NAB's Gordon Smith Opens Show Express

As broadcasting celebrates its 100th year, the NABShow has taken on a completely new look thanks to COVID-19.

Usually the NABShow would have taken place during April in Las Vegas with upwards of 100,000 participants, but this years conference was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic

NAB Show Express began with President and CEO, Gordon Smith, opening this week’s programs by reminding stations that when KDKA, began broadcasting in Pittsburgh in 1920, the world was just coming out of another pandemic, the 1918 Spanish Flu.

Smith said, “Throughout the last century, America’s local radio and television broadcasters have been there to provide a reassuring voice and a sense of community during our nation’s most harrowing days.Now, as the world faces an uncertain situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, your work is more important than ever.

Gordon Smith

“Whether it’s providing the trusted journalism that is keeping our communities informed or providing access to our nation’s leaders and medical experts to help us better understand the crisis, you are protecting lives.

“Broadcasters feel the suffering of their communities and have stepped up like never before to support small businesses and local restaurants, raise funds for those who have lost their jobs and help feed the hungry.”

“Our great industry has endured for the past hundred years because of the indispensable and irreplaceable role broadcasters play in every town and city across the nation. And we will endure for at least 100 more, because you are the backbone of our country.”

In a subsequent conversation with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Smith said that the radio industry has been “doubly damaged” by the nation’s advertising downturn, according to Radioworld.

Pai said that he too had heard from broadcasters that it’s “very hard for small-town radio to keep the lights on,” and said the commission has been exploring regulatory relief including fee structures. He encouraged stations to tell the FCC how it can advocate. Pai said he wants to see the broadcast industry stay vibrant and “not shrivel.”

NAB Show Express features more than 100 live and on-demand sessions over the next two days