See you in Las Vegas (for the 2011 NAB Show)?
Mar 1, 2011 1:00 AM, By Chriss Scherer, editor
It’s like a broken record: “I can’t believe it’s time again for the NAB Show. It seems like we just finished the last convention.” And here we are, saying it again.
What’s in store this year? Lots of new products, more sessions than ever, several high-profile speakers, and an expanded convention scope. The “B” in NAB Show doesn’t cover the wide range of technology and industries, which extends to cinema, online and some consumer areas. It truly is an electronic media expo.
Once again, the radio and pro audio areas are in the front of the Central Hall. I like this location because it’s closer to the South Hall session rooms, where the Broadcast Engineering Conference sessions are held. It also puts my home base in the center of the entire convention, and there are a number of exhibitors with relevance to radio who are outside the radio area. We have assembled a collection of new products that will be unveiled this year in our NAB Extra! From the mic to the antenna or streaming server, you’ll find plenty of new things to see on the exhibit floor.
And to help you find the exhibitors, our annual pull-out Radio Hall map is included in this issue. This includes an exhibitor index so you can easily track your path. You can also download the Radio Hall map so you can take it with you.
The sessions are always abundant with information, and this year is no exception. Starting with the SBE Ennes Session on Saturday, the rather dry topic of facility infrastructure is given a new look with topics ranging from tower management to IPv6. If you can make it part of your schedule to arrive for the Ennes session it’s well worth it.
The remainder of the Broadcast Engineering Conference covers new and emerging technology, HD Radio, cloud computing, IT, regulatory issues, emergency operations, datacasting and going green. How’s that for diversity? Overall it’s a good mix of theoretical and practical information for engineers.
But there are some sessions outside the Broadcast Engineering track that may interest engineers. A handful of sessions from the Broadcast Management track look interesting, particularly the Monday session about the FCC’s Consolidated Licensing System and the Tuesday session called the FCC and You. There’s also a super session on Tuesday called Media Devices in a Connected World.
We’ve created a condensed session timetable for you in our convention preview as well. And if you want to add the sessions to your Outlook or Google calendar (or other app that reads ICS files), we created links so you can stay on time throughout the show.
We’ve all heard that economic indicators are looking up. Reports on station ad revenues reflect this as well. I expect the attendance figures will increase once again this year, so make the most of your time at the convention by planning your course now.
A fond farewell
In February, Radio magazine transitioned from being a Penton Media publication to a NewBay Media publication. Over the past month I have been asked many times how this will affect Radio magazine. Truthfully, it’s not as drastic a change as you may expect. Working with NewBay opens some new opportunities for the magazine, which I welcome. But the editorial mission continues, and the same regular contributors are still a significant part of what we do – with one change. Radio magazine’s FCC Update column has been authored by Harry Martin since the magazine was launched on its own in 1994, but his roots started earlier with Broadcast Engineering magazine, where Harry also writes the FCC Update column.
With Broadcast Engineering staying at Penton, a change followed, and Harry will stay with BE. Harry has been an outstanding contributor to Radio magazine, and I’ll miss working with him. However, the FCC Update column will continue going strong as Lee Petro takes over that space. Lee’s inaugural column is in this issue. Welcome aboard, Lee!
