New Radio Association Needs Dual Mandate, Full Participation
Any new industry association or representative body for radio broadcasting in Canada must have one hundred percent participation from the country's radio broadcasters in order to succeed.
The announcement that the Radio Marketing Bureau will close this summer means the industry will be without a unified voice, and so its leadership is preparing for the launch of a new organization, one that could have an important and expanded "dual mandate" that combines the role of the RMB with that of the CAB, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which folded earlier this year.
Gary Belgrave, the current RMB President, told Broadcaster Magazine that any new association has to include full participation from the industry in order to succeed.
"All the broadcasters have to get together; it can't be a piecemeal process. If radio broadcast industry is going to have its own association, then the players - big and small - all have to agree to be part of it. That's the way it will be most effective, and will speak with a voice that is most authoritative," he said. "If half of them are playing, and half aren't, it isn't going to work."
RMB currently represents over 400 radio stations across the country, saying they generate over 80% of Canadian radio revenue.
Belgrave says that to do it right, it needs to be one hundred per cent. So, too, the focus of the industry must be one hundred per cent on radio matters.
Previous attempts to help the CAB find common ground between broadcasters and cable operators, for example, proved increasingly difficult as different views of the industry emerged over controversial issues such as fee for carriage and local content origination.
The CAB, for example, concluded that TV broadcasters such as CTV and Canwest would not find common ground with cable companies like Rogers Communications, which has broadcasting assets.
The RMB faces similar issues, and it became less able to find highly focussed radio broadcasters with that medium utmost in their mind.
"There are some, but they are not of the big ilk," Belgrave noted. "That's one of the benefits or drawbacks of consolidation; the bigger players have more on their mind beyond radio. That's why the CAB started to fail, as radio broadcasters found they were not even on the agenda anymore. Many felt they were not getting their due voice for the fees they were paying.
So we have to have focus in the new association and its membership. Even though some may be part of a bigger plan, members like a Corus or a Rogers have to say, 'OK, that is our radio division and we are committed to it and we have this focus on it. I hope that's what the new association will enable them to do, to bring that focus and mandate."
As announced by the RMB's Board of Directors, the current association will continue to operate as normal for its current members until August 31, 2010.
Until that time, discussion will continue to pave the way for the radio industry to re-establish its presence with one association dedicated to its particular legislative, regulatory, sales and marketing needs.
As Lesley Conway-Kelley, Chair of the RMB, stated, "Radio's future is bright and the best way to move forward and continue to be relevant in the current competitive environment is to focus our resources into one association with a broader yet focused mandate." Additionally she said, "The only way this action is possible is that we are able to build on the superior work of the RMB and its team under the leadership of its President, Gary Belgrave, to transition into a new association that will combine the strengths of both the CAB and the RMB."
Industry executives are currently working together to develop the framework for this new association, including representatives from both the RMB and the CAB. Golden West Broadcasting's Elmer Hildebrand, the former member of both the CAB and RMB is leading those discussions, Belgrave noted, and is acting as a catalyst for the new association.
"There's a lot of discussion going on at the moment," Belgrave explained, "and we're just waiting to see where that nets out. There's no way that we could hive on to our organization the lobbying, legislative and regulatory duties of the CAB - that's not our (RMB) mandate. Any more than you could hive on to the CAB our mandate for marketing and advertising. It all has to be done differently in this day and age, in a unified and focussed way."
Belgrave noted that for some broadcasters, there would be a cost savings involved, as well.
"If they are only to pay to one organization, more focussed and more efficient, rather than two, that is a good thing from a financial point of view. But especially with an organization like ours, we need everyone to participate. If we are doing advocacy for the industry, and some are benefitting but not participating, that won't work. Some people have their own agenda, and they do not want to play in the sand box with those that are the competition, but that is not fair to the other players. We need a consistent voice, or our arguments fall flat. Speaking with one voice can give the whole organization much more clout in whatever venue they are talking."
Further announcements about the new radio broadcasting industry group are expected by if not before September 1, he added.
Originally published in Broadcaster Magazine, June/July 2010