Broadcast Media's Most Prestigious
Leadership Conference

Panels, Keynotes & Networking

November 12, 2025

Business Growth Starts with Great Information

Forecast Provides the Most Accurate, Up-to-the-Second Data and Trends to Enable You to Plan for the Coming Year.

This conference gathers the smartest minds in broadcast and advertising to forecast trends, expectations, and revenues for the coming year. It is a must-attend event.

Alliances, Algorithms, and Ascensions: Media's New Game of Thrones

Oaths once sworn in stone now crumble like parchment in flame. Ancient houses scramble for strange alliances while would-be usurpers sharpen their claims to the throne. In shadowy counting rooms, keepers of the coin clutch their gold — releasing it only to those who smell of victory. This isn’t an HBO spinoff. It’s Tuesday morning in the media business.

Every would-be sovereign seeks to rule the attention economy, but coronations aren’t won with good intentions. The crown belongs to those who can weaponize the holy trinity: content that captivates, data that predicts, and distribution that conquers.

Floyd Abrams to Headline Forecast 2026 Luncheon Keynote

Radio Ink and Radio and Television Business Report are proud to announce that Floyd Abrams, the nation’s foremost First Amendment attorney, will deliver the luncheon keynote address at Forecast 2026, broadcasting’s premier executive event. For more than 50 years, Abrams has been at the forefront of defining and defending freedom of speech and the press, from the historic Pentagon Papers case to ongoing advocacy for journalistic integrity and constitutional rights. In his address at Forecast, Abrams will explore the pivotal role of free expression in an evolving media environment and what the next era of legal and ethical challenges means for broadcasters, journalists, and advertisers.

Inside the Campaign HQ for Broadcast’s Economic Future

After a record-breaking 2024 cycle and the global spotlight of the Olympics, broadcasters head into a midterm year where ballots are heavy and expectations are heavier. Every election cycle brings winners and losers, and that will be the same outside the polling place. 2026 will test how broadcasters campaign for revenue when there’s more digital demand for the political war chest than ever before.

If every ad dollar is a ballot cast, how do the incumbents (broadcast TV and radio) win the popular vote against aggressive and attractive challengers like digital, social, and connected TV?

What Would You Give to Be at the Table?

The real decisions shaping broadcasting’s future aren’t made in press releases or earnings calls; they’re made in the boardroom. For 364 days of the year, those conversations remain locked away from prying ears. For one single day, you get to have a seat at the table.

Join the industry’s most powerful table at Forecast 2026’s closing Executive Super Session. This isn’t sanitized talking points. This is a session for the unfiltered strategic thinking that drives billion-dollar decisions, where broadcasting’s most influential leaders have met behind closed doors to discuss what they’re really thinking for the past 22 years.

Main Street Operators Teach You To Switch On Your Profits

Local broadcasters are the power grids of local communities. You don’t always see the wires, but they’re carrying the current that keeps towns alive — illuminating storefronts, energizing conversations, and sparking trust.

At Forecast 2026, “Main Street Media: Where Local Broadcast Survives & Thrives” will fill the room with electric ideas from local radio and TV operators who are the live wires in their markets and know how to bring in the money.

Forecast 2026 Agenda Posted

The agenda for Forecast 2026 is now online. Take a look at the agenda here.

There are many exciting announcements to come, so check back often for additions and updates.

Stephen A. Smith to Headline Forecast 2026 Fireside Chat

“Radio Ink and Radio + Television Business Report are thrilled to share a truly special Fireside Chat taking place at Forecast 2026,” said Deborah Parenti, President/Publisher of both publications, announcing that Mike McVay will be chatting with Stephen A. Smith in a conversation entitled Beyond a Brand: The Unconfined Approach of Stephen A. Smith.

From covering high school sports to becoming the unmistakable face of ESPN, Stephen A. Smith has redefined what it means to build a modern media brand. His rise wasn’t by chance – it’s the result of a barrier-breaking approach that reshaped how audiences connect with content and how companies deliver it.

In this exclusive conversation with respected media strategist Mike McVay, Stephen A. Smith will explore how his career serves as a model for today’s evolving media landscape.

M&A’s Power Players to Take the Forecast 2026 Main Stage

The FCC is closing in on the biggest ownership shakeup in a generation, and the people writing the checks for radio’s future are already moving. The deals are real, the dollars are in motion, and the conversation is happening at Forecast 2026 on November 12. Prospects for Broadcast Media as an Investment in 2026: The Real Street Talk is your chance to get inside the heads of the power players driving the biggest financial decisions in the business. This is real talk from the executives shaping what consolidation, valuation, and capital deployment actually look like right now, delivered at the Harvard Club in New York City. Moderated by Radio Ink 2025 Lifetime Leadership Award honoree and venerated executive Randy Michaels, the session cuts through the headlines and gets into the realities of where the money is going and why.

CMG’s Babin and Nexstar’s Compton to Lead Forecast 2026

Radio Ink and Radio + Television Business Report are proud to announce that President, Cox Media Group Radio Rob Babin and Nexstar Networks President Sean Compton will serve as co-chairs for Forecast 2026, set to take place November 12 at the Harvard Club in New York City.

“We are extraordinarily fortunate to have such outstanding broadcast professionals chairing this year’s Forecast,” Streamline Media President/Publisher Deborah Parenti said. “Their perspectives and insights into the industry and its future will provide additional depth and focus to the agenda.”