Fries: ‘We Take Ourselves For Granted’

President and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau Gary Fries accentuated the “positives” of the radio broadcasting business in his semi-annual state of the industry speech, delivered at the NAB Radio Show last week in Philadelphia. The presentation marked his first public speech since announcing he would not be seeking renewal of his contract at the end of 2006.
“There (are) a lot of positives in our business…We take ourselves for granted,” he said, encouraging broadcasters to be proud of their Gulf Coast relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “Make sure everyone you talk to understands how important radio was to the people of the Gulf States.”
He described the importance of the Radio Effectiveness Lab research in verifying radio’s efficacy and commended the industry’s support of it. Fries attributed the RAEL research as key to the success of RAB’s national marketing efforts to secure appointments with advertisers and agencies.
Electronic measurement was also a main topic in the speech, although Fries was careful to stress that he is not endorsing one particular device. “I don’t care what it is,” he said, “but we need electronic measurement and it must be right.” He noted the RAB’s sponsorship of a presentation by a European company offering an alternative to Arbitron’s PPM.