About AIR
AIR is a growing talent network of audio industry professionals integral to public media, journalism, podcasting and narrative storytelling.
The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) is a national membership organization advancing the careers, sustainability, and influence of independent audio creators across public media, podcasting, journalism, and narrative storytelling. Our community includes producers, editors, engineers, reporters, sound designers, and media entrepreneurs working across the U.S. and around the world.
We equip independent audio professionals at every stage of their career with training, mentorship, tools, professional networks, and peer support. Our members benefit from signature programs such as New Voices, SoundPath, StoryFund, and other initiatives that build skills, expand opportunity, and open pathways to leadership roles in media.
At AIR, we know that a healthy audio ecosystem depends on fair compensation, transparent practices, and equitable access to opportunities. We develop and share resources, including the Guide to Fair Practice, rate research, and contract templates, to protect and empower freelancers and independent contributors.
We also advance field-wide advocacy and systems change. Through listening sessions, policy work, and strategic partnerships with labor and media organizations, we are strengthening standards for pay equity, freelance rights, and creator protections in an industry still shaped by uneven support for independent work.
In 2025, AIR entered a multi-year partnership with the Ford Foundation that provides sustained support to grow staff capacity, enhance programs, and deepen impact for independent creators and media workers. This funding helps AIR expand creator-centered infrastructure, build leadership pipelines, and design models that increase stability and collective power for freelancers across the field.
Through our weekly newsletter, active communities, job board, talent directory, and ongoing educational offerings, we connect members to opportunities, each other, and the broader world of audio storytelling. AIR champions creative independence without isolation, enabling storytellers to thrive in this field.
Our Mission
AIR identifies, cultivates, and connects mission-driven story makers from across the U.S. and the world. We are committed to expanding the ecosystem where producers can do their best work.
Our Values
At AIR, we aspire to cultivate a community of learning, mutual support and accountability. We are more powerful as creators when we connect with, learn from and collaborate with our peers.
We know that diversity, equity, and inclusion must be actively practiced, and this consistently guides our work. When we aren’t hearing from the whole community, we aren’t hearing the whole story. We believe that newsrooms and media organizations must reflect the communities they cover; we support and hold them accountable to create the conditions that allow diverse voices and nuanced storytelling to thrive.
We value creativity, innovation and experimentation that move the craft forward. We resource and make space for inventive approaches to multimedia storytelling. And we collaborate on technologies, tools and infrastructures to support and increase the sustainability of our growing audio community.
We invest resources in untold stories and underrepresented storytellers, and believe that high-quality reporting and storytelling are essential tools to sustain a civically engaged, democratic society.
We believe in fostering a professional community rooted in shared standards of fair practice, designed to establish a level playing field; fairly value the work of independent media makers; and enable equitable negotiations and meaningful collaborations throughout one’s career.
Support AIR’s Work
Your financial support and partnerships allow AIR to sustain our mission and expand our impact on behalf of the growing independent audio community. Whether you are a grant-making organization dedicated to fostering a more equitable media landscape; an experienced audio professional open to sharing your knowledge as a SoundPath training instructor; a peer organization or AIR member interested in collaborating on a bold co-production idea; or have the capacity to advise on our ongoing fair practice and equity work, we welcome your contributions—whatever form they may take.
About AIR
Since our 1988 founding by a group of freelance radio producers, AIR has advocated for and supported independent audio storytellers in public radio and podcasting. Today our vibrant community includes 1,500+ journalists, podcasters, editors, documentarians, engineers, and sound designers that span 47 states and 30 countries.
Below, we invite you to learn more about our Board, made up of bold leaders and voices of change in public media and beyond; get to know our remote staff, based in Boston MA, Philadelphia PA, Newton NJ and Raleigh NC; explore a brief history of our organization; learn more about our signature programs, and keep an eye out for new career opportunities.
AIR is supported by
