The radio board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters is about to get a little bit of extra technical expertise.
Conrad Trautmann, chief technology officer of Cumulus Media, has been appointed to fill the designated seat held by his boss Mary Berner. Such appointments aren’t unusual if a board member has conflicts or commitments, though having a technology executive filling in is less common. Cumulus and NAB didn’t state why Berner is stepping back.
Trautmann joined Westwood One in 2000 and was promoted in 2016 to SVP, technology & operations, of its parent Cumulus Media. In 2021 he was named CTO.
There are two ways members may be named to the radio board: elected or appointed. Elected seats are from districts based on geographic areas. The board also may appoint or designate a certain number of seats to ensure broad and diverse representation of broadcasters and their audiences.
The NAB also announced the results of its 2023 elections for the radio and TV boards; odd-numbered districts were up for elections this year. The two-year terms of these members will begin in June.
The radio results are listed below; asterisks indicate new members, others were re-elected.
- Allen Power, Salem Media Group, District 1 (New England)
- Mike Tarter, Forcht Broadcasting, District 5 (West Virginia and Kentucky)
- Nick Martin, Big River Broadcasting, District 9 (Georgia and Alabama)
- Julie Koehn*, Lenawee Broadcasting Co. and Southeast Michigan Media, District 13 (Michigan) – She is appointed to District 13, and Chris Ornelas will be appointed to a designated seat vacated by Bill McElveen, who termed out.)
- Dana Withers, Withers Broadcasting, Dana Communications and Stone Canyon Media, District 17 (Illinois)
- Nic Anderson*, Salem Media Group, District 21 (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota)
- Tery Garras*, Morgan Murphy Media, District 25 (Oregon and Washington)
- Collin Jones, Cumulus Media, District 3 (Pennsylvania)
- Dave Hoxeng, ADX Communications, District 7 (Florida, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands)
- Matt Mnich, North American Broadcasting Inc., District 11 (Ohio)
- Kenneth W. Forte*, R&F Communications, District 15 (Tennessee and Arkansas)
- Will Payne*, Payne Media Group, District 19 (Oklahoma and northern Texas)
- Felipe Chavez,* Bustos Media, District 23 (northern California and Alaska)
Also, effective immediately, Joel McCrea of iHeartMedia will assume the District 14 (Iowa and Wisconsin) board seat that was held by Gabe Fleet, formerly of iHeartMedia.
