This is starting to feel real now.
The final schedule has been released for The Last Conclave, happening September 15 through 17, 2026, at the Crowne Plaza Aire Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.
And this is not just another industry conference.
This is the final chapter of one of radio’s most important gatherings.
For nearly 50 years, The Conclave has been where programmers, talent, managers, consultants, owners, strategists, creators and future leaders came together to learn, argue, laugh, network, teach, hire, get hired and sometimes change the direction of their careers in a hallway conversation nobody planned.
Now we know exactly how the final one is going to unfold.
And On The Dial will be there.
President & Publisher Steve Mills and SVP/Editor Kevin Fodor will both be in attendance throughout The Last Conclave, covering the event, talking with broadcasters and taking in the final gathering from start to finish.
If you’re going to Bloomington, come find us.
We want to talk radio.
Tuesday Starts With The Reunion
The Last Conclave gets underway Tuesday, September 15, with registration followed by the welcome party.
That opening night may wind up being one of the most emotional parts of the entire event.
Because before anybody sits through a session or takes notes…
people are going to see people.
Old coworkers.
Former bosses.
Former employees.
Friends from markets scattered across the country.
People who haven’t been in the same room together in years.
That’s always been part of The Conclave.
The education matters.
But so do the conversations that happen when somebody spots an old radio friend from across the room and yells their name.
THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF THE MAGIC.
Wednesday Opens With Almost Anything On The Table
Wednesday’s programming begins with Ask Me Almost Anything, bringing together Bob Leighton, Dennis Corbett, Dan Cash, Dave Ryan, Joe Knapp and Harv Blain.
And just look at the range represented there.
Ownership.
Law.
Programming.
Talent.
Digital.
Management.
That has the potential to become one of those sessions where the prepared questions disappear quickly and the real conversation takes over.
Good.
That’s exactly what a final Conclave should feel like.
Then Comes One Of Radios Biggest Questions
Where does the next generation of great talent come from?
Valerie Geller and Brian Wright will tackle that directly in The Future of Talent.
And radio desperately needs this conversation.
Finding personalities is one thing.
Developing them is another.
Keeping them may be harder still.
We cannot keep saying personalities are radio’s competitive advantage and then fail to create environments where personalities can actually become great.
Coaching matters.
Opportunity matters.
Patience matters.
And knowing when somebody in the building has something special matters.
Fred And Paul Jacobs Get 50 Years Down To Ten Lessons
This one should be fascinating.
Fred and Paul Jacobs will present 10 Things We Learned Over 50 Years of Radio, taking decades of research, technology, strategy and listener behavior and narrowing it into lessons for where radio goes next.
Think about what happened during that span.
FM became dominant.
AM changed dramatically.
Cassette tapes came and went.
CDs came and went.
Satellite arrived.
The internet arrived.
Streaming arrived.
Smartphones changed everything.
Podcasting exploded.
Social media rewired audience behavior.
And radio kept adapting.
Sometimes brilliantly.
Sometimes painfully.
There should be plenty to unpack.
The Final Rockwell Awards Are Going To Hit Differently
The final Rockwell Awards Luncheon will honor Herb Hoppe, Mark Bolke, Dave “Chachi” Denes, Joe Knapp, Lori Lewis and Dan Seeman.
That word matters.
FINAL.
These awards have long recognized people who contributed not only to broadcasting, but to the culture and community surrounding The Conclave itself.
This year isn’t merely another presentation.
It’s the closing edition of a tradition.
And I suspect there may be a few people pretending something got in their eye during lunch.
Paige Nienaber Gets To Talk About The Stuff Radio Used To Do Insanely Well
Top 25 Radio Promotions of All Time.
Honestly, this one could go all day.
Paige Nienaber will count down some of the promotions that created attention, strengthened stations and made listeners feel like something was actually happening in their city.
Remember when radio promotions felt enormous?
When a station would do something so ridiculous, creative or locally perfect that everybody in town knew about it?
That’s the lesson here.
Promotions were never supposed to be:
“Like this post to win.”
Radio can do bigger.
It should do bigger.
MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.
Social Media Gets The Treatment It Actually Needs
Jodi Koontz, Baby Haze and Jenny Luttenberger will lead Social Media Do’s and Don’ts.
And this is another session radio should pay attention to.
Social cannot simply be the place where a station reposts whatever already happened on-air.
It is its own audience environment.
Different language.
Different expectations.
Different pacing.
Different opportunities.
If your social strategy consists entirely of album-cover graphics and “What are YOU doing this weekend?” posts…
we probably need to talk.
The Future Of Programming Could Be One Of The Most Important Sessions In The Building
Sean Ross will lead a conversation with Greg Strassell, Jeff McCarthy, Joel Denver and Chad Taylor on The Future of Programming.
That title covers a massive amount of territory in 2026.
What exactly is a Program Director now?
Music strategist?
Talent coach?
Content director?
Digital strategist?
Brand manager?
Data analyst?
Social programmer?
Revenue partner?
Yes.
Probably all of it.
And that’s precisely why this conversation matters.
The programmer’s job hasn’t disappeared.
IT HAS EXPLODED.
The best PDs today have to understand a radio station, an app, social media, podcasts, video, personalities, audience data and whatever platform shows up next Tuesday.
Then Ken Levine Gets The Microphone
The keynote belongs to Ken Levine.
And that résumé is just absurd.
Radio.
Play-by-play.
Television writing and producing.
Comedy.
M*A*S*H.
Cheers.
Frasier.
A career that has crossed several of the most creative corners of American media.
That should be one heck of a room.
Because somebody who has worked across radio, sports and some of television’s most enduring comedy brands probably has a few things to say about storytelling.
And if radio needs anything going forward…
it’s better storytelling.
Syndication Gets Put Under The Microscope
Another conversation worth watching is Syndicated Programming: What Works and What Doesn’t, featuring Mason, Tony Lorino, T.J., John Garabedian and Robby Bridges.
Syndication can be incredibly powerful.
It can also become incredibly generic if the product isn’t built with affiliates and audiences in mind.
What makes a show translate across markets?
How much localization is enough?
How do you create scale without losing personality?
What makes an affiliate believe enough in a show to clear it?
Those are real questions.
And that panel has people who understand them.
And Then KDWB Gets The Treatment It Deserves
This might be one of the most fun sessions on the entire schedule.
How KDWB Made Legends: Then, Now, and Next!
Kelly “K3” Doherty, Rich Davis, Angi Taylor, Scotty Davis, Falen and JJ Kincaid will revisit one of America’s great talent-development radio brands while connecting its past to what comes next.
KDWB has produced, developed and elevated an incredible number of personalities over the years.
That doesn’t happen accidentally.
There is culture behind that.
Coaching behind that.
Risk behind that.
Somebody somewhere saying:
PUT THEM ON THE RADIO.
This session should be required listening for anybody who still believes radio’s future depends upon personality.
Because it does.
Wednesday Night Gets One Final Cocktail Party
And then comes The Last Cocktail Party.
Even writing that feels strange.
For all the panels and educational sessions associated with The Conclave, some of its most important moments have always happened outside the official agenda.
At the bar.
In the lobby.
Standing beside somebody between sessions.
A five-minute conversation becomes a friendship.
A friendship becomes a recommendation.
A recommendation becomes a job.
A job becomes a career.
That’s how this business has worked for generations.
LinkedIn did not invent networking.
RADIO PEOPLE WERE DOING IT IN HOTEL BARS LONG BEFORE THAT.
Thursday Ends At Noon
The conference concludes Thursday with its farewell luncheon.
And then that’s it.
No “see you next year.”
No countdown to the next Conclave.
No new hotel announcement.
No next registration campaign.
The final badge comes off.
The final handshake happens.
The room empties.
And nearly five decades of Conclave history becomes exactly that:
HISTORY.
On The Dial Will Be There
And we intend to experience as much of this as possible.
On The Dial President & Publisher Steve Mills and SVP/Editor Kevin Fodor will both be in Bloomington for The Last Conclave.
We’ll be talking with broadcasters.
Listening.
Covering the sessions.
Catching up with friends.
Meeting people we’ve only known through email, phone calls and social media.
And probably having entirely too many conversations about call letters, formats, ratings books, airchecks, talent, music scheduling and “that one station we worked at twenty years ago.”
In other words…
WE’LL BE WITH OUR PEOPLE.
So if you’re attending The Last Conclave, please come say hello.
Let’s talk radio.
Let’s talk about where this industry has been.
Let’s talk about where it’s going.
And more importantly, let’s make sure we enjoy the fact that all of us get one final opportunity to gather under the Conclave banner.
An On The Dial Perspective
Radio conferences are easy to reduce to schedules.
Sessions.
Badges.
Ballrooms.
Lunches.
Drink tickets.
But The Conclave was always something bigger.
It was one of those places where people discovered that the person they listened to, admired or read about was standing twelve feet away.
It was where young broadcasters found mentors.
Where programmers traded ideas.
Where talent found opportunities.
Where friendships became careers.
Where careers became lifelong friendships.
That’s why this final schedule matters.
Not because we needed another PDF telling us what room to walk into.
Because it tells us exactly how we’re going to spend the final hours of something that mattered to generations of broadcasters.
ONE LAST WELCOME PARTY.
ONE LAST ROUND OF SESSIONS.
ONE LAST ROCKWELL LUNCHEON.
ONE LAST COCKTAIL PARTY.
ONE LAST FAREWELL.
If you’re part of this business and you’ve ever wondered whether you should attend The Conclave…
there isn’t another year to think about it.
This is the one.
Registration is $199, and the complete schedule, hotel information and registration details are available at:
We’ll see you in Bloomington.
ON THE DIAL WILL BE THERE.
STEVE MILLS WILL BE THERE.
KEVIN FODOR WILL BE THERE.
And for three days in September, a remarkable collection of radio people will get together one more time.
Let’s fill the rooms.
Let’s tell the stories.
Let’s shake the hands.
Let’s celebrate the people.
Let’s remember where we’ve been.
And then let’s spend some serious time talking about where this crazy, beautiful business goes next.
Because The Conclave may be ending.
RADIO ISN’T.
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