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 we conclude our series with a conversation with Caroline Beasley, CEO of Beasley Media Group.
Radio Ink: NAB Show is typically all about the future, but this year’s Show, the Centennial, is celebrating 100 years of NAB. It’s about looking back, as much as it is looking forward. What’s a moment or takeaway from a past NAB show that you’ve been to that’s really stuck with you?
Caroline Beasley: First of all, I’m very, very happy for NAB as it celebrates its 100 years. That’s such an accomplishment for an association, so I’m really proud of them for this milestone. But in terms of one NAB show that sticks out? There are several.
One is when Gordon Smith became CEO of NAB and his first opening address in Las Vegas. I remember that he brought such confidence and excitement to our industry. It’s something that we had been missing for a few years. That just bled over and set the stage for the entire week and for many years after.
Another one was when I was joint board chair and was involved in so many activities. To have that opportunity is very humbling and it’s an experience that I will never, ever forget. Then there was the year I received the National Radio Award. With the fact that my dad received it several years earlier, that was an experience of a lifetime as well. Those are just a few that will always be stuck in my mind.
Radio Ink: For a company born in radio, Beasley has some really unique facets. You have an e-sports division. You’re heavily involved with Quu on the future of automotive. To you, how important is the full spectrum of NAB for radio broadcasters?
Caroline Beasley: I can’t speak for everybody else, but I can say for Beasley, we’re really, really focused on diversifying our revenue streams and growing our overall audience. As a result, we’re not going to just stick with the Radio Hall, if you will. I get out and explore the full realm for broadcasters.
We’re going to be looking at radio offerings, but we’re also going to be looking at digital, video, and we’re starting to look into AI as well. So there are a number of areas that we’re going to be focused on going into the NAB show.
Radio Ink: So do you have a particular can’t miss session this year?
Caroline Beasley: Well, as I mentioned earlier about Gordon and his opening session, I think the can’t miss session for this year to start with would be Curtis [LeGeyt]’s Monday morning fireside chat. He’s going to set the stage for the week, and I would say if you go to anything, you should be going to this.
In addition to that, because I can’t stop there, we will be at the “We Are Broadcasters” event on Tuesday as our very own Mike Cooney will be receiving the NAB’s Radio Engineering Achievement Award. And then on Wednesday morning, we’re going to be attending the Broadcasters Foundation of America Breakfast where [Beasley’s] Heidi Raphael will be receiving the Leadership Award along with [Radio Ink’s] Deborah Parenti. And so each of these is a can’t miss for us.
Radio Ink: NAB show is clearly important on an executive level. We’ve been talking with executives for this series, but how important is it once you get to the level of a market manager? How important is NAB all the way down?
Caroline Beasley: I think it is just as important for a market manager to attend this event as it is for engineers or for digital teams to attend. Sales managers, programmers – if you have a thirst for knowledge and you want to continue to learn, then you should be going to NAB.
Radio Ink: To you, is that kind of learning the spirit at the core of the NAB Show?
Caroline Beasley: I would say NAB’s core is all about creativity. It’s about collaboration, innovation, and learning. It’s all these things wrapped into one.
Radio Ink: As the NAB celebrates 100 years of broadcasting, a huge accomplishment, like you said, what do you think Radio Show 2123 will look like 100 years in the future? Specifics notwithstanding, what do you think that experience will be like?
Caroline Beasley: You know, we have seen so much change over the last five years, over the last ten years, what the NAB show will be like 100 years from now. I mean, that just blows my mind. I do hope that there will continue to be a great deal of creativity, collaboration, technology, and innovation – everything that is at NAB’s core today, I hope that continues for another 100 years.
