So now it is my turn. You've read what Gary Fries, Dean Sorenson and Roger Utnehmer have to say; here’s my take. RAB has real issues, some an extension of the problems in Radio, others unique to this important institution. This is meant to get the conversation going; RAB is too important to let the situation get any more out of hand.

Let’s not get too fancy … we need to talk about the future of the Radio Advertising Bureau, the RAB. By “we,” I mean the commercial Radio industry…all of it, not just the mega-groups. We need to have this talk right now.

That our industry is troubled goes without saying. That the RAB is itself troubled, because of the difficulties in our industry, is also easily understood. However, the troubles of the RAB go way beyond what would naturally follow from an economic downturn, even one as severe and overwhelming as what we are currently experiencing. RAB has repeatedly shot itself in the foot, and those same gunslingers have yet to holster their weapons.

When Gary Fries' tenure as President and CEO of RAB came to an end, it was concurrent with a change in how the organization itself was run. Previously, a large (and, truth be told, too large) Board of Directors made decisions, usually following the guidance of a long-serving Executive Committee. The new model gave much greater power to a re-formed Exec Committee, generally biased toward Radio’s largest groups, and a new Board of Directors. A newly formed Board of Trustees is little more than honorary.

Under Fries, and most of his predecessors, training was a dominant job of RAB. Whether through courses, conferences, seminars, articles, or the Training Academy, training and associated sales tools were what RAB did and did well. Then, as deregulation and consolidation came along, the Radio industry needed someone to explain itself to Wall Street. Gary Fries expanded his role, emerging as both a spokesperson and a visible leader for our industry. Surprisingly to some, he generally earned very high marks both from the industry and the investor community. RAB, always a major industry player, raised its stature even more, taking the lead in issues as varied as Electronic Invoicing, what became known as PPM, minority recruitment, mentoring for women and the transition to on-line initiatives.

How things have changed. Ask yourself this very simple question: When was the last time you remember a quote, on anything at all, from current RAB President Jeff Haley? It is the “Sound of Silence,” eh? The last time I definitely remember a Haley statement was concerning the future of the annual RAB Conference, normally held every year right about now. After the “Fiasco on the Fairway” (Haley’s botched attempt to turn what had always been a nuts and bolts working conference into a golfing get-away) he announced that, in the future, RAB would combine its Managing Sales Conference with the Fall NAB Radio Show. While NAB’s initial response seemed to indicate that this was very much news to them, everyone is now on the same page and the combined event will be held in DC late next September. We know this because of a release from NAB, not from RAB.

The role of industry leader for the President and CEO of the RAB has very much been abandoned by Jeff Haley, much to Radio’s detriment. Surprisingly, I don’t necessarily blame Haley, at least for this. It isn’t what he was hired to do.

Jeff Haley was hired to target Madison Avenue. Not Wall Street. Not Main Street. Madison Avenue. The big groups wanted RAB to focus its leader’s efforts on getting Radio some respect (and getting them some billing.) The Executive Committee made it clear that they didn’t want an “operator,” didn’t want an “industry face,” didn’t want an “inspiring” or “charismatic” leader. They wanted someone on Madison Avenue, pitching Radio to the big agencies. I'm sure it made sense to them, at the time. Heck, it even makes sense in 20-20 hindsight. But it hasn’t made any sense, any sense at all, for a couple of years. What a disaster.

Once the economy stopped, RAB’s efforts to woo Madison Avenue rolled craps. There just wasn’t any money available from Madison Avenue to make the kind of difference that the Board envisioned with Haley’s hiring. Membership tanked. Staff was reduced, and reduced again. The remaining staff waited for internal leadership, for clear direction, for a sense of its role in leading Radio out of these troubled times. They waited for leadership that just never came. New York-based Haley stayed away from the RAB’s operational center in Dallas, arriving only to send more off to the “land of the let-go.”

RAB is in trouble and Radio’s recovery is threatened because of that trouble. Sure, RAB continues to offer training. But that training is no longer the focus of RAB’s leadership. RAB continues to offer tools, but those tools are no longer the focus of RAB’s leadership. RAB still retains some top staff, but that staff is no longer the focus of RAB’s leadership. While ANY association can only be as strong as its members, an effective association is there giving strength to its membership. And that’s just not happening the way it should be for Radio from the Radio Advertising Bureau.

Here are a couple of concrete actions that need to be taken immediately:

1) RAB’s Executive Committee must be broadened to look more like our industry really looks. Let’s see more Main Street leaders. Fresh faces and fresh ideas are needed at the top, and fewer of the same old names.

2) RAB needs a new leader now. This isn’t just someone to be CEO of the RAB, but a leader for our industry, a Broadcaster, who knows what Radio is all about. We need a visible, well-spoken, thoughtful, independent crusader for Radio.

3) Since the person I've just described might be a great CEO, but perhaps not such a great COO, uncouple these jobs and give the RAB the power of two people dedicated to fixing what is wrong internally AND externally both in New York AND Dallas, an office where many feel almost abandoned.

4) RAB staffers need to get back on the road, not just on the web. In stations, at group gatherings, in markets, at State Association meetings. The RAB has become almost invisible to many broadcasters, in all sized markets. This MUST change.

There are many other ideas, but all of them depend on a leader who can push and inspire Radio from the outside and push the Radio Advertising Bureau from the inside. Neither one is happening now; time is running late.

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You can reach Lindsay Wood Davis via email at lwdnrg@aol.com

For more information on the RAB, please reach out to Jeff Haley, President and CEO of the RAB at JMHaley@rab.com