The RAB launched its One Voice initiative with RAB President Mike Hulvey corralling an all-star lineup of radio executives on Wednesday to unite the industry with a consistent message to advertisers about the true power of the medium.
Building on what was laid out in the organization’s new mission statement announcement and strategic goals for 2025, iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman, Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley, and Connoisseur Media CEO Jeff Warshaw all expressed their support in an opening video.
Opening a vast panel of industry leaders, Townsquare Media COO and RAB Board Chair Erik Hellum underscored the need for cohesive, cross-industry messaging, stating, “We have to get credit for the audience we have. We have to tell the same story, but not in a hundred different ways. We have to tell the same story together with one voice.”
Audacy COO Susan Larkin, who leads the RAB Advocacy Committee that developed One Voice, highlighted the need for a collective strategy to counter shifts in ad dollars toward digital. “We together have to educate everyone in all of these different types of sales teams and different types of clients. And then we said it’s really, really important that this education continues and that we are very deliberate about how we go to market with this,” she said.
As part of One Voice, the RAB has introduced new tools and resources for radio professionals. Available on RAB’s website, the materials include research studies, white-labeled sales presentations, and marketing assets designed to support local and national advertising efforts.
Another focus of the initiative is educating advertisers about Nielsen’s recent move to a three-minute listening threshold. Down from five minutes, the change is expected to provide a more accurate representation of radio’s audience. Times Shamrock CEO Jim Loftus said, “The perspective here is with the largest markets showing the increases that more accurately reporting our listener engagement will provide, that’ll provide lift for the entire radio industry.”
Cox Media Group EVP of Radio Rob Babin added, “This doesn’t change how many people listen to radio—it changes how we’re counted, and it puts us in line with other media.”
Skyview Networks Chief Revenue Officer Jeanne-Marie Condo emphasized that this initiative presents an opportunity for the entire industry. “This is a pencil-down moment. This is a moment where we all take a breath and pay attention to what is happening and how it can open doors. For those that have been pushing radio back, I think this will bring them forward. This is a really, really powerful moment,” she said.
Saga Communications CEO Chris Forgy, Beasley CRO Tina Murley, and iHeart President of Market Groups Hartley Adkins all agreed that by pooling resources, studies, and information, radio can demonstrate its reach and incredible value.
All One Voice resources are now available at rab.com/OneVoice and rab.com/ThisIsRadio. Additional webinars and training sessions will be announced by the RAB in the months to come.
Unless that NAB, the RAB, and the FCC don’t rate gigants like Facebook, Google, Tick Tock, and others as modern digital publishers, people like Mark Suckenberg will have no mercy with any other advertising competititors cause he is in the business of cannibalizing any direct or indirect competitor, and his goal is to starve them out of any real advertising dollars.
If the radio owners and the FCC don’t act wuicky, the years of radio are counted.
It’s impossible to compute with a humongous monopoly like Facebook where one person gets all the advertising dollars with no regulation, and no oversight!!
Radio is not asking social media for any favors, radio is asking the government to Regulate this monster companies as big time publishers cause that’s what they are!
The biggest problem with Facebook, it is the fact that suckenberg allows every one to publish anything despite is it’s real, fake, or with out knowing who will get harm or destroyed with those publications!!
Facebook had to obey by the same rules of any other media cause in this days of the digital era, now the digital era in the world of advertising and publishing is way more
Powerfull then any other media combined!
Abd it’s impossible that they got shield from a demonic 230 protection written two decades ago!!
Let’s put it in this way:
If I am trying to sell a bag of oranges for $25 dollars a piece, but if people can get them for free with a guy who has a world wide empire of oranges, where do you think they will get their oranges??
Saee thing with advertising!!
It didn’t took that long for local and national businesses to find out that they can get almost free advertising on social media all thanks to the stupidity of the 230 shield protection.
Could you imagine that one single person could own one terrestrial radio station with world wide coverage and no oversight and cero regulation?
No real tech support! No real control on who posts what? It would be devastating for any radio venues out there.
Well, that’s exactly what social media is:
They are hugemongos world wide publishers with cero regulations.
If you get scammed or ripped off thanks to fraudulent Facebook posts or ads, there is not even one single phone number to report that fraud!! All thanks to that lock of government regulation!!
Giants like Facebook are cannibals who will starve radio of any advertising dollars by allowing businesses and private individuals to use their social profiles to.advertise for free and wipe out any other form of advertising competition!!
Facebook in particular is the biggest infractor! Mark suckenberg is like the Roman dictatorship who wants to eliminate any form of competition!!
And of course, none of this could have been possible if it wasn’t for the blind eye of the incompetent FCC people!!
Why don’t they force Facebook or any other form of digital media using smart phones to implement the national alert system?
Why don’t the FCC orders the phone manufacturers tho implemented AM and FM tuners, so in case the person looses the Internet connection in case of an emergency, their phones can become radios that can pick up signals over the air! In the California fires, the called obsolete and arquaic AM radio saved thousands of lives when the cell phone signals failed!!
The NAB, THE RAB, AND THE FCC, they all have for once and for all force suckenberg to play under the same rules of the rest of any offer mass media out there at least in the UNITED STATES!!