The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than 8,300 terrestrial radio and television stations as well as broadcast networks.
As of November 1, 2009, the president and CEO of the NAB is Gordon Smith, a former United States Senator from Oregon.[1]
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The NAB was founded in 1922 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. The association's founder and first president was Eugene F. McDonald Jr., who also launched the Zenith corporation.
The NAB worked to establish a commercial radio system in the United States. The system was set up in August 1928 with the establishment of General Order 40 — a radio reallocation scheme by the Federal Radio Commission which awarded the choicest frequencies and broadcast times to the then-emerging commercial radio industry. In the wake of General Order 40, a loose coalition of educators, nonprofit broadcasters, labor unions, and religious groups coalesced to oppose the NAB and their allies through the 1920s and 1930s, and to develop a public, nonprofit, license-funded radio system without commercials (similar to what happened with the BBC). The coalition claimed that the commercial industry would only promote profitable programming, thereby reducing the quality and future potential of radio broadcasting.
Not having the political connections, resources, or publicity of the NAB and the commercial radio industry, the non-profit coalition eventually lost the fight with the passage of the Communications Act of 1934.[2]
Many satellite radio enthusiasts have criticized the NAB for lobbying against legislation approvals for those services. The NAB protested the FCC's approval of both satellite radio services in the United States — XM and Sirius — and furthermore criticized the 2008 merger of the two companies, calling the merged company a "potential monopoly".[3]
The NAB has lobbied against the use of white spaces, unused broadcast spectrum lying between broadcast channels, for wireless broadband internet and other digital use. The NAB has claimed that use of white space will interfere with existing broadcast spectrum, even though tests by the Federal Communications Commission at levels far stronger than that being advocated for in policy circles have not supported such claims.[4] Indeed, the FCC has recommended the use of white spaces for broadband and other digital use.[5] In 2011 the NAB funded an advertising campaign titled "The Future of TV"[6], advocating for the private ownership of the spectrum, framed as a threat to free television.
Organization similar to the NAB exist in individual U.S. states, including Georgia Association of Broadcasters (GAB) in Georgia, and the Illinois Broadcasters Association (IBA), in Illinois. In Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has a similar role.
NAB's annual spring convention is the NAB Show. It typically draws over 100,000 industry professionals.[7] NAB also manages the NAB Radio Show which is held each autumn and draws over 3,000 radio professionals. At the 2010 and 2011 NAB shows, popular technology included stereoscopic video and editing software - a demand inspired by James Cameron's Avatar; point-of-view cameras, and DSLR cameras boasting shallow Depth of Field. Other strides in nonlinear editing technology included archival film restoration, digital audio mixing improvements, motion stabilization of hand-held footage and rotoscoping with one click.
| Year | Television | Radio |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Bob Barker | Larry Lujack |
| 2007 | Meet the Press | Rick Dees |
| 2006 | Regis Philbin | Dick Purtan |
| 2005 | The Tonight Show | Jack Buck |
| 2004 | Roger King | Mormon Tabernacle Choir "Music and the Spoken Word" |
| 2003 | Walt Disney anthology television series | Scott Shannon |
| 2002 | Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In | Dick Orkin |
| 2001 | Ted Koppel | "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow |
| 2000 | Saturday Night Live | Tom Joyner |
The NAB presents several annual awards:
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