(By Buzz Knight) On the bustling show floor of CES 2025, my neurons crackle with anticipation. The world’s largest tech showcase has once again transformed Las Vegas into a dazzling hub of innovation, where the future unfolds before our eyes.
From AI-powered humanoid robots to transparent antennas revolutionizing vehicle connectivity, this year’s exhibition, like all others before it will push the boundaries of what’s possible. Buckle up and join me as I take a supersonic ride through cutting-edge technologies that will shape the lives of you and your listeners for years to come.
As CES 2025 officially begins, the best place to start is with the experts. That’s why I made it a point to sit down with Consumer Technology Association Senior Director of Innovation Brian Comiskey. If you were at Radio Ink‘s Forecast 2025, you saw his panel with Fred Jacobs about the future of radio. Now he walks us through the largest tech show on Earth.
Radio Ink: What are the key themes for media companies to observe this year at the CES 2025?
Brian Comiskey: Well, I think it’s about reflecting on the overall show theme. How do you lean into different technologies to either access a new audience, improve your own product, or honestly improve your operations? So I think there are three key paths that emerge in my mind. One is how are companies grappling with the rising and shifting nature of artificial intelligence. How do they really leverage what is, especially on the audio side, the oldest form of content in the world into other forms of intellectual property, and what that means in maybe gaming and video?
Lastly, how do you use it to really start to improve the audio or the video, the actual outputs that you’re doing? How do you get that high-fidelity visual or audio quality? Those are the three that really come to mind right away.
Radio Ink: So when you think of artificial intelligence, what guardrails do you think media companies should be thinking about?
Brian Comiskey: With any sort of innovation, it’s all about a balance. I think when we think about innovation and growth, all that, we think there’s a few pairs of forces that operate. One is you have growth versus value, right? Companies want to grow their product, consumers want the best value, their supply, and demand. These ones make sense, but there’s another one which is innovation versus necessity, right?
It goes back to something that Keynes actually said a hundred years ago, which is the idea is technology is supposed to be used to eliminate drudgery so that we can do what humans do best, which is be creative. What better medium than music and media in general?
How do you use AI and build in a place that is helping build efficiencies, but keeping those guardrails to protect the talent, to really leverage into what are the stronger components of the industry, which is its people?
Radio Ink: I’m so glad you said that because I think the human touch is so critical here. Speaking of people and speaking of radio organizations, how do radio companies build the spirit of innovation inside their walls in the years ahead?
Brian Comiskey: Yeah, well I think there are a few paths to that. One is taking a look at your own employees. I’ve talked with some other folks in the media exec space in the past, and they’ve talked about competition for innovation. How do you get your employees even in terms of thinking about what sort of technology or what sort of approach can they use to really improve operations and leaning into the people that they already have? You can create it in a friendly competitive status where it’s, “We’re going to adopt one of these solutions.” Maybe that’s incentivized financially.
When I look at something like radio – and I’m a lifelong radio fan – I think what made it great was its radio personalities. They did start to pivot to use some technologies quite well I thought, when they went to digital. They went into an online presence. Let’s go with one that still exists today, which is Meadowlark Media.
That is Dan Le Batard who had his radio show on ESPN for years, talking about sports. Meadowlark, after the separation from ESPN, are no longer on radio because they successfully pivoted to video using DraftKings, of all people, as its sponsor. We’re talking about a betting company coming in and saying, “Hey, media matters.”
They built a podcast and digital empire as well as a video stream empire on Twitch, which is leaning into a new generational demographic. So at their peak on ESPN, they were on Twitch, radio, TV, and to a degree, podcasts. They were using an omnichannel approach, which really started to attract those younger generations.
Radio Ink: Over the years, CES has become deeply immersed in the automotive business. Radio and entertainment talk frequently about the connected car and EVs; what can we expect at this show to see in terms of automotive innovation?
Brian Comiskey: Arguably we’re the largest mobility show, and I use mobility very intentionally because it’s more than just the auto. And I think that there are four pathways where you’ll see mobility change. The electric story is still massive, and we will see EV makers from across the world, not just the US, but from Korea, from China, even showcasing where electric cars are going. There’s a sustainability story that’s that’s occurring under here. That’s one path.
The other two are very linked. This is sensors and self-driving. Or autonomous vehicles to be more correct actually. You would want to say autonomous vehicles because sometimes you’re boating not driving – or flying in some cases! Because there will be exhibitors showcasing autonomous flying vehicles like Invo Station. How does it become essentially a software-defined vehicle or a smart device on wheels? And a lot of that is advanced safety data, more data referring to just the health of the car and terms of power output.
But then there’s also an infotainment story, which is a lot more personalized audio, a lot more personalized heads-up displays, and immersive experiences in there. That’s the second and third pathways combined.
Radio Ink: In closing, do you size up particular trends at each show that you then start dissecting as the year progresses to see if it’s truly a trend or just a little bit of a blip or a fad or a marketing plan or something? How do you see the future, as a futurist? Are there one or two things that you’re going to be sniffing around for in particular at this year’s show?
Brian Comiskey: It’s a bit of all of the above, right? To say futurist, that maybe evokes, I don’t know, Tony Stark meets crystal ball to people. Oftentimes it’s a lot of reading, and it’s a lot of just looking and trying to get an understanding of what the show looks like. But then when you get to the show, the beauty of it is, as much as I can try to predict a trend… I’ll be surprised. I am surprised every year by something on the floor. So what I do is I go back, and I do start to parse out, well, what are we seeing?
Last year every company was like, “We’re an AI company. We’re in the AI business. Generative AI and ChatGPT have taken off.” And they have. But how do you contextualize that into something larger? And I think CES 2025 and the years ahead will really reframe AI where it’s not just about generative AI, it’s about a fundamental evolution in terms of how we relate to tech.
This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity. Listen to the entire 25-minute interview between Buzz and Brian here.
Buzz Knight can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. Read Buzz’ Radio Ink archives here.
