KBA'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

August 19, 2021

KBA CONFERENCE POSTPONED TO 2022

EXCELLENCE AWARDS TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY

LEGACY AWARDS HELD OVER TO NEXT YEAR

In a statement that was shared with KBA's Board of Directors yesterday afternoon, Chairman Mark Buckles announced that the Executive Committee had unanimously decided to postpone this years annual membership conference until 2022. "The decision was certainly not an easy one to make but we feel as though we, along with Chris, did our due diligence to properly evaluate the circumstances that we are all facing".

Chairman Buckles went on to say that, "our decision is based on several factors, including: the recent spike in positivity rates across the state, the uncertain course of the coronavirus pandemic and its delta variant, advice from the Daviess County Public Health Director, proposed corporate travel restrictions, recent broadcast conference cancellations by neighboring states and most importantly, the pulse of our membership". Chris Winkle, KBA President & CEO, said, "I reached out to numerous members by telephone and overwhelmingly the tone was of extreme concern for the health and safety of their staff. We are disappointed to be faced with yet another set of circumstances that prevent us from gathering as a broadcast family".

Plans are already underway for a return to Owensboro in the fall of 2022.

EXCELLENCE IN BROADCASTING AWARDS TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY

A decision has been made to conduct the Excellence In Broadcasting Awards virtually in early November. A list of award finalists will be published in coming weeks along with the date, time and viewing instructions for the live presentation.

LEGACY AWARDS HELD OVER TO 2022

The Awards Committee met on Tuesday afternoon and unanimously voted to delay the 2021 Legacy Awards presentation until an in-person ceremony can be held in 2022 when 2 classes of inductees will be recognized.

KBA BOARD OF DIRECTOR ELECTIONS

ALL NOMINEES RUNNING UNOPPOSED

The nominating window for this years district nominations has officially closed. The following nominees are running unopposed and have been declared the winner of their respective seat, per KBA Bylaws.

Chairman-Elect

Chad Lampe, Murray State University

Radio Director - District 1

Jim Moore, WYMC, Mayfield

Radio Director - District 3

Steve Fehder, Summit Media, Louisville

Radio Director - District 5

Michael Jordan, iHeart Media, Lexington

Radio Director - District 7

Ethan Moore, WSKV, Stanton

Television Director - Lexington

Jeff Anderson, WKYT, Lexington

Television Director - Other Markets

Julie Milam, WNKY, Bowling Green

Television Director - Public

Shae Hopkins, KET

Associate Director

Charlie Baglan

The 2-year term for Directors will begin on December 1, 2021

RAB LEADERSHIP MASTERCLASS

SEATING IS LIMITED - CLASS BEGINS SEPTEMBER 30TH

Empowering, equipping and inspiring the managers of sales teams is vital to the growth and success of an entire organization. The RAB Leadership MasterClass (LMC) is designed for that purpose. It combines the highly-acclaimed Certified Radio Sales Manager course along with monthly group coaching to address the on-going challenges our sales leaders face.

RAB's Leadership MasterClass is provided as a member benefit to KBA member stations.

LEADERSHIP MASTERCLASS APPLICATION

NAB SHOW PROVIDES UPDATES ON HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS

National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Executive Vice President of Global Connections and Events Chris Brown issued a letter to the NAB Show community regarding health and safety plans for the 2021 NAB Show. Click here to read the letter.

POYNTER WEBINAR:

REPORTING ON DEATHS BY SUICIDE

SEPTEMBER 15TH 12:00 - 2:00 PM EDT

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, in fact far more people die of suicide than homicide, yet it gets a fraction of our media coverage. This workshop will help you find ways to cover this epidemic of preventable deaths by boosting your awareness, knowledge and skills in covering this vital topic.

We will:

Expose some myths about suicide.
Document some of the most vulnerable populations.
Gun violence is a major part of any discussion about suicide.
This workshop is focused on reporting about deaths by suicide, not ignoring it.

This workshop is led by The Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins and Kelly McBride who have taught thousands of journalists worldwide how to ethically cover difficult issues. Tompkins is Senior Faculty at the Poynter Institute. Kelly McBride is the Institute’s Senior Vice President and leads Poynter’s ethics program. Together they combine more than 65 years of journalism and teaching in newsrooms including the biggest networks and newspapers to the smallest markets in all 50 states, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, Czech Republic and beyond.

This webinar is provided as a free service to KBA member stations.

BILLS INTRODUCED TO BRING BACK TAX CERTIFICATE TO FOSTER DIVERSITY

BY: DAVID OXENFORD

The minority tax certificate is back in the news with revised bills being introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. We wrote about a version of this bill introduced in the last session of Congress here. The tax certificate offers perhaps the most meaningful route to increasing diversity in broadcast ownership. While the certificate was abolished by Congress over 25 years ago, these new bills signaling the potential for its revival merits another examination of what this policy did and why it was effective, and what is now being proposed. Read more.

JEFF SCHMIDT'S SALES TIP OF THE WEEK

NOBODY MENTIONED MY ADS

We love sharing letters from our great members, particularly when they contain questions that may be helpful for others facing the same issues. Last week, we heard from Larry Gordon, who is a senior account executive (“Because I’m the oldest person here” he says), at Magic Broadcasting in Panama City, Florida.

I just had a client (a restaurant) say that they surveyed their customers over the past month, and they didn’t get very many customers say that they heard the ads on the radio. Therefore, the client has declined to renew their schedule saying a lack of response was the reason.

So... a question: How would you respond to this issue if raised by a client?

It’s a common problem, and it happens more than we likely admit. In some cases, when the client cancels, they don’t give us the courtesy of a reason. In my experience, Larry’s customer, like some of mine, were asking the wrong question. When they ask; “Why did you come to the restaurant today?” People rarely credit advertising. This is because of the number one rule in advertising:

People do not respond to ads; they respond to needs.

If Larry’s client would get an honest answer to the question, "Why did you come to our restaurant today?” people would respond, because I was hungry. Simple as that.

The question they should have asked was, “Why did you choose our restaurant today over the hundreds of other choices you had?” Then listen carefully to the response. My guess is they would pick up on phrases from the radio ads. You can ensure this by using unique phrases – phrases that people aren’t used to hearing. Radio works to create awareness of a brand BEFORE people need it. That is the very purpose of advertising:

To help a business become known before they are needed.

People don’t respond to ads; they respond to needs. In this case, it is hunger. When the guests at the restaurant discover they are hungry and want to go out, that’s when they search their minds for brands they already know. They know them because of the strength of the long-term advertising that is and has been done.

We love letters and questions, so if you have them, please send them to me at the email address below. We never use names without permission. Your letters help others #GetBetter. As Larry said in his follow up, “We should never feel that we know everything about selling, even if we’ve been doing it a long time. Never be afraid to ask a question.”

Great advice Larry!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

To learn more about RAB's online certifications, on demand webinars and Leadership Masterclass, please go to kba.org, Member Benefits, RAB Total Access. Provided as a free service to KBA member stations. If you need assistance logging in, please contact Amber Rhodes at amber@kba.org.