There is something different about sitting in a room full of radio people when everybody knows there won’t be another one of these next year. The conversations linger a little longer, the old stories land a little differently, and even the laughter carries some history with it. The Last Conclave moved into its first full morning of programming here in Minneapolis Wednesday, and appropriately, the first real session didn’t begin with somebody standing behind a podium telling radio what it ought to become. It began with a room full of broadcasters being invited to ask almost anything.
And believe me.
THEY DID
The traditional Ask Me Almost Anything session opened the morning with longtime consultant Harv Blain of Vallie Richards moderating a panel featuring Bob Leighton, Dennis Corbett, Dan Cash, Dave Ryan and Raphael George.
That’s a dangerous amount of radio experience to put behind microphones and then tell the audience there aren’t many boundaries.
Which, naturally, is precisely why it worked.
This Was Radio Talking To Radio
The conversation moved the way the best Conclave sessions always have.
Questions.
Stories.
Opinions.
Experience.
A little disagreement.
A lot of institutional knowledge.
And enough laughter to remind everybody that despite everything this business has thrown at us, radio people remain some of the funniest human beings you’ll ever put in one room.
There wasn’t a feeling of people delivering prepared corporate talking points.
This was considerably more human than that.
It felt like what The Conclave has always been at its best:
A CONVERSATION
Not between executives and an audience.
Between radio people.
Then Jeff McCarthy Got Dave Ryan
There are moments at conferences that absolutely cannot be recreated by reading the agenda afterward.
This morning gave us one.
Veteran programmer Jeff McCarthy got the microphone from the audience and directed a question toward longtime KDWB morning personality Dave Ryan.
McCarthy began by reminding Ryan of his morning-drive credentials and then essentially asked whether, after all those years of waking up ridiculously early, he actually knew what time it was.
The room lost it.
😂
Dave Ryan has spent decades proving he can handle a microphone.
Jeff McCarthy apparently decided to test him on a clock.
And for a few seconds inside The Last Conclave, the entire room was laughing.
THAT’S THE STUFF YOU DON’T GET ON ZOOM
And That’s Why Being Here Matters
You can watch webinars.
You can read articles.
You can listen to podcasts.
You can sit through Teams meetings until your soul leaves your body.
😂
But there is still something irreplaceable about getting radio people physically into the same room.
You hear the question somebody else thought to ask.
You meet the programmer whose name you’ve known for twenty years.
You run into somebody you worked with three companies ago.
You discover somebody younger who reminds you why you fell in love with this business in the first place.
And sometimes Jeff McCarthy asks Dave Ryan whether he knows what time it is.
That’s a conference.
But Underneath The Laughter Was Something Bigger
The opening session also immediately established what I suspect we’re going to hear repeatedly over these final days.
Radio is trying to figure itself out.
What matters now?
What does local mean?
What does great talent look like?
How do we develop people?
How much should technology do?
What should it never do?
How does radio remain culturally relevant when listeners have virtually unlimited audio choices?
How do broadcasters protect what makes this medium special without pretending it’s still 1996?
Those questions aren’t theoretical anymore.
They’re sitting inside every radio building in America.
And this morning, they were sitting inside this room too.
The Last Conclave Is Really Underway
Tuesday gave everybody time to arrive.
Badges.
Handshakes.
Hugs.
Drinks.
Reunions.
Stories.
And a remarkable number of conversations beginning with some version of:
HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN
Wednesday feels different.
Now we’re working.
Now the panels are underway.
Now the ideas are moving.
Now notebooks are open.
Now people are comparing what they see happening inside their companies, markets and stations.
And On The Dial is here listening to all of it.
And There Is Much More Coming Today
The morning session was merely the beginning.
Still ahead this afternoon is one of the emotional centerpieces of this final gathering:
The Rockwell Awards.
The Conclave will pause to recognize some of the people who have given extraordinary portions of their careers to broadcasting.
And at The Last Conclave, those awards carry additional weight.
This isn’t simply another year’s luncheon.
There won’t be another Conclave next year where everybody gathers and does this again.
That reality is beginning to settle over the room.
Not sadly.
Not yet, anyway.
But unmistakably.
You Can Feel The History Here
That’s the best way I can describe this morning.
You can feel it.
Some of these people have known each other for decades.
Some competed against each other.
Some hired each other.
Some fired each other.
Some probably got fired by each other and eventually became friends anyway.
Because that’s radio.
😂
Call letters change.
Companies change.
Formats change.
Titles change.
Careers take ridiculous detours.
But somehow the people keep finding each other again.
For nearly half a century, The Conclave has been one of the places where that happened.
This week they’re finding each other here one more time.
From My Seat At The Last Conclave
For On The Dial, this isn’t going to be coverage written from a press release.
I’m here.
We’re in the room.
We’re hearing the conversations.
We’re watching the reactions.
We’re talking with the people who have spent their lives building this industry.
And over the next couple of days, we’re going to bring as much of that experience to you as we possibly can.
Because if this really is the final Conclave, then it deserves more than a schedule recap.
IT DESERVES TO BE DOCUMENTED
The serious conversations.
The people.
The memories.
The awards.
The ideas.
And absolutely the moments when somebody hands Jeff McCarthy a microphone and Dave Ryan suddenly has to prove he can tell time.
😂
The first session is in the books.
The Rockwell Awards are still ahead.
There is a lot more radio to talk about.
And On The Dial is right here for it.
More soon from The Last Conclave.
— Steve Mills
President and Publisher
On The Dial
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