Speakers & Sessions

 Bart Feder is a certified executive coach, leadership consultant and a veteran of more than 40 years in media and journalism. A native New Yorker, Bart started his broadcasting career in his hometown as a news writer and editor at 1010 WINS Radio — which at the time was the most listened to news or talk station in the nation. TV news producing jobs in New York and Boston came next and were followed by news director assignments in Jacksonville, Sacramento, Boston and ultimately back home to New York’s WABC-TV. Bart saw the possibilities of on-line video before most, and in the early 2000’s left TV to lead a streaming video start-up called The FeedRoom – a company that managed the first on-line video applications for many major media companies, corporations, and government agencies. The next stop was CNN, where Bart was senior vice president of current programming, with oversight of primetime, mornings, daytime and long-form specials. But he couldn’t get local out of his system and in 2015 returned to broadcasting as the senior vice president of news for Tribune Media, where he oversaw news operations in 29 markets. While at Tribune Bart also served as general manager at WPIX in New York and continued in that role after the station’s acquisition by Scripps and until it’s sale in 2021.

Bart’s Sessions:

“Fearless Innovation and Transformation”

Get ready for an interactive keynote that promises to explore broadcasting’s future opportunities as well as real world solutions to the current challenges of our business. The discussion will center on embracing innovation, driving transformation, leveraging localism, leading change, and taking risk.

“How Good Managers Become Great Leaders”

What does it REALLY take to lead in business today?  This session will focus on 5 key components:  The difference between management and leadership, what it takes to create a shared vision, how to leverage emotional intelligence, how to strengthen listening skills, and the best ways to give and receive feedback.  Great take-aways for current and future managers and leaders.  

Larry Rosin is President of Edison Research, which he co-founded in 1994.  Since then he has been a primary force in building the company into one of the world’s most respected survey research companies, with a particular specialization in media and election polling.  Edison is best known as the company that performs Exit Polls for all U.S. Elections for the National Election Pool.  In addition, Edison is well known for its groundbreaking media research series “The Infinite Dial” which tracks developments in digital media, and “Share of Ear” which measures all audio usage in the U.S., among many other things. Rosin is a graduate of Princeton University where he majored in Public and International Affairs, and he received an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Larry’s Session:

“Knowledge to Recharge Your Local Super Powers”

You will leave this session with super powers of your own because knowledge is power.  Understand the broad trends that are affecting the media landscape by attending this session that includes tracking data of the highest quality collected over decades.  While international players such as Amazon, Google/YouTube, Apple and Spotify are competing on one level, the data will show that the opportunity to connect with local consumers remains a huge advantage for broadcasters.

Maria Kestner is a National Account Manager for Futuri Media. When she was young, her mom compared her to Katie Couric, saying she had the name and energy for TV news. Sporting her made-for-broadcast name (Maria Mazzotta), she joined her high school radio and TV broadcasting club and went on to host a Tuesday night radio show on the Denison University WDUB – The Doobie!

Turns out her passion for broadcast isn’t on-air, but instead behind the scenes! She has spent 16 years selling the #1 CBS affiliate in the United States (WHIO), the ACM award-winning K99.1 FM, and the newspaper on which Cox Media Group was founded. A two-time President’s Circle Award winner, Million Dollar Digital Seller and Cox Health Marketing team member, she’s joined the forces at Futuri Media to promote and support stations and media companies across the globe! Futuri Media is at the intersection of media, content, AI and technology and she’s thrilled to be at the center of it! 

Maria’s Session:

“AI… Friend or Foe?”

Since the blockbuster launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, artificial intelligence, which has been around for many years, has become a polarizing topic in media and consumer circles. However, there are many incredible ways broadcasters can use it to their advantage to become more live, more local, and more relevant to their audience and advertisers. Maria Kestner from AI technology firm Futuri will cover ways you can take advantage of AI today to drive results.