Bob Pittman, David Field Talk Up Radio At NAB Show

Field, Pittman, LeGeyt

iHEARTMEDIA Chairman/CEO BOB PITTMAN and AUDACY Chairman/Pres./CEO DAVID FIELD appeared at the NAB SHOW MONDAY afternoon (4/25) with NAB Pres./CEO CURTIS LEGEYT to promote the radio industry.

PITTMAN, touting his own resumé (crediting his MTV/VH1 with starting the cable network revolution and his AOL with the development of online advertising), said that, "I know what transformational moments feel like, and now we're in one." FIELD said he started in investment banking and then worked with his father at ENTERCOM to build a company "from scratch," adding, "We are really on the cusp of the best era for radio and for audio."

Taking a positive out of the pandemic, PITTMAN credited the crisis for the public discovering how to use smart speaker devices to listen to audio, and also for driving people to rely on radio for news and companionship ("that'll be a forever relationship"). FIELD agreed, and added that the pandemic prompted broadcasters to "embrace change at a much faster clip than ever before."

PITTMAN characterized SPOTIFY and PANDORA as replacing CDs, cassettes and personal music collections rather than radio, which offers a more personal connection.

On the data being reported about audio consumption, FIELD argued that radio needs to be better "ambassadors" for the industry, calling for radio to "stand up and be very, very vocal about the data, and make sure there's no fake news out there about the numbers."

The role of radio in combating misinformation prompted FIELD to repeat the assertion he made at last week's ALL ACCESS AUDIO SUMMIT that radio should be committed to the facts ("no spin") but, at the same time, be open to other opinions. PITTMAN added that 15% of Americans are at the extreme right or extreme left but control the national conversation; he said radio needs to "listen to all sources and validate the truth." FIELD suggested that, "We need to keep a close eye" on hosts on News-Talk stations passing misinformation, but PITTMAN chalked it up to opinion, comparing talk shows to newspaper opinion pages while adding that radio "needs to make clear the difference between opinion and news."

Promoting radio's service in emergencies, PITTMAN credited his company's scale for its ability to cover them, saying, "We have the scale to be able to say 'forget the revenue, we can cover it.'" The conversation did not address cutbacks and regionalization in radio news operations.

Looking at the next five years, PITTMAN said that "we do not have a podcast strategy, we do not have a digital strategy, we have a product strategy," noting that iHEART has moved into Web3 because "the public is moving towards Web3." He was not specific about what the company plans for Web3. FIELD suggested that the industry is becoming better at promoting itself and closing the gap between itself and competing media.

Addressing the industry's challenges, FIELD pointed to the need to "crack that code" to get radio its proportionate share of advertising spending. "We should be getting a much bigger share of that media mix," FIELD said, adding, "I think we will." PITTMAN countered that he lived through the same thing with cable networks and AOL, advising, "advertising always follows the consumer, and I think it will happen here."

FIELD voiced skepticism at the idea that CONGRESS can rein in big tech companies, suggesting that the issues will be left to the marketplace, although PITTMAN added that the public is unaware of the privacy issues involved for now. FIELD also warned about moves that might disrupt free radio broadcasting's technical integrity, mentioning GEOBROADCAST SOLUTIONS' geotargeting FM booster platform as a challenge that could interfere with consumers' desire to hear their desired stations.

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