The Texas Association of Broadcasters took a massive swing this year by moving their state convention from the JW Marriott in Downtown Austin a few miles up the road to the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Round Rock, Texas. Why was it such a big swing you ask? Because this is a totally new approach for broadcast conventions. The JW Mariott is a super nice hotel smack dab in the middle of Austin and it is tailor made for business conventions. It’s a safe choice. But it has it’s downsides, fighting Austin traffic, the cost of parking, a plethora of enticing entertainment options nearby to lure convention attendees away from the convention. The Kalahari is also an incredible resort that’s well-suited to host conventions. However, with it’s indoor/outdoor waterpark, Tom Foolery Play area and tons of dining and entertainment choices for the whole family, it’s VERY kid friendly. Something that was not lost on attendees and the TAB themselves. Ramar Communications President, and TAB board member, Brad Moran told me this “I wasn’t sure what to think on arrival with all the families, but it worked out great on the convention side. I left the convention invigorated about the future of radio.” I heard several others echo this statement, both on being apprehensive at first but quickly excited about the quality of the sessions, exhibits and the location itself. Although it was a big swing, in my opinion, TAB President Oscar Rodriguez and his amazing staff hit a homerun by being willing to try something different. Which was kind of a running theme that reverberated throughout the Kalahari on August 7th and 8th as both radio and television are simultaneously excited by and cautious about adopting emerging technologies that are already having a MASSIVE impact on our industries. LKCM Media Group President, and new TAB board Member, Gerry Schlegel said this was his primary takeaway, “The importance on local content creation on multiple platforms transcending radio and TV broadcasters into MEDIA companies was a consistent message at the conference. That’s been a recurring message for a while now. Thie year was punctuated by the significance of AI in that process. Embrace AI and humanity together. Apply AI to improve processes & efficiency, allowing more time for human creativity.” If you missed the show, here are some of the highlights from what I saw throughout focused on radio of course.
Sessions
I have never heard this much positive feedback from attendees about TAB sessions before and I’ve been attending for years. While it did appear as though there were a few less sessions this year, they were better than in prior years and I say that as a guy who spoke at last year’s TAB convention. Session planners did a masterful job striking a balance of optimism for the future without sugar coated the challenges the broadcast industry faces. It probably also helps that we’re all more open to new ideas now that it’s obvious our industry is changing drastically as we speak. That was evident immediately this year starting with the keynote speech from Daniel Anstandig, CEO & Founder of Futuri. He shared tons of insightful research from the Futuri/Cox Media study about how 2,500 radio listeners feel about broadcasters using AI. Like how 75% of them think AI would improve radio and that respondents who use AI had overwhelmingly positive things to say about it while the ones who haven’t used AI said words like ‘cautious’ and ‘scared’. Daniel also pointed out how today 90% of what broadcasters do is process and 10% is creativity. His hope is that with the use of the right AI tools, that can be flipped to 10% process and 90% creativity. Toward the end of his keynote, Daniel played a game with the audience to see if a room full of broadcasters could tell the difference between AI and human voices. Spoiler alert, most could not. This was probably the most powerful moment of his presentation because it showed how far AI voices have come. I can personally attest to that because I saw Daniel give a similar speech at NAB in Vegas back in April and the voices are already significantly improved. A few other sessions that stood out to me included ‘State of Play – Broadcast Policy Challenges in DC and Austin’ with NAB Board Member Ben Downs and TAB President Oscar Rodriguez. The pair discussed a pending federal law effecting translators, the Ashanti EAS alerts, a push to make it legal to use drones to gather news content and the UIL looking at cutting radio and tv out of playoff coverage. Some of my former coworkers spoke highly of Pat Bryson’s ‘Getting the Appointment’ sales session while I was busy watching an incredibly impressive group of recent college grads talking about their experiences working in radio. They were open and honest about the challenges they faced walking into our ‘pay your dues for several years before getting an opportunity’ model and dispelled the falsehood that this generation only wants to work somewhere for two years and then they’ll quit and leave. One young lady clarified by saying ‘We bring a lot to the table, we are loyal and willing to stay as long as there are opportunities for advancement.’ Adding ‘You can’t ask us to coach the CEO on social media one minute and then send us back to only do the grunt work the next.’ Another added ‘Not every idea we have is a dumb idea’. Then a young man shared his story of spending two years without ever cracking a mic before finding a competitor who would give him a shot. He now does play-by-play for all of their high school sports broadcasts. This session was particularly eye opening and gave me a LOT of hope for the future of radio. A few other quick takeaways from sessions include fellow consultant Paul Jacobs’ line that ‘the last person to fire in a cutback right now is a personality’ and Dr. Shawn Dubravac’s optimistic look at how traditional broadcast media could make this the new golden age of broadcasting if we focus on creating much more original content.
Exhibits
All the usual suspects were on-hand. I had a good conversation with Kat Tansley from RCS about Zetta and GSelector, ran into my old pal Jim Hammond with DJB Radio who showed me their new Zone Automation that won best in show at NAB in Vegas, I caught up with Adam Kwasnik who showed me Texas owned Prime Time Lighting Systems‘ incredible new wash light, plus I met Daniel Hyatt with DNav Inc a great resource for any broadcaster looking for engineering help.
Networking Opportunities
If you want to get broadcasters to network, give them a free cocktail. Once again this year the kick-off party and the happy hours made for the best networking opportunities. The kick-off was my favorite because it took advantage of a great view and they brought in a talented performer to add some ambience. Plus, the appetizers were delicious! If you come next year make sure you attend and force yourself to make the rounds by resisting the urge to hang out too much with your own coworkers.
Location Itself
Personally, I was pretty excited about the location from the get-go because I’ve been incredibly busy with simultaneous projects and a couple new clients. So, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to bring the family along so the wife and kids could enjoy the amenities while I conferenced. Plus, the wife has family in the area so she and the kiddos could spend some time with them as well. Win-win! This ended up working out pretty well and even allowed me to score some points with the wife, which never hurts. Next year I’m going to have them come at the end and stay a couple extra days so dad can take part in the fun too. I could see others doing the same or turning it into a corporate retreat by tacking on a few days on either end to focus on some team building. All of this will help to increase attendance again next year, which is good for all of us! As I understand it the TAB has signed on to do at least 2 more years at Kalahari.
Overall Impressions
The reason we go to conventions is to get out of our routine, away from the office/studios, see some cool tech and hear some innovative new approaches. So, anyone who attends is guaranteed to go home with their head spinning with ideas. But, to me the ultimate measure of success for any convention is whether attendees act on some of those ideas and put them to use. I can only speak for myself, my radio friends and clients who attended, when I say that we’re going to do our best to act on those ideas so our companies have innovated and positively evolved by the time we attend next year’s TAB convention.
If you were here, let me know some of your takeaways in the comments or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsutlant.com or editor@radioupdate.com.
1 thought on “TAB 2024 Highlights”
I thought the convention was a huge success. I was manning the Texas Broadcast Museum’s booth most of the time. We had great traffic and made many new friends. The Museum sponsored one of the meeting rooms which featured David Ostmo’s presentation on Broadcast History. It was very well attended The session was a lot of fun, as well as being very educational at the same time.
The Kalahari turned out to be an exceptional convention facility. Their staff was great, and very responsive. I’m already looking forward to next year.