Embrace New Technologies, Radio Forum Is Told

Radio can take advantage of new technologies and should not fear them.
That was part of the message from Susquehanna CEO David Kennedy, speaking at a forum sponsored by Interep in New York City for ad agency executives and radio broadcast clients.
According to an Interep summary, Kennedy told attendees, “Discussions on the future of radio often veer toward two poles on a continuum. On the one end, you hear, ‘Don’t worry about these new technologies… they’ll come, they’ll go, we’ll be fine.’ At the other extreme, you hear, ‘Radio is over. It’s dead.’
“The truth is a lot closer to the middle,” he said. “Radio is going to be fine if we pay attention. … There is awareness and understanding and motivation on the part of broadcasters to take advantage of new technologies – not fear them as much as understand them and embrace them.”
Charles Warfield, president and COO of ICBC Broadcast Holdings, said, “We as broadcasters have not done the best job in communicating with the advertising community. There are a lot of projects that are being funded by broadcasters – that we are doing quietly – and we’re not talking about it.”
Interep is an ad sales and marketing company.