Why ACRAs night has always been about more than the awards

The ACRAs have never just been about handing out awards.

To be nominated for an Australian Commercial Radio Award and recognised among your peers is exciting. To win? Even better.

But as well as serving as a celebration of excellence in Australian radio, The ACRAs have long been that one night of the year when industry people of all different ages – and from all different stations and networks – get to dress up, catch up, swap notes and support each other, often through challenging times.

With redundancies and networking prompting forced farewells among radio friends and colleagues, these recent months in particular have been a time of uncertainty and pain.

Now, as they come to grips with the news that the 2025 ACRAs have been cancelled, Annabelle ‘A.B’ Brett – who co-hosts Breakfast with Mark Darin on the Sunny Coast’s 92.7 Mix FM – says many young people, both on-air and behind the scenes, are understandably feeling very deflated right now.

A.B tells Radio Today “The ACRAS might seem like a bit of a flog fest to some, but for new people entering the industry it’s a goal they set to be recognised for their work, to know that they’re on the right track.”

“For them, it’s a chance to see, in real life, their radio heroes and in some cases even get to speak to them and have their mentorship.”

Commercial Radio Australia this week informed its members that this year’s ACRAs would not be going ahead. The internal memo, leaked to Radio Today, says the decision “was not easy to make,” with CRA explaining it will “reallocate resources” to “crucial priorities.”

News of the cancellation ironically came the same day it was revealed that ‘Thy’ – host of Workdays on ARN’s Sydney youth station CADA – is not a real human, but an AI-generated avatar.

As it turns out, Thy is a product of a generative audio platform, which turns text into speech.

ARN Chief Executive Ciaran Davis told the Australian Financial Review (subscription required) “We’re trying to understand what’s real and what’s not. What we’ve learned is the power of the announcers we have.”

And whilst Thy will continue to be heard on CADA, Davis said that AI-generated hosts  are “definitely not the future.”

A.B says “It’s pretty grim when the same week we learn that there’s an AI announcer doing a metro Workday shift that the industry’s one major event for the year has been dumped.”

But the ACRAs will return in 2026, and we’re being promised they’ll be bigger and better than ever.

CRA will also “review and refresh” the categories, judging process and execution of radio’s night of nights.