Closing Circles: Reflections on the Launch of Audio Academy Mentoring 2026

By Jo Meek, Mentee

There's something quietly profound about finding yourself back where something meaningful once began. On Wednesday 11th March, I walked into Sony Music Podcasts headquarters in London for the launch of what is now called the Audio Academy Mentoring Programme (formerly the Radio Academy Mentoring Programme, or RAMP) and felt something I can only describe as a circle closing.

Twenty-two of us gathered in that room. A mixed, brilliant bunch drawn from across the audio universe. Podcast producers, radio makers, commissioners, independents and freelancers, all at different stages of our careers and, I suspect, all carrying their own private questions about what comes next. That's the thing I love most about this programme. One year you can be the mentor, offering a steadying hand to someone finding their feet. The next, you can find yourself at a crossroads and maybe a little unsure of the right path, gratefully accepting a seat on the other side of the table. That's exactly where I am now.

For the past three years I've mentored through RAMP. This year, I applied to be a mentee.

So to the launch session. We kicked off with a Q&A that set exactly the right tone, it was lively, warm and full of the kind of energy that makes you sit up straighter and feel genuinely excited about the work ahead. Steve Ackerman and Kat Wong hosted by Fran Plowright spoke with generosity and candour about the things that really matter in this industry: how to lead with compassion, how to pitch with passion, how to run an indie and keep the creative flame burning alongside the operational reality. They talked about the shift from doer to leader, learning to focus on your people rather than just the work itself. About empowering teams, trusting them, communicating clearly and often. About knowing when to hold the big picture and when to zoom into the detail.

There was a lot of laughter too.

To get more personal and return to why the theme of circles came into my mind, I worked for Steve years ago, at All Out Productions, a Northern indie that was part of the Somethin' Else family. Steve promoted me to lead the team there. I was so young (and hungry) but what I learned during that time shaped me profoundly. I learned about building a united team, about pitching, about keeping the hunger to make outstanding audio. It was some of the most formative professional ground I've ever stood on.

Then, in 2010, All Out was closed. The redundancy stung. But in hindsight, it was the moment that made me the producer I am today, because it sent me on a wonderfully winding adventure through audio that I wouldn't trade for anything.

So sitting in that room on the 11th of March, listening to Steve and Kat talk about the things that never change — that good ideas win out, that creativity and collaboration are the bedrock, that you should never stop learning, it felt like something genuinely completing. A circle, closing quietly and with complete grace. I left not nostalgic, but energised. I was reminded about why I do this work. Ready to begin something new.

That's really the gift of a programme like this. It doesn't just connect you with a mentor or give you a room of peers, it places you inside a living, breathing community of practice, one where learning flows in every direction. Where the person who mentored last year is mentored this year. Where experience and curiosity sit side by side and neither is considered more valuable than the other.

We are all at the beginning of something. Different starting points, different destinations, but we have a shared commitment to grow, to ask questions, and to making audio that matters.

I can't wait to see where this circle leads.

For more about Audio Academy Mentoring head to the Audio Academy Website