NAB-RTNDA 2008

Blogging from the 2008 NAB-RTNDA conference in Las Vegas.

The verdict for Dan Abrams: he likes him some mobile content. Especially after the warm welcome he got this morning. Abrams moderated a panel discussion on a new standard that will allow all of us to watch live TV anytime, anywhere. (Our brother blog, MobileContentToday has more on the session.)

In his introduction of Abrams, the chairman of the OMVC, Brandon Burgess said it was "a pleasure to have someone" of Abrams's "stature" moderate the new media discussion. Burgess went on to talk about Abrams's 15 years with NBC News, his management of MSNBC, and his "new project," his 9pmET show, Verdict.

After the gushing, Abrams jumped in with "good thing this is not scripted."

• Also seen at the conference, former CNN and NBC correspondent Mike Boettcher with a stuffed backpack, and a posse of digi-heads planning their RTNDA-NAB coverage strategy.

CNN's Kyra Phillips moderates a panel discussion about breaking news strategies at the 2008 RTNDA conference in Las Vegas. Julie Chin of KNX radio in Los Angeles talked about leading her team during three days of uninterrupted coverage of wildfires last fall.

Local news directors at the forefront of some of last year's biggest breaking news stories discussed their leadership during those trying times that left their newsrooms stretched thin. Shane Moreland was news director at WSLS when Seung-Hui Cho went on a rampage at Virgina Tech. He praised his two "one-man" band reporters, actually two women, who worked at the station's bureau in Blacksburg. Moreland talked about the challenges in getting information from local authorities, only to see one authority "show up on ABC World News:" the network "bigfoot, Moreland called it

Moreland also talked about Cho's controversial manifesto video sent to NBC News. As the NBC affiliate, Moreland found himself in a special situation. "We had a one pass run" of the video, he explained. "We got a lot of negative feedback, but felt it was part of the story."

Lindsay Radford was assistant news director at KSTP when the I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Radford was eight months pregnant and about to get the top job. KSTP had planned to announce ND Chris Berg was losing his job on August 2. The August 1 collapse of the bridge delayed that news a few days. Radford said of her leadership "I did what journalism is all about."

CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, moderator of the panel, had some parting words for the three dozen or so students in the room: be alert and be around. "When I was an intern in San Diego I was asked to run out to do an interview," Phillips said. Turns out the interview was with Mother Teresa. "I still have a rosary she gave me."

continued...

The nation's news leaders (and the companies that would like to sell them the latest and greatest in technology) are gathering in Las Vegas today for the RTNDA (Radio & TV News Directors Association) conference. Once again, RTNDA has timed its annual gathering with the much larger, tech-centric National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). The NAB Show got underway Friday and includes more than 1,600 exhibitors showing off some of the products that could be coming to your desktop, soon. (We are particularly interested in checking out Livestation, whose senior strategist is former CNN exec Chris Cramer.)

Among the newsers taking part: Kyra Phillips of CNN moderates a panel later today on newsroom leadership; MSNBC's Dan Abrams leads a panel discussion on Mobile TV initiatives (he'll head back to Burbank for Monday's Verdict); and later Monday, ABC's Sam Donaldson is honored for his 50 years in the business. Also Monday, CBS's Charles Osgood will be presented the Distinguished Service Award by the NAB. FBN's Stuart Varney, NBC's Kerry Sanders and CNN's John King are on hand to either take part in or moderate panels.

The actor Tim Robbins gives the keynote Monday morning (I know, we said the same thing, Tim Robbins?). And Bob Barker comes on down for an induction into the NAB Hall of Fame.

TVNewser will be here to cover it all.