing matters. The industry has spent two years discussing what AI might do to radio. Riga is where the people actually doing it will show their work.

I will be presenting at the conference this year. My session will demonstrate MusicDatak's Deep Market Study, a strategic market study that maps audience behaviour, competitive positioning, and programming opportunity for radio stations with a level of precision that traditional research panels cannot reach. If you are attending and want to see what predictive audience intelligence looks like in practice rather than in a pitch deck, come find me.

The 2025 edition in Athens set the context for what Riga will build on. WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst delivered a direct warning to broadcasters about radio's presence in connected cars. Sessions explored DAB+ growth, in-car radio access, and the risk of audio brands losing their default position in vehicle dashboards. RedTech's coverage of the Athens event confirmed those car and AI conversations dominated the floor. Both will return in Riga with a year's worth of new developments behind them. CarPlay Ultra launched after Athens.

For radio executives who cannot make the trip, the Radiodays Europe news feed and RedTech's live coverage are the two most reliable ways to follow what comes out. The sessions most worth tracking are the AI programming summit on Sunday, the monetisation track on Monday, and whatever the Spotify representative says about playlist curation strategy. Spotify's direction in 2026 directly affects what stations programme and how they position music discovery to their audiences. What gets said in Riga tends to shape what gets decided in programming meetings for the rest of the year.

Sources:

• Radiodays Europe 2026 to Feature Industry Leaders, RedTech, https://www.redtech.pro/radiodays-europe-2026-to-feature-industry-leaders/

• Radiodays Europe 2026: The Global Audio Industry Meets in Riga, Radiodays Europe, https://radiodayseurope.com/news/radiodays-europe-2026-the-global-audio-industry-meets-in-riga/

• AI at Radiodays Europe 2026: The Sessions You Can't Miss, Radiodays Europe, https://radiodayseurope.com/news/ai-at-radiodays-europe-2026-the-sessions-you-cant-miss/

• Radiodays Europe Tackles Audio Industry's Future, RedTech, https://www.redtech.pro/radiodays-europe-tackles-audio-industrys-future/