The Dickstein Shapiro conference has been a fixture for those of us in the business of buying, selling, and financing radio stations for something like twenty years, most of that time as the lead-off event at the Radio Show. It is the only event of the year where all 400 industry participants are in the same room at the same time.
The NAB wants to cancel it this year and fold the sessions into the regular show format. I am told that the RAB's Jeff Haley is leading the charge. Big mistake.
For many, the conference is the one NAB event that is relevant. A number of the participants fly in specifically for the event in the morning, take a few meetings in the afternoon, then fly home. The NAB will lose them as Radio Show attendees if the current plans hold.
A number of brokers are so incensed about the NAB's actions that they are considering running their own conference down the street from the NAB's (and would probably invite Dickstein's Lew Paper to run it as he has for the last two decades). At a time when the NAB and RAB are working hard to maintain the Radio Show's relevance, how can they get this one so wrong? If you agree, make your thoughts known to Jeff Haley and your NAB contact.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
George
Media Services Group
