MUMBAI: James Cridland and Matt Deegan's radio ideas conference - Next Radio - has announced its first raft of speakers including Australian radio programmer Craig Bruce.

Craig Bruce is one of the most experienced and respected radio talent coaches in Australia and the former Head of Content for Australia's Southern Cross Austereo. He’s helped build the careers of Kyle and Jackie O, Hamish and Andy and created fantastic radio promotional concepts like "the Fugitive".

Craig says: “I’m delighted to be speaking at Next Radio. I'll be sharing learnings from some of the biggest names in Australian radio, which is one of the world's most competitive radio environments. I'm also looking forward to learning more about the UK; and introducing a whole new audience to my Game Changers podcast.”

Joining Craig, speakers will include Julia Hayball from the University of Gloucestershire, Sam Potts the Head of Radio Promotions at Columbia Records, international radio consultant Francis Currie, Chloe Straw - the Executive Producer at Somethin’ Else for the BBC’s pop networks and Bob FM’s Programme Director/Breakfast host Graham Mack.

Organiser James Cridland says, “Next Radio always has a diverse range of speakers and this year’s is no exception. Every session at Next Radio is 9 or 18 minutes which means joining these six will be an amazing range of guests we’re announcing over the coming weeks.”

The event, back for its sixth year, is designed for people who make radio, or products for radio, to inspire them with new creative ideas and developments in radio. All through June tickets are available at the reduced rate of £99+VAT, thanks to support from sponsors Broadcast Bionics, radio.co and Audioboom. Tickets are available at http://nextrad.io/

Organiser Matt Deegan adds: “Next Radio is the biggest, most cost-effective radio conference in the country and it’s been designed entirely for the practitioners - the people who make radio or work on radio projects every day. We’ve got a great day lined up and can’t wait for September.”

Next Radio is on 19 September at the Royal Institution in London.