FEBRUARY 23, 2023

On Monday of this week we celebrated Presidents' Day. Did you know that four US Presidents have spoke at NAB's Annual Convention? One of these instances occurred in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter addressed broadcasters in Las Vegas. In attendance that day, and highlighted in red, was former KBA Executive Director, J.T. Whitlock.

Ethan Moore, KBA board member and General Manager of WSKV, recently took the fun and innovation of radio to the classroom in order to reach the next generation of broadcasters and listeners.

4th grade students in Mrs. Johnson’s class at Stanton Elementary have been working on their writing skills by creating commercials to help promote local tourism. In collaboration with the Powell County Public Library and local radio station WSKV, students were able to record their audio commercials while learning about the production process. Click on the links below to take a listen... you won't regret it!

CG Bank

Crabtree's Candies

Mr. Ed's Hotdogs

Sue's Hotdogs

Click the image above for a short video message from Derron Steenbergen with the Ten-Minute Trainer Network, KBA's newest member service.

Five journalists with careers that covered some of the biggest stories of the late-20th and early 21st centuries make up the 43rd class of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees are:

Sam Dick, of Lexington, a WEKU-FM reporter who spent more than three decades as a highly regarded reporter and news anchor at Lexington’s WKYT-TV;

the late John Fetterman, a Courier-Journal reporter and editor of The Louisville Times’ Scene section, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1968 C-J Magazine story “Pfc. Gibson Comes Home,” about a community’s farewells to a soldier killed in Vietnam;

Kim Greene, a Louisville lawyer and First Amendment champion who helped start and run the Kentucky Press Association’s Freedom of Information Hotline to serve member newspapers;

Dave Kindred of Carlock, Illinois, whose spectacular career included 12 years as a Courier-Journal sportswriter and columnist, which led to him interview Louisville native Muhammad Ali more than 300 times;

and the late William Warley, founder and editor of The Louisville News and a civil rights crusader who shaped the movement in Kentucky in the first half of the 20th century.

The induction ceremony will be March 31st at 6:00 pm in the Gatton Student Center Ballroom C at the University of Kentucky. 

Al Tompkins is known throughout the world of broadcast journalism as a bulldog of a reporter and a teacher with a relentless enthusiasm and work ethic.

He’s spent 25 years working in local broadcast newsrooms of Kentucky and Tennessee and 25 years teaching professional journalists at Poynter.

After 50 years of making the news and teaching others how to make the news, Tompkins is retiring. Although he promises to do the occasional teaching gig, for the first time in his adult life, he will not have a full-time job in journalism. READ MORE

KBA would like to thank some talented radio broadcasters for their help last week in Elizabethtown, judging the annual Mississippi Radio Awards. KBA reciprocates awards judging with several other state associations.

(top row, L-R) Amanda Fontaine, Executive Director - Mississippi Association of Broadcasters; Brian Walker, WQXE; Greg Milby, WKMO and Roger Gribbins, KBA's Director of Member Services.

(bottom row, L-R) Kate Smith, WYKY; Jodie Thompson, WQXE; Lesley Clendening, WOKH and Trisha Caudill, WQXE.

We want to promote YOU! Send us your staff additions, promotions and special events. Email Chris at chris@kba.org

WHERE ARE YOU HEADED?

I mentioned before that my wife and I love exploring the roads and scenery we've never seen before.  Each ride/drive has the potential to be a great new adventure.  Unfortunately, clients don't see advertising as an adventure.  In my experience most actually hate the process because it appears so complicated. Most business owners are very comfortable and adept at running a successful business.  Tell them they need to advertise and the freeze.  

Carolyn is old school; she loves the Road Atlas when traveling.  I’m a tech geek, so I like it on the screen.  The problem with paper maps is that you have to keep pulling over to look at them.  And who can fold them back up?  The problem with GPS is that you are focused on the screen and the voice prompts and can't look around and enjoy the scenery.  Like the value of a high-level local seller, the very best is having a guide. A guide can show you the way, and even better share the stories and the history of new places you choose to explore.  Last week we took a guided tour of Ernest Hemmingway’s house in Key West Florida.  There was a self-guided tour where you read the placards, but we chose the guided tour where you get the stories.  Our experience on the guided tour and the stories we heard made the adventure much more enjoyable.  History that we never would have known from a map or GPS or placard.

Media salespeople are in a unique position to be the guide for their clients and prospects.  Schedules can be purchased through mathematical calculations of cost per point, reach, and cost per thousand. Indeed, it is a process that can be performed by a computer.  The problem is - that is not advertising.  That is scheduling.  Advertising includes identifying the needs and wants of the business and the customers of that business. Then guiding them with a strategy using creativity and experience to meet those needs. Anyone can read a book on buying advertising, or how to create effective advertising, but nothing can replace the experience, talent, and creativity of a person who can show you the way.  

A GPS can get you from point A to point B.  The goal of advertising is to get results, and automated efficient scheduling is only "part" of the process.  A local, experienced seller is required to guide business owners to true success.

Someone in unfamiliar territory can easily get lost, distracted, and frustrated. Business owners need help, they are looking for guidance, expertise, and solutions to their problems.  Will you be the guide they need?

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Your active KBA membership entitles you to complimentary access to RAB's online certifications.

MAY 18, 2023

9:00am eastern - KBA Board of Directors Meeting in Bowling Green

SEPTEMBER 24-25, 2023

KBA Annual Conference @ Northern Kentucky Convention Center

*All times shown are Eastern

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