NAB: The National Association of Broadcasters Show 2010

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NAB 2006. PodSqod (now NewMediaGear) at the Symetrix booth creating “Live” Podcasts!

When I first attended NAB as a ‘Podcaster’ in 2006, most of the show was spent explaining the word to traditional broadcasters in the radio hall. Broadcast News legends, such as Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather were among the many speakers that year.

A lot can change in 4 years. The trademarked NAB Show slogan for 2010 is “Where Content Comes To Life“, with the word Content highlighted in blue. I remember the apprehension on the faces of many broadcasters that year, but also remember a surge in interest – curiosity.

Here we are in 2010 …and a lot has changed. First; podcasting. I changed the name of our site several years ago from PodSqod (terrible name) to NewMediaGear. I think that was a good move. Podcasting never “faded”, but rather served as the launchpad for a media revolution that had started long before. The hobbyist podcaster hasn’t gone away, but simply taken their mic and mixer to work. The entrepreneurs (including traditional media moguls) of the world found just how easily and cost effectively they could advertise using dozens of different “rich” mediums using audio and video, not to mention social and viral means. Just think of the overhead involved in traditional television broadcasting. Huge, city-centric buildings and infrastructure, large payrolls and amazingly complex data centers feeding transmitter sites and towers. How many of us still use rabbit ears or television antennas with rotators to capture those signals? Meanwhile, Hotspots are everywhere. This entire nation is being inundated with rooftop cell transceivers. It is no longer a one-way path. Users are interacting with media, not just consuming it. No longer will we, as listeners and creators, work our schedules around a network time slot to view programming. DVR it. Watch it on your phone (while your eyes are still young!)

When I was a kid, there was media (print/radio/television) and that was it. Cable! Cable brought, and continues to bring us more information than we (or our DVR’s) could ever engage. Our phones now double, not only as media receptors, but mini HotSpots when we’re in the few areas that aren’t served by one. No HotSpot – just take one out of your pocket.

What does it all mean? If I knew the answer, I’d be typing this from a yacht instead of my office. And yes, even with a yacht, I’d still be on a laptop!

The only certainty is that we can never go back. I don’t gamble, but would say with certainty that the days of 3 networks and an independent are gone for good. The consumer, not the provider, decides what and when they consume. Content is the future, and there’s plenty of it – both good and bad. How we get it is still up for grabs and the choices are growing every day.