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NAB's Fritts Launches Succession Process

Washington, DC - Edward O. Fritts, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters since 1982, notified the NAB Board of Directors today of his desire to begin the succession process that leads to the selection of a new President and CEO at the broadcast industry's primary trade association.

Fritts, who has a contract as president and CEO that runs until April 2006 and will continue as a consultant thereafter, told the NAB Board that "filling the top position of a major Washington, DC trade association requires a thorough review and selection process. I wanted to time this announcement to best facilitate the search committee's effort" at finding a successor.

Co-chairing the search committee to identify Fritts' successor will be NAB Joint Board Chairman Philip Lombardo, CEO of Citadel Communications; and Immediate Past Joint Board Chair David Kennedy, president and CEO of Susquehanna Media Company.

Fritts, who will turn 64 this month, said he has "every confidence that the search committee will find a talented and capable replacement who will continue building our great association."

Lombardo and Kennedy said they will begin the process of retaining an executive search firm to identify potential NAB presidential candidates. "Eddie Fritts has had a remarkably effective career in Washington," said Lombardo. "We owe it to NAB membership to conduct an exhaustive search to find the right person to lead and continue the NAB as the dominant organization for the broadcast industry."

"Eddie Fritts will be a tough act to follow," said Kennedy. "His insight, vision and tireless work on behalf of broadcasters have served us extraordinarily well during his entire tenure. But I'm confident that the search committee process will identify the right person to lead NAB into the future."

Fritts owned a broadcast company based in Mississippi before being elected NAB president and CEO in 1982. Under his leadership, NAB scored a string of regulatory and legislative successes, including:

• passage of the 1992 Cable Act, in which broadcasters successfully won must-carry/retransmission consent rights and overrode the only veto by President Bush;
  
  
• the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which resulted in a loan of additional spectrum to television broadcasters to facilitate the transition to digital; deregulated radio ownership; and granted greater stability to broadcasters by lengthening license renewal terms from three to eight years;
  
  
• passage of legislation that rolled back an FCC low-power FM initiative that would have eliminated rules protecting radio listeners against additional interference;
  
  
• elimination of the misnamed "Fairness Doctrine," which required broadcasters to air both sides of a controversial issue;
  
  
• passage of "local-to-local" legislation as part of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act that allowed local TV stations to be "spot-beamed" back to a local market;
  
  
• blocking government-mandated free airtime for politicians and the so-called "Torricelli Amendment" requiring TV stations to provide deeply discounted airtime above the 30% discounts already afforded politicians under the "lowest unit rate;"
  
  
• and built the NAB into one of the most financially sound trade associations in Washington, thanks in part to the annual NAB Convention in Las Vegas that features 95,000 plus attendees and more than 1,300 exhibiting companies

Fritts told the Board that NAB's most important accomplishments have been the result of an industry that speaks with a single, unified voice. Broadcasting's success is also tied to its commitment to localism, he said. "I am confident that as long as localism remains our unique franchise, our industry will be well-positioned as we look to the future."

Fritts is an "Ole Miss" Alumni Hall of Fame inductee, an inductee in to the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and was the "2000 Golden Mike Award" honoree by the Broadcasters' Foundation.