TALKERS Conference is an Advance Sellout
The 27th annual installment of the talk media industry’s longest-running and most important national event is set for Friday, June 7 at Hofstra University, just outside of New York City on Long Island. TALKERS 2024: Radio and Beyond – like its colorful predecessors – is an advance sellout. The power-packed, one-day agenda is spectacular! Check out the official Program Guide here. TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison states, “Because the entire agenda of this year’s event will take place on the state-of-the-art television soundstage at Hofstra University’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication and a special staging area for individual interviews will be set up on an adjacent TV soundstage, the opportunity to create an in-depth video time capsule of this remarkably transitional moment in talk media history will be unprecedented.” Harrison adds, “The number of heavyweight players from all ends of the business gathered in one place for one day on a television soundstage will be of tremendous historical significance. We will grab the opportunity to save everything we can for posterity. This conference will be more than just another industry ‘convention.’ It will be a ‘symposium’ reflecting and preserving a remarkably colorful and historic era in American media and culture. Broadcasters and students of communications all over the world for years to come will bear witness to this ‘happening.’” The storied talk media industry tradition will again be presented by TALKERS in association with the prestigious university’s multi-award-winning station WRHU Radio and the school’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication. For last minute information, call Barbara Kurland at 413-565-5413.
questions as it did answers about what young broadcasters entering professional media today should be prepared for in navigating the unpredictably turbulent waters of the next decade and beyond. Among the sweeping panorama of topics covered in his address, Harrison told the students, “When looking to the future, don’t be too sure that current events will follow a predictable script. There are always ‘black swan events’ that change the storyline and our expectations in an instant. Plus, there are multiple outcomes, possibilities, and forks in the road for almost every situation.” Regarding the current focus on artificial intelligence, Harrison advised, “All technology is a double-edged sword and AI will prove to be a particularly consequential one with both positive and negative implications. However, don’t fall into the age-old trap of thinking that productions and performances created or enhanced by new technology are necessarily ‘artificial’ or ‘fake.’ New tools not only create new art, they have an irrepressible influence on giving rise to new culture. The immediate years ahead are likely going to provide us with the challenging question of ‘what does it mean to be truly human?’” Harrison concluded, “As young broadcasting students in 2024 looking to make a difference in the world, be prepared to face the challenge of following your dreams, ideals and inspiration while confronting the harsh realities of making a living in a stressed environment of relentless change. We live our lives in this business at the dangerous intersection between art and commerce.”
For the last several years, KSHSAA has opted into agreements with third parties that prevented local broadcasters from video-streaming games when the exclusive partner opted to do so. Kansas Association of Broadcasters president Allison Mazzei states, “I’m pleased that now, in post‐season, friends and families of student athletes will have access to free, quality coverage from the same broadcasters who cover their teams all season long. Local high school sports should be covered by local broadcasters. Our broadcasters depend on the revenue generated from high school sports coverage to stay on air and provide local news, weather, entertainment, and emergency alerts that communities depend on.” The KAB also notes students interested in pursuing careers in radio broadcast will also benefit from the legislation. Previously, if a local station was prohibited from video streaming a post‐season game, so were their student workers. Now, students will be able to cover all of their school’s activities regardless if it takes place in post season.