The Surprise Return of the Convention Circuit

It was interesting to get back from Vancouver yesterday and realize I’d been to four conventions already this year: Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, the Intercollegiate Broadcast System in New York, the spring NAB in Las Vegas, and, earlier this week, the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters.

On June 2-4, I’ll be at the second Radiodays North America in Toronto. I’ll also be hosting the Jukebox Jury panel shared between RDNA and Canadian Music Week. That makes six.

Being at conventions roughly once a month had become routine pre-COVID, and that was on top of other business travel. Some colleagues, vendors, and speakers were at a lot more. In the weeks leading up to COVID, I had already been to three, and Joel Denver’s All Access Summit would have been next. 

Conventions were one of the great joys of my early years in the business. Working at trade publications and constantly being on the phone meant doing the advance work to ensure that there was one “it’s great to finally meet you” after another.  They were an extension of the dialogue I tried to foster through my writing; they were the inspiration for the next year.

I admit I had become cynical about conventions long before COVID — particularly as panelists spoke less candidly in the post-consolidation world. But it was still being at NAB Orlando 2013 that inspired Radio in an Audio World, my attempt to synthesize radio’s growth (or lack thereof) beyond the transmitter a decade ago. And eventually, a great convention for me wasn’t about who was on the panels, but about who I saw in the halls.

When the convention circuit tried to go online during COVID, there wasn’t much satisfaction in it. The conversations were more stilted than ever, just by being online. It was a reminder of the human contact that wasn’t happening. Watching the All Access Summit and NAB Radio Show decide not to return from COVID was another saddening reminder of radio’s shrinking infrastructure. 

When conventions began ramping up again in 2021-22, I was more appreciative. It was great to be back at IBC in a crowded room of young broadcasters. I watched the Garth Brooks panel empty out at Country Radio Seminar last year and realized I was suddenly five feet away from about a dozen of my favorite people in the radio business. Radiodays Europe, my first one in person after presenting remotely during COVID, was gratifying for its positivity and focus on the future, and for its crowded hallways as well.

This spring’s NAB was my first in a decade. I ran into more programming people than I expected. It was fascinating to watch the long-promised convergence between technology and programming, and toward a radio station run not from a rack of equipment, but a single piece of equipment, become a reality.

The discussion of AI on the radio exploded during the spring conventions last year and dominated this year. At BCAB, panelist after panelist quoted the now-truism about “AI won’t take your job, but somebody who understands AI will.” AI is clearly a defining issue of our times in all aspects of life, but it is clearly not the only issue in our world of tumult, and that’s the case in radio, too. 

This year, my BCAB presentation was about the things we’re not talking about enough — reinventing the dial (still a need), programming innovation, people. It was called “Greetings, Fellow Humans.” And some of the panels I enjoyed the most at BCAB were about hiring, including one from Adam Currie, not the podcaster, but a medical recruiter whose previous industry — tire stores — had its own lack of buzz to contend with.

Although I’ve finally started to have the experience of running into some of my radio-industry vendor friends at five-week intervals for the first time in five years, each of my conventions so far this year has been a distinctly different crowd. One of the things I’m looking forward to at RDNA is the ability to see U.S., European, and Canadian broadcasters in the same room again, one of the strengths of the NAB Radio Show. 

The full RDNA schedule is here. I’m particularly looking forward to:

• BBC Director of Music Lorna Clarke, now in conversation with veteran Canadian broadcaster Julie Adam, currently of Universal Music Canada. 
• James Cridland’s latest version of Cool Tools for Radio Stations, always less a presentation than a live demo.
• My Edison Research colleague Gabe Soto and Signal Hill’s Matt Hird discussing “What You Should Be Telling Everyone About Radio.”
• Paige Nienaber’s 20 Electrifying No/Low Budget Promotions That Will Grab People’s Attention, especially in a year of renewed interest in contesting.
• TikTok Talks, a panel about the potential synthesis of radio, TikTok, and podcasting.
• Discussions of reinventing in-car radio from Radioplayer and DTS AutoStage
• Super HiFI co-founder/CEO Zack Zalon’s “An AI Workshop: Let’s Build a Radio Station.”

The thing that hasn’t truly reemerged yet at our conventions is the focus on the radio/record relationship. RDNA is positioned at the same crossroads of management, technology, and programming as the NAB Radio Show was, but I’m hoping to bring some radio/label dialogue to the fore by hosting Jukebox Jury — a live music meeting of label and radio people — for the second year. I’ll also be part of a discussion of the evolution of Classic Hits, always one of this column’s most popular topics.

One of the potential excitements of RDNA’s international coalition is the potential cross-pollination of differing ideas. Even in the ’10s, radio conventions were marked, if not marred, by the groups who didn’t participate. The group heads might have been there to assure you that radio was doing fine, but the lack of staff told a different story. 

In 2024, radio needs its third act — that moment in the movies where the heroes stop squabbling and band together. I’m hoping some of that can take place at RDNA, and going forward.