The WBA Summer Conference returned to Milwaukee last week and celebrated at the home of the WBA Hall of Fame at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. Here are the highlights:
Golfers traveled on Wednesday to Fire Ridge Golf Club in Grafton to enjoy some time on the course for the annual WBA golf tournament.
At the conference, Engineering Day kicked off with a talk about the challenge of maintaining bases for AM towers from Rich Wood of Resonant Results and discussion on the early stages of the television repack with Kent Aschenbrenner, Senior Director of Engineering for E.W. Scripps.
The engineers then joined a session open to everyone about safety for journalists and broadcast station sites with a panel that included Dan Shelley, Executive Director, RTDNA; Ben Hart, News Director, WISN-TV; David Oxenford, Partner, Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer; Michael Kass, Brown Deer Police Chief; Mike Kemmeter, News Director, Woodward Radio Group; and Katie Crowther, Reporter, WTMJ-TV. The panel was moderated by Juli Buehler, News Director, WLUK-TV and WBA Board member. It was an important conversation that will likely be taken up again at future conferences.
Jack Zavoral, Director of Member Development, Local Media Association, also hosted a session about how digital products fit within the marketing scheme for local businesses. Jack would like to share his session for a wider audience in a WBA webinar. Look for details coming soon.
A team of speakers took on the topic of data analytics and discussed how it could be used to help broadcasters. Lindsay Wood Davis, Broadcast Management Strategies led the conversation with two experts in the field, Heather Storm, Music Director, Woodward Radio Group and Diny Hurwitz, Business Analyst, Chicago Bears.
The engineers started their afternoon hearing from Eric Reese, Customer Development and Applications Engineering, Americas, Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, about what wireless mic manufacturers are doing to keep mics working after the TV repack and recent white space rulings. That was followed by a panel of millennials who took questions from broadcast veterans about how the younger generation views their work in broadcasting. That was followed by roundtable discussions with general managers and human resources personnel to discuss what was learned from the millennial panel and how it could be used to help recruiting.
Thanks to the millennial panelists: Justin Hull, Brand Manager, WHBY/WSCO; Marty Mangerson, Chief Engineer, WJFW; Justin Van Hout, Broadcast Technician, Woodward Radio Group; and Britny Williams, Broadcast Specialist, WPR. And thank you to our roundtable moderators: Joe Poss, General Manager, WTMJ-TV; Anna Engelhart, Station Manager, WKOW-TV; Kelly Radandt, General Manager, Woodward Radio Group; Don Vesely, General Manager, WMTV-TV; and Jeff Ver Voort, Director of Human Resources, Morgan Murphy Media.
The Job/Career Fair was held in the beautiful Empire Room, which was followed by our EEO session with Binnu Palta Hill from the UW Business School. She talked about inclusion, diversity, and recognizing and overcoming unconscious bias in your decision making.
In the legislative update, we heard an update on federal issues from David Oxenford and state issues from Brandon Scholz from the Capitol Group. WBA State Legislative Chair Kelly Radandt and Federal Legislative Chair Roger Utnehmer offered their final reports. WBA and NAB Board member Tom Walker also offered a report on ownership issues.
The exhibit reception was well attended and there were many raffle prizes to give away. Thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets in support of the WBA Foundation.
Thursday started with our business breakfast and economic report, followed by concurrent sessions. Robert Russo, President and CEO, RNR Media Consulting, held two separate sessions on selling broadcast versus local cable. One session was geared toward radio and the other toward television. At the same time, attendees heard from speaker and author Rita Emmet who talked about overcoming procrastination to be more successful and Bill Marklein, Founder, Employ Humanity, who explained how to use emotional intelligence to improve interpersonal skills.
At lunch we honored four Local Broadcast Legends in the Empire Ballroom. Kathy Keene, Margaret Neader, John M. Wadd, and Jeff Wagner were recognized for their contributions to their local communities. The families of Margaret Neader and John Wadd accepted the posthumous honors.
NAB President and CEO Sen. Gordon Smith delivered a keynote speech to a full room, reflecting on the contributions broadcasters make in their communities. He was joined by NAB Senior Vice President of State Associations and Board Relations Sue Keenom. Sen. Smith also attended the WBA Hall of Fame on Thursday night and spoke to the Toolbox event on Friday.
The Thursday sessions ended with an uplifting presentation from Mike Hulvey, COO, Neuhoff Communications, who spoke about the honor of serving as broadcasters. It was a wonderful session to lead into the Hall of Fame event Thursday evening.
Chris Lytle, Tom Koser, Gary Timm, and Bob Smith were inducted into the WBA Hall of Fame Thursday night. Read more here.
The conference continued Friday with the Toolbox event produced by and for young professionals in broadcasting. Read more here.
Thank you to the WBA Conference Committee and thank you to our conference partner, the Wisconsin Army National Guard, and to all the sponsors who supported the event.
