Note from Larry Bloomfield

Friday, August 23, 2007

Taste of NAB Road Show 2007 Report

We wound up one of the toughest weeks we’ve ever done in the six years we been doing the Taste of NAB Road Show to a crowd

of very appreciative engineers at the Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska. The “Big Room,” as it was aptly named, give us lots of room to spread the technology we brought with us and share

it with those in attendance. The room had three large projector systems - two in the front

and one in the back, which we took advantage of for our presentation. In truth, there is

really nothing small about this entire complex.

the local Fox affiliate and Pappas owned station, and Bob

Drake, who provided the space at his church for our Omaha

venue; Westside Church. Once all had their fill of Pizza and

soft drinks, the local chapter 78 of the Society of Broadcast

Engineers held a brief meeting and then we started.

Once again, we flew solo – none of our sponsor’s reps were present – with only Lyle

Henry to aid us in the presentation with his FM Extra technology. We always do our best to answer questions about the technology we

bring with us, but we are NOT sales

people and DO NOT quote prices or

delivery, which are common

questions we get on the technologies we have with us. We can only go so far when it

comes to directing those in attendance as to where they can get additional information

when reps aren’t there. In truth, their presence permits them to make appoints for later

meetings and we’ve seen that happen many times over.
 

So that you know, we’ve added someslides to our power point at the opening just so our audience understands what we do and what our relationship is to our sponsors.

As we have said MANY times before, the CDs our sponsors provide are a tremendous

help. You can get an entire product line and technologies beyond what we’ve shown on

our Road Show on a CD. It is unfortunate, but we do see the printed material looked at

and then discarded – many times as the attendee is departing the venue. This is NOT true

of the CDs. Please take our observations here in the field to heart and do what you can to

address it if you have not already. Trying to get potential customers to take information in

formats they don’t want is a total waste of your time and company’s money, in our

humble opinion.

If you’d like, contact us after the Road Show and we’ll also help you to do Power Point

presentations on your technology. We’ve taught that subject in schools and have a lot of

successful experience in this area. If you are interested, Jonathan is a graduate from the

University of Oregon with his degree in journalism in electronic media and can do video

presentations on your technology. God only knows he’s seen and know it from the all the

presentations we’ve done this year. These can be included in power point presentations or

used by your sale people when there just isn’t enough of your product to pass around.

Another point to consider, is when your technology is too large to take with you on the

road by your people or by us on the Taste of NAB Road Show, a video can demonstrate

its functions, features and benefits in its physical absence.

It is true that we say that our sponsors need not have their people present, but with

increased interest in your technology that we present, it does lend credibility to the

sponsor’s interest in what we do and their desire to have face-to-face contact with the end

users. Some of the technology we have with us does not require this kind of effort, but

much of it does.

Off of the soapbox: Henry gave his usual talk about FM Extra digital radio. FM Extra

provided lunch through Lyle Henry. Henry was invited to join us by local SBE member,

Jim Skinner, who has been our host in years past. Henry’s addition to our presentation

fills a need for more radio oriented technology on the Road Show and he usually picks up

the tab for the food as he did at this presentation.

The presentation was flawless yet again. We completed it with available CD’s and

literature as well as passing the equipment around the room

for a close up look. The audience, most of whom do not

make it to NAB, was very happy to some see the latest and

greatest products from that splash in the Nevada desert.

Several of the radio engineers present enjoyed the Henry

Engineering’s line of products. The local Pappas station

engineers are familiar with the Nverzion automation system,

as most of the Pappas stations utilize it. They contributed to that part of the presentation

with personal experience. Their company is very proud to be one of the first to have on

order one of the InPhase holographic storage devices and expressed interest in the new

Omneon Media Deck.

The Road Show will give its 46 presentation on Tuesday August 28, 2007 in Bozeman,

Montana. The venue will be KUSM-TV, and the show will start after lunch at noon.

#116

Subject: Indianapolis Taste of NAB

Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:20:47 -0400

Larry,

I really enjoyed your presentation at the Indianapolis SBE/Taste of NAB program. Sorry

I was a little late because of storms affecting some of my stations. As always, your

presentation was very informative, and being able to touch and see the hardware was

quite helpful. Too bad Lyle Henry was not able to fit this meeting into his schedule.

Thanks for the food also, and thanks for the door prize which has already arrived via Fed

Ex.

Jim Wagner, Chief Engineer

WGNR -FM 97.9 Anderson, IN

WGNR 1470 AM Anderson, IN

WIWC 91.7 FM Kokomo, IN

WHPL 89.9 FM Lafayette, IN

WFOF 90.3 FM Covington, IN

WMBL 88.1 FM Mitchell, IN

Moody Broadcasting Network

www.wgnr.org

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#115

Subject: acclamation

Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:12:15 -0400

Larry, I just felt I had to let you know how much I admire you and

your operation and the way in which you pursue your vocation and

Road Show. I can't imagine how you manage it---makes me feel

very ashamed when I complain about my back problems and

constant pain and I think about your problems.

If anyone deserves an award it is you. It's time someone did something about it.

Best wishes and regards

John

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#114

Subject: Minneapolis show

Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:56:50 -0500

Larry. Thanks for the great show. I especially enjoyed seeing the Omneon, Leader, and

ESE equipment.

Scott Rivers

Chief Engineer

Twin Cities Public Television

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#113

Subject: Thanks!

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:18:07 -0400

Larry,

Thanks for the "hot" discussion and display of products this week at our Chicago SBE

meeting. A real pleasure to meet you and a great opportunity to see some great gear -

which I think I might just buy some of!

Take care, 73 and all that...

George J. Molnar, CBTE (KF2T)

Chief Engineer & Production Manager

WGBO and WXFT, Chicago

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#112

Subject: Henry question

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:40:43 EDT

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your excellent presentation last night. BTW most of the time I have a heater

going in my office, even now during the summer. So that's the status of our ventilation

system! Feast or famine .. .

I was wondering if Henry Radio has a silence detector for digital audio. We're

developing a master control solution for PBS stations, and a device like this could save a

few A/D and D/A converters . ..

Thanks again,

Mark Albert

SBE chapter 26.