After more than three decades helping build CES into a global powerhouse, Karen Chupka made a bold career move to the NAB as EVP of Global Connections and Events. Now, as NAB Show rolls out its first major visual rebrand in years, Chupka is bringing her expertise to an industry where traditional broadcasters and digital creators are converging in unprecedented ways.
With NAB Show New York launching under the new brand identity this week, Radio Ink sat down with Chupka to discuss her vision for bridging broadcast’s storied past with its increasingly digital future, and how the East Coast show is carving out its own identity while serving a community that can’t always make it to Vegas.
Radio Ink: You spent more than three decades at CTA, much of that spent shaping CES into one of the world’s most influential live events and trade shows. What made you decide to join NAB, and what did you see in this organization that really felt like the right next chapter?
Karen Chupka: It’s ironic that CTA and the Electronic Industries Association were first the Radio Manufacturers Association. So there’s sort of been a little bit of broadcast in my blood, I could say, right? But honestly, it’s an important industry and one that’s been evolving so much. There’s so much opportunity for us to continue to shape and evolve how media, entertainment, and broadcasting all transform.
Radio Ink: CES and NAB Show are both behemoths in their own right. How did your experience at CTA influence your perspective on what an event like NAB Show can and should represent for today’s media?
Karen Chupka: I think one of the things that NAB Show has done well over the years is always trying to bring in what’s new and what’s next. And so for me, it was actually seeing the opportunity that exists now around storytelling. When you take a look at everything that we have at NAB Show, it’s really all the tools and the technology and the know-how to really help with and enhance storytelling. There is just such an interesting opportunity for us to bring along the next generation of storytellers and really enable them with the tools and technologies that they need.
Radio Ink: You first previewed the NAB Show visual rebrand with the new logo in Vegas back in April. New York is the first full outing for the new look. What prompted the timing for a new look for NAB Show?
Karen Chupka: Again, looking at where we’ve been and where we’re going and what’s happening now in entertainment, broadcast has taken on such a broader meaning. Now, everybody wants to tell their story and to tell that story to a wider audience. And so for us, it was about that next evolution of really just giving that brand a refresh and a little bit more of a modernized look at how broadcast is happening these days; whether you’re the local news television station telling the stories of the local community or a TikToker who is telling their stories. What we really wanted to do was lean into not only the history that we’ve had, but the future of what’s happening now.
Radio Ink: With NAB Show New York positioned as a more intimate East Coast edition, how do you see the Vegas and New York shows complementing each other? And how does the shared branding unify that experience?
Karen Chupka: The way that they complement each other is that both of them have a strong, healthy floor that showcases the technologies that you can use to tell your stories. I think we lean a little bit differently on some of the content in New York than we do in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is obviously a much bigger, broader show. But when we look at New York, we really lean into a little bit more of what’s happening in that broadcast, local, and live community.
This year, we’re also adding in things like the creator economy and the fashion industry as well. And in looking at the data, it’s actually interesting. Over 70% of the attendees who come to the New York show don’t come to Las Vegas. And that’s partly because a lot of them are doing things in the studio, office, or they’re at a live event, or filming. And so they don’t have the luxury of taking a few days to come out to Las Vegas.
So it’s really an opportunity for us to bring the tools and the technologies and the latest conversations to them in their backyard so that they can also have that opportunity to experience, learn, and connect with each other.
Radio Ink: The New York show also has a tie to the old NAB Radio Show. Obviously, you want to have the new people and the new aspects of broadcasting and media brought in, but how do you keep that balance with the traditional broadcasters when you redesign a program like NAB Show?
Karen Chupka: It’s always important that we continue to serve the community that’s coming to the shows. And as you mentioned, the New York show has its roots in radio. If you look at some of the things we’re doing from a programming standpoint, it’s covering what’s relevant in today’s times with regard to advertising revenue and advertising models.
Then we’re also looking at how we can tie the traditional with the new. So if you are, for instance, a radio broadcaster or a local television station, how can you work with creators? How can you leverage some of these new things that are happening to widen your audience and tell your story to a different crowd?
So I think that’s where we, as the show, have such a unique opportunity that we can build not only from the knowledge that we have, but also in bridging the traditional audience that has learned so much with the new audiences that are coming along and can really learn a little bit from each other.
Radio Ink: And to close here, when you look ahead to the next three years, now that the rebrand is out there and this will be the first launch of that, what’s your vision for NAB Show in New York over the next three years?
Karen Chupka: I think this is going to be a place where we can continue to do a deeper dive into some of the really important things, especially to the East Coast community. So, leaning into things with AI and journalism and how that’s going to emerge and evolve. Looking at live production and what’s happening in the whole sports world – the opportunities that are out there to tell the story in so many different ways and to connect more with consumers via all the different sports programming that’s happening.
I think those are all really topics that we’re going to be able to delve into more and more as new technologies come out and evolve in helping to connect consumers and brands, and fans together.
Join Radio Ink at NAB Show New York on Wednesday, October 22, for the Radio + Podcast Interactive Forum, featuring the 2025 Radio Wayne Awards and a panel moderated by Radio Ink President and Publisher Deborah Parenti on content monetization.
