It’s been over two years since we last checked in with NAB President and CEO David Rehr. Fresh on the job, Rehr was immediately confronted with such issues as HD Radio, slumping ad sales, possible media ownership reform, marketing terrestrial radio, satellite radio and new media competition.
Today’s terrestrial radio landscape demands more attention than ever before. We recently sat down with Rehr and poured over some of the biggest hot button topics facing radio broadcasters in 2009 and we were left with an outlook that is both daunting and encouraging.
David Rehr
David Rehr, NAB President and CEO
It’s been over two years since we last checked in with NABPresident and CEO David Rehr. Fresh on the job, Rehr was immediately confronted with such issues as HD Radio, slumping ad sales, possible media ownership reform, marketing terrestrial radio, satellite radio and new media competition.
Today’s terrestrial radio landscape demands more attention than ever before. We recently sat down with Rehr and poured over some of the biggest hot button topics facing radio broadcasters in 2009 and we were left with an outlook that is both daunting and encouraging.
eQB presents excerpts from the April FMQB magazine Cover Story withDavid Rehr, NAB President and CEO
On macro issues that present the biggest challenges to the radio industry today…
The biggest one is the state of the economy. When the economy skids it usually disproportionally hurts industries like media that relies on advertising. Somebody told me the story the other day that when the accountants in the business world all meet, the first thing they do is raise their hands and say “cut advertising.” That is precisely the wrong thing to do for businesses in an economic slow-down period, because that’s when they want to generate sales and try to take advantage of the situation their competitors are facing, which is hard economic times.
On radio’s recent growth…
We’re up over three-million listeners. So for people who say: Well, radio’s tired, it’s old, it’s this, it’s that, there are not many mediums that are up three-million listeners. The radio ecosystem has to talk about it among themselves and to everyone they reach. Things like: more than 90% of adults 18–34 listen to radio every week. One of the most sought after accessory for an iPod is an FM adapter. If radio wasn’t about tomorrow, we wouldn’t see these huge numbers continue to be strong, which makes me very optimistic about radio and its future.
On pessimism within the radio community…
My personal view is anybody who thinks radio is over should just get out of the business, because if you don’t believe in it to your core, how do you sell it to your people in tough economic times? I am so sick and tired of people complaining when we should be acting. We need to show leadership. That’s what being a leader is about. You make difficult calls, but you have to in your soul believe in what you’re doing.
On the advertising challenges facing the radio industry today…
First off, every radio sales person in America should be going to the Radio Heard Here website and download the information about the radio business. With almost every recession we’ve had in America, we know when we’re getting out of it when advertising begins to grow again. That again will be a harbinger of when we’re out of economic hard times. Stick with the fundamentals and find out as much about each business as you possibly can. You can wow them with things about their business and relate it to your strategy for sales and win the account.
On radio’s strongest selling points…
We’re ubiquitous. We’re local. We’re growing in listeners. The price point of entry is relatively low to communicate messages. It sure beats cable TV. It’s a great value proposition for both small and large businesses. Just like broadcast television.
On the RIAA’s attempts to introduce a new performance fee on local radio stations…
We need to have every person reading your publication call their member of Congress and say “no” to the Performance Tax, and urge their member to co-sponsor the Green-Conaway legislation. We’re at about 144 co-sponsors in the House. The magic number is 218, which will signal the leadership that a majority of the Congress is against the Performance Tax. We introduced that bill with more than twice as many co-sponsors as we did when we introduced it about eighteen months ago. That bodes well for us.
On assessing the music industry side of this equation…
We need to have active local radio ecosystem involvement on this, because frankly, the recording labels are raising the ante in the fight. They’re hiring more lobbyists. They’re more desperate because their business model is broken. Part of the reason why they want to put a tax on local radio stations is because they don’t want to fix their own business model in the digital age. Desperate people do crazy things.
On the Fairness Doctrine…
We’re in a better position today than we were five weeks ago, twelve weeks ago, six months ago. Here’s why: Number One: President Obama unequivocally said he was against reinstating the Fairness Doctrine through his press person. We sent them a letter congratulating him. We said we wanted to work with him. President Obama did the right thing. He is a strong believer in freedom of expression. Number Two: The Senate vote was much larger than we expected it to be. Eighty-one senators opposed it. That is a strong vote in the Senate. That continues to bode well for us. There will still be some people on the outside clamoring for a re-statement of the Fairness Doctrine, but having the President and 81 Senators on your side is a really strong position to be in going into the future.
On satellite radio…
We’re so engaged in a pro-active campaign talking about how radio listenership over the year is going up, and all the technological developments with radio. I really don’t spend much time thinking about Sirius XM. They’ve got their business model, and they’re going to have to deal with it. I just want us to focus on over-the-air radio and what a great value that is for our listeners.
On technologies and new platforms for radio…
HD radio is a positive, forward looking technology. As we look at this kind of post-economic difficulties, we’re going to be multi-platform. The NAB and Sound Exchange worked on a streaming deal which will be beneficial to radio broadcasters that stream. We’re also looking to put FM chips in cell phones. We’re looking at multi-platform technologies because we want to be sure that radio, which is ubiquitous and available everywhere with lots of choices, continues to be a very strong player in the media environment.
** QB Content by Mike Bacon **
