There was a time, not so long ago in media years, when the notion of selling tickets to watch people talk into microphones would have seemed, at best, optimistic. That time has passed.

On Air Fest, the sound and storytelling festival that has become something of an annual pilgrimage for the podcast-curious and podcast-committed alike, has announced the first wave of talent for its 10th anniversary edition, scheduled for Feb. 23-25, 2027, at venues including the Wythe Hotel and Arlo Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

The roster suggests the organizers are aware that a milestone birthday requires a certain heft. Headliners include Megan Rapinoe, the soccer star turned podcast host; Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN; the NPR veterans Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro; Dan Harris, whose "10 Percent Happier" has carved out a meditation-industrial niche; and Anthony Fantano, the music critic whose YouTube following would have been unimaginable in the era of Robert Christgau.

Live recordings are scheduled for several programs, including Ms. Rapinoe's "Why Are You Like This," Dr. Gupta's "Chasing Life," and WNYC's "On the Media" with Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger. (One imagines the audiences will behave somewhat better than those at "The Price Is Right.")

The festivities will open with a Podcast Business Summit presented with Bloomberg, an invite-only affair hosted by the reporter Ashley Carman and expected to draw executives from media, technology, advertising, and publishing — constituencies that once occupied separate rooms at conferences but now find themselves sharing appetizers and anxieties. That evening, the Podcast Academy will present the Ambies, its awards honoring excellence in the medium.

Previous editions of On Air Fest have attracted Anderson Cooper, Malcolm Gladwell, Terry Gross, Ira Glass, and Francis Ford Coppola, among others — a guest list that suggests the festival has become something like the Aspen Ideas Festival for people who prefer earbuds to ski lifts.

Additional names are promised in the weeks ahead.

Original story published in The Hollywood Reporter: "On Air Fest Sets Initial Talent Lineup for 10th Anniversary Edition in Brooklyn"