2018 TAB Show Wraps with Rave Reviews

posted on 8.06.2018

- Industry’s Top Honors Unveiled at Awards Gala

The 2018 TAB Show in Austin last week earned rave reviews from convention delegates for its top-notch sales, marketing and engineering sessions and its 137-booth exhibit hall showcasing the industry’s latest gear and services. The event’s new location at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin proved a hit, being situated in the center of the city’s live music and restaurant scene.

The event – which is the largest state or regional broadcast industry meeting in the country – attracted 1,398 registrants.

Headline speakers included NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith, The Swagger Institute’s Derron Steenburgen and actor Glenn Morshower, each of whom garnered plaudits for their insights on public policy, broadcast sales and customer development, and achieving personal fulfillment and professional success.

Promax’s Kelly Wirges, ESA’s automotive sales and digital best practices expert Adam Armbruster, and LMA’s Facebook specialist Jed Williams zeroed in on revenue-generating strategies for stations, along with Jacobs Media’s Seth Resler who presented two content marketing sessions.

Fred Jacobs and NAB PILOT’s Sam Matheny took a deep dive into broadcast content and advertising in a world of connected cars and speakers thanks to Xperi, while monetizing ATSC 3.0 was the focus of a discussion featuring Nexstar CTO Brett Jenkins, Nielsen’s Jeff Wender, and TVB’s Steve Lanzano.

And that’s just a snapshot of some of the sales/marketing offerings over the day and a half conference.

On the technology side, engineers and IT teams took in multiple sessions on various IP protocols, the Spectrum Repack, ATSC 3.0’s Single Frequency Network, podcasting, video streaming of high school events, revamping technical plants and the future of broadcast engineering.

Five Bestowed Industry’s Top Honors
The closing Awards Gala paid tribute to the long careers and contributions to the Texas broadcast industry of five broadcast leaders.

Brad Streit, Senior VP for Raycom Media was named Pioneer of the Year, while the Broadcaster of the Year Award went to KHOU’s Susan McEldoon.

Longtime CBS Radio (now Entercom) engineer Erik Disen was tapped for the George Marti Award for Engineering Excellence, while retired Amarillo College broadcast professor Danita McAnally was honored with the Texas Association of Broadcast Educators’ Educator of the Year Award.

TAB’s inaugural Distinguished Service Award was presented to Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Regional Director of Technology David Ostmo, whose 12-year leadership in developing the technical program at the TAB Show has fostered growth in the trade show and participation by the broadcast engineers from across the country.

Save the Date!
The TAB Show returns to the JW Marriott Downtown next year on Aug. 7-8.

Questions? Contact TAB’s Oscar Rodriguez or call (512) 322-9944.

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