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Rehr: 'Radio Remains Relevant'
LAS VEGAS -- April 14, 2008: NAB President/CEO David Rehr kicked off the NAB Show with his annual state of the industry address, and he began his remarks by pointing to online video site YouTube and its slogan "YouTube -- Broadcast Yourself."
"They use the word broadcast," he said. "They obviously don't think the word is tired or irrelevant. But the question is, do we?"
Rehr continued, "We know that the world has changed. Consumers have more options than ever before. The media landscape is rapidly changing. We're being buffeted by forces larger than our industry. Some in the business are a bit disoriented. Some are overwhelmed by the changes taking place. Frankly, some are not optimistic about broadcasting's future."
After noting that "broadcasters can be a bit of a cynical bunch," Rehr said, "I'm afraid that some people in this business have been staring so long at the door that's closing, they haven't seen the new door that's opening. The digital door."
He said, "If we don't believe in ourselves, how do we promote our future? How do we promote our business and its valuable content?"
'Radio Remains Relevant'
Rehr then turned to radio, first talking about a widely reported BusinessWeek column by Jon Fine, headed "Requiem for Old-Time Radio." Though Fine believes radio isn't well-suited to moving its business model online, he wrote that he remembers radio with "ridiculous fondness" and recalled "huddling with it long past bedtime, the volume set low, hoping to hear something I loved."
Rehr said, "Ladies and gentlemen, that is romance, that's longing, that is a connection. Listeners still want what they've always wanted. Technology hasn't changed that -- it has just changed the devices of delivery. This is not to diminish the challenges or uncertainty of the radio business. In fact, I think one thing that's changed is that many in the industry have been so worn down by the battles and buffeting, that they themselves have forgotten the magic of radio. But we have not forgotten."
Rehr cited a radio branding study the NAB conducted last year that showed, he said, that "radio remains relevant." The study showed that nearly everyone still relies heavily on radio for information and entertainment.
Rehr continued, "For years, we've been saying local, local, local. And that's true, but we have a new wrinkle. We also learned from these consumers that being local, in and of itself, is not what defines radio's value. It's the accessibility and the connection with radio personalities. And it's being everywhere and available to everyone. A radio is not a jukebox.
"If you're listening to radio, you want to hear a human voice sharing that same moment in time that you are. There is power in that personal bond. A CD doesn't have that connection. An iPod doesn't have it. No, our model is not broken."
Arbitron data shows that radio is adding listeners every year, Rehr said, though he acknowledged that radio does have challenges, including listeners who take it for granted because it's so pervasive.
The branding study, he said, also revealed that consumers want new and unique content, and niche channels -- which opens the door for HD Radio.
Attitudes About HD Radio Changing
"Those are those who said HD Radio would never make it -- too expensive, too few stations, too this, too that," Rehr said. "That attitude is changing. Ford, Mercedes, Volvo, and BMW are just a few automakers that have made major announcements about offering HD Radio in their vehicles. And radio stations are stepping up to offer the programming to support new multicast channels of HD Radio. We still have a lot of work to do on this, but we are certainly headed in the right direction."
Rehr also talked about the Radio 2020 initiative, launched at last year's NAB Radio Show, and reiterated that program's goal of seeing radio incorporated into "every new gadget, everywhere," particularly handheld mobile devices.
Radio 2020, he said, is reminding people that radio is accessible everywhere, easy to use, and available to everyone.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Rehr said, "as aggressive local broadcasters, we are going to make radio new again. We will be reinvigorated. We will remind our listeners, and ourselves, of the value of this great medium." A new campaign to do that, he said, is in the works, to be called "Radio Heard Here." More information on that initiative will be presented at tomorrow's Radio Luncheon.
DC Business
In a brief rundown of issues now being addressed by the NAB in Washington, DC, Rehr noted that nearly 200 members of Congress have now signed a House resolution against a performance royalty on radio, and that 12 state attorneys general and more than 80 members of Congress have written to the FCC to say the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio is not in the public interest.
About XM-Sirius, Rehr said, "The Justice Department's notion that the two companies do not compete is simply absurd. If combined, these two companies will control more spectrum than the entire FM dial. Think about that for a minute."
Additionally, he said, more than a thousand broadcasters and public service organizations have written to the FCC to demonstrate stations' localism efforts. Rehr said, "We're working to make sure that the commission does not place unnecessary requirements on broadcasters that would actually hamper stations' efforts to serve their local communities."
To conclude, Rehr said, "When astronauts leave our atmosphere they are knocked around by tremendous G-forces before they enter space. That is sort of what broadcasting is feeling right now. We are between the realms. Not quite out of one realm and not quite into the other. And that can be an uncertain, bone-rattling, teeth-jarring ride. But I have no doubt that we will pass through the turbulence."
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