The exhibit floor at the NAB Radio Show was open for less than 12 hours all told; but even with that compressed schedule, numerous exhibitors told RW traffic was slow.
One vendor said “this is now more of a business-to-business show for me,” and he used his time to talk to other exhibitors.
Two suppliers reported that they had busy schedules because they’d booked off-the-floor appointments with customers, not on the floor. “This show has been like that for seven years now, in truth,” one said.
Engineering executives from CBS, Clear Channel, Cox, Cumulus, Bonneville, NPR and other prominent broadcasters were visible at the show and on the exhibit floor, including Gary Kline, Glynn Walden, Milford Smith, Steve Davis, Jeff Littlejohn, Talmage Ball, Mike Starling and others; but several exhibitors felt that the combination of recent severe weather and the fact that the Texas Association of Broadcasters had its own recent event here limited regional attendance.
A press release from NAB and the city of Austin earlier this week mentioned an estimated 3,000 attendees expected. NAB officials had not issued the attendance report as of Friday morning. Radio World estimated that attendance at the keynote was in the high hundreds. One new media session was crowded with about 120 people; a mid-morning engineering session Wednesday drew 40 or so.
Next year’s show will be in Philadelphia.
