LAS VEGAS — For years, he handed out the award. On Monday, April 24, he received it in an emotional tear-inducing presentation at a morning Main Stage session at the 2022 NAB Show.
Former U.S. Senator and NAB CEO Gordon Smith was given the NAB Distinguished Service Award, in a ceremony that followed honors for Beasley Media Group’s CEO and a famed actor known for the PBS series Reading Rainbow.
After getting visibly choked up, Smith remarked, “I don’t deserve this … but then again I don’t deserve arthritis either and this is a lot better.”
The affable personality of the Republican legislator from Oregon turned NAB leader was on full display, as he thanked the industry and his family. Smith also pointed to the current events as a reminder “that there is still much left to do” with respect to the fight among broadcasters for the First Amendment. He called himself “a foot soldier in the support of broadcasting.”
Smith’s honor came following the handing out of the inaugural Insight Award by the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation from Beasley Media Group Chief Communications Officer Heidi Raphael and D.C. communications attorney Jack Goodman, co-chairs of the LABF.
The honoree? Levar Burton, the renowned actor still fondly remembered as “Kunta Kinte” in the 1970s-era mini-series “Roots,” and as “Geordi La Forge” in the syndicated series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
NAB Joint Board Chair Dave Santrella, CEO of Salem Media Group, kicked off the honors by helping in giving the National Radio Award to Caroline Beasley.
In the words of Curtis Legeyt, the NAB President/CEO, “There are few people more driven and committed to this business than Caroline. She believes in the power of radio.”
On video, Urban One founder Cathy Hughes and Audacy Corp. President/CEO David Field each had warm words for Caroline, with Hughes noting, “She would have been successful in any business she decided to undertake.”
Upon accepting the award, Caroline Beasley was humble and disclosed that she learned of the honor on a day she visited her father, George Beasley. It was two weeks before he passed away, on a second and final visit to a Collier County, Fla., hospital.
She remarked that she beamed with pride in sharing the news of earning the award with her father, making them each recipients of the NAB honor. Caroline dedicated the award to George Beasley.
A ‘BORING’ JOB THAT’S CHERISHED
The Monday honors coincided with a first-ever State of the Industry address from Curtis Legeyt, who succeeded Gordon Smith at the start of 2022 as the NAB’s leader.
“As I have made my way around the Show floor, many of you have asked about my biggest thrill, challenge, or surprise since taking over my new role,” he remarked. “It’s a good question and one that brings to mind the reactions of my own young kids when they learned of my new job. My daughter, Caitlin, wrote me a note. It congratulated me on my ‘new, but still boring job…’ My oldest son Jack’s only question was how long it would take to institute a ‘free nachos’ policy for our entire staff back in Washington. My youngest, Desmond, had only one question, and it was whether this would mean fewer meetings. Nothing like kids to keep you humble, or to keep your priorities in check. But in truth, my first few months have been anything but boring.”
Legeyt added that there is truly no greater honor “than representing your interests in the halls of government every day, and I cannot imagine a more exciting or more important time to take the reins of this great association.”
He also took the opportunity to reiterate four areas where he believes policymakers “must focus” to ensure that broadcasters can continue to compete and thrive today. “First, Congress must take action to rein in the gatekeeping ability of the Big Tech giants who are stifling the economics of local news,” Legeyt said. He later remarked that lawmakers and regulators “must modernize media ownership laws to reflect the realities of the marketplace” and that the NAB is “urging the FCC to reorient how it thinks about broadcast policy more broadly.”
The fourth and final focus of the NAB’s advocacy seeks full congressional support for the Local Radio Freedom Act.
