A Message from NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr
June 6, 2006
Dear Broadcast Leader:
Those of you who joined us at NAB2006 in Las Vegas understand our pride in the success of this year's NAB Show. There was a tremendous buzz, from day one to the very last session. Our attendance of 105,046 was up from 2005, as was the number of exhibitors. International attendees hit a record 25,537 - from 136 countries. Now it's on to the The NAB Radio Show in Dallas September 20 - 22.
Since my last CEO Update, I've continued to broaden my communication with the NAB membership, to get to know all of you and hear what's on your minds. Among my recent visits are the Idea Bank's annual meeting in Atlanta, a tour of the studios of KINC-TV (Univision) Las Vegas, and a meeting with Dr. Frank Wright of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
My goal to attend as many state broadcast conventions as possible begins in earnest this month. I've already attended the conventions of the Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Louisiana broadcasters. Starting tomorrow, I'll join the state broadcast conventions of Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, Minnesota, Florida and Iowa. In July, I'll be with the North Carolina and Michigan broadcasters, and in August Arkansas, Texas, South Carolina and West Virginia. For those states where I have conflicts and cannot attend, I've sent a message on DVD, explaining my key goals for NAB. We're also emailing the state broadcast executives on a more regular basis to keep them informed on NAB activities.
NAB is expanding communication and interaction with the FCC Commissioners and their staffs. On May 25, I met one-on-one with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, and I've had similar meetings with Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein, Michael Copps and Deborah Tate. I expect to meet soon with the newly confirmed fifth commissioner, Robert McDowell.
We continue to reach out to the Senate and House leadership and Commerce Committee Members. In the past few weeks, I have met with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senate Judiciary Committee Member Sam Brownback and Senate Commerce Committee Member Jim DeMint, as well as House Commerce Committee Members Barbara Cubin and Heather Wilson.
As we pursue our legislative goals, we want to have more interaction between our government relations staff and our members, so we can maximize your relationship back home with your Member(s) of Congress and our relationships here in Washington. We want to continually leverage these relationships for the benefit of NAB members. Since I joined NAB, we have been building a government relations team which is second to none. These experienced advocates include:
·  Doug Wiley, who joined NAB in April as our new GR executive vice president. He was formerly senior vice president of government relations at the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). Doug led EIA's public policy team and forged legislative strategies to consolidate support of the high-tech industry on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle.
·  Laurie Knight, who came to NAB in January as senior vice president. She was formerly director of government affairs for the National Beer Wholesalers Association, responsible for developing offensive and defensive legislative strategies and overseeing the daily efforts of the GR team. Earlier, Laurie was legislative director for Representative Jim Turner of Texas.
·  Mike Mullen, who started at NAB in March, from the office of Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, a member of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee. Mike worked on Capitol Hill for more than nine years, and he handled a wide variety of issues during his tenure.
·  Rounding out the current stable in the GR advocacy shop is veteran Mike Hershey, senior vice president, who came to NAB in July 2004, from his position as chief of staff to Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Prior to his 14 years with the senator, Mike was staff assistant to Pennsylvania Representative Bob Walker.
We will continue to build the GR staff as we more forward. We want a top team in the corridors of Capitol Hill.
Within NAB, we are ensuring that our strategic plan and structure maximize our member needs. That includes enhancing our budget process. During my first six months, I've concentrated on getting a hands-on sense of where the money goes. You run a business, and I want NAB to run like a business, which is why I have been personally overseeing all financial transactions, including purchase orders, checks and invoices. We need to grab economies of scale to capture marginal savings, while moving toward a tighter cash flow that ensures our money is working for us. We're improving the budget process to ensure that our spending matches our priorities.
We're undertaking an in-depth assessment of our staff, to make sure our organizational structure meets our future requirements. We will have some evolution in our organization over time, to keep us forward looking.
In an effort to keep you informed, all of our members were emailed a link to my May 5 half-hour interview on C-SPAN's "Communicators" program. We're getting very positive feedback from the interview. If you haven't seen it, you can view it at C-SPAN.
In the next week or so, we will be mailing a very extensive, very important NAB Membership Survey to all member stations and groups. I need you to fill it out, and I need you to be honest. This survey will create a baseline to quantify our progress in future years.
I continue to value your input. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your ideas and concerns. You can reach me via email at or call me at (202) 429-5449 or on my cell at (703) 819-9396. Of course, you can always write me at NAB, 1771 N street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036 or fax (202) 429-5410.