Xperi’s Joe D’Angelo Has A Plan For NAB Show 2023

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This year’s NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center is celebrating 100 years of innovation in the broadcast industry. In the weeks leading up to April 15-19, Radio Ink is talking with some of radio’s biggest innovators about what has them excited about NAB Show 2023. Today’s conversation is with Joe D’Angelo, Senior Vice President of Global Radio and Digital Audio at Xperi.

Radio Ink: This year’s NAB show, the Centennial, is about looking back as much as it is looking forward. Xperi is all about radio tech and innovation. What’s something you’ve seen in years past that you immediately knew would be a game-changer?

Joe D’Angelo: Well, you’re going to get some biased answers from me. HD Radio obviously has to be top of the list. I am one of the founders of the company that created it and have been working on it for about 23 years. I think it was around 2005 when we first launched with BMW and got broad support from a coalition of broadcasters. We were at the beginning of a real revolution in radio. And it has taken a while to get to scale, but we’re close to 100 million cars on the road right now and roughly 2,500 stations on the air, delivering thousands of hours of programming a day.

It started slowly for the radio industry to compete in today’s digital environment. So I think it was a very, very fortunate decision that the industry decided to make the investment in digital. That they were patient and allowed the ecosystem to grow and the auto manufacturers to come on board. And they are extremely well positioned now to deliver a very competitive digital audio product in a landscape that is changing dramatically. I think 2005 was the year this all started, and we’re really seeing the benefits of that today.

Radio Ink: So how many NAB Shows have you been to? What number is 2023?

Joe D’Angelo: I think I missed one. One was canceled, right? For COVID. I think this will be 22.

Radio Ink: Well, I know at 22 you obviously have great insight into what to look for at NAB. There’s a half million square feet there in the Las Vegas Convention Center. That’s a lot of ground to cover. So, besides Xperi, what booth is always a must-visit for you?

Joe D’Angelo: I think there are probably a couple of categories. What’s really important to us as a technology supplier is the innovation and cost reduction on the infrastructure side for keeping stations operational, right? So the innovation by our partners to make the infrastructure simpler to operate, more robust, and bringing it into the modern cloud-based era is always very important to us.

We’re also looking at the studio tools, and how the platforms that drive a station are making it easier for radio stations to create rich multimedia content. It’s not only a microphone now, it’s platforms that synchronize metadata and bring visuals into the radio experience. It’s seeing how radio stations can exploit the environment of the studio. I think that’s critical because the radio industry is creating more live content every day than any other medium that’s out there.

If you look at all the radio stations, the programming decisions, and the curation, that is happening every day, it’s amazing. To be able to expand beyond just audio, to capture the visuals and the text and the metadata and everything that kind of brings that programming to life and makes it easier for content producers to reach your audience in a variety of platforms right now, the technology that’s enabling that is very, very exciting to me. I’m looking forward to that.

Radio Ink: Also on the tech side – if you’re talking about just the massive amount of content creation that goes into radio and digital these days, what are you expecting to see in the realm of AI?

Joe D’Angelo: I guess I’m kind of torn. I’m intrigued by what it presents. I mean, clearly, the radio industry is challenged, right? It’s a very, very competitive revenue space. Margins are tight. Things that can help stations operate a quality service at a reasonable cost are always gonna be intriguing. I don’t think we’re ever going to replace the voice of talent, right? The voice of the radio station. That human connection.

I think some of these AI initiatives around programming radio stations work well on anonymous platforms like a spot would. Where you don’t have a human connection with the voice behind the mic. Where you just want to be maybe informed about what’s going on and get some generic context around songs that are being played. I think AI does have a role to play in that kind of service. But again, radio, it’s, and this is a cliche, it’s live and local. In its community, that is gonna be very, very hard to replace with any kind of artificial intelligence, in my opinion.

Radio Ink: Speaking of live and local and human connections, I know Xperi is a sponsor of Cocktails and Conversation, which is on the Sunday of NAB. Those events, those connections – how important are they?

Joe D’Angelo: I think it’s a very important event. It’s a very fun event. We’ve come together with a number of partner companies like VCreative, Jacobs Media, Beasley, Benztown, Quu, and Skyview. This brings together industry leaders in a very casual setting to talk about what is moving them, what is keeping them up at night, and how our technologies can help them.

I think this is the third or fourth time we’ve done this, both at CES and NAB. I think it’s fantastic. I’ve enjoyed them immensely, learned a lot, and made some great, great new contacts within the industry. The Radio Show has kind of gone away, so to speak, but I think we found a good balance to really showcase radio outside of the big NAB Vegas show.

Radio Ink: As a NAB veteran, what is your big insider tip? If someone’s going for the first time, or maybe the 22nd time, what’s a great tip you’ve learned along the way to make the most out of NAB Show?

Joe D’Angelo: Wear sneakers. It’s a real hike. And I think planning before you show up in Vegas is critical because once you get into town it can be really overwhelming. So really, I think spend some time with the schedules, see what you want to sit in on, what you want to learn about, and map out your path around the show floor to hit the exhibitors that are most important to you. And expect the unexpected.

I tell you, some of the most important conversations I’ve had, the biggest learnings for me at NAB have been impromptu encounters with other industry folks on the floor. So, you know, take control of your time and schedule, but be prepared to deviate, to take advantage of those unique opportunities that you might not expect.

Radio Ink: Everybody loves a side quest. Okay, so the NAB celebrates 100 years this year. What do you think Radio Show 2123 will look like? I know it’s a long way off, specifics are probably off the table, but do you have any guesses for NAB Show 2123?

Joe D’Angelo: First, take transport out of the conversation so we don’t get into this argument of what is broadcast. Is it an RF signal? Is it an IP signal? I think the role of broadcasters in creating informative community connections is going to continue to exist. That need for local context, for content discovery, I think is still going to be there regardless of how the actual audio or whatever it looks like at that point. For all we know, it could be holograms that are delivered to the audience. But I think the foundational role of a local radio broadcaster is going to continue to exist and they will continue to be the voice of the community creating those connections, even though again the mechanism by which that conversation happens, will surely change.

Radio Ink: I am now very much looking forward to hologram radio. That’s gonna be a lot of fun. Speaking of, last question – it’s a Vegas question. Favorite Vegas movie?

Joe D’Angelo: I have to cheat. I read Steve Newberry’s interview.

Radio Ink: Uh oh.

Joe D’Angelo: Yeah. Yeah. How about I mix it up? Leaving Las Vegas.

Radio Ink: Good choice. Everyone loves Nic Cage. The Nic Cage Renaissance is fully underway here.

Joe D’Angelo: Absolutely.

Cocktails and Convo 2023

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