IBA: The Adventure Begins!

• The Independent Broadcasters Association (IBA) announced that it has filed articles of incorporation in the State of Minnesota and is now officially in business. Ron Stone, Pres. & CEO of Adams Radio Group and the guiding force behind the creation of the IBA said, “We filed the articles last Friday, on a day where we were 96% of our 3,000-station goal. 2,877 stations had signed up, represented by just under 600 owners / operators. We continue to have additional owners signing up every day.” Stone added, “An initial board of Directors has also been selected — one third of Board members will turn over every December 31, starting December 31, 2021.”

Now, let’s meet the inaugural IBA Board members, in alphabetical order: Deborah Barrera, R Communications; Kristin Cantrell, Seven Mountains Media and Cap City Communications; Darrell Calton, Iliad Media Group; Allen Dick, Dick Broadcasting; Mike Flood, Flood Communications; Kenneth Forte, R&F Communications; Charles Johnson, Northstar Broadcast; Kimberly Martinez, All Pro Broadcasting; Gregory Pretko, Southern Stone Communications; Kelly Radandt, Woodward Radio Group; Tony Renda, Renda Broadcasting; David Stephens, Stephens Media Group; Ron Stone, Adams Radio Group; Tony Richards, Kensington Digital; Cindy Taylor, Ohio Midland Newsgroup; Rebecca White, Salem Media (of Indiana), and Sandra Woodruff, Northwest Indy Radio.

Stone (left) continued, “Our first board meeting will be scheduled for next week, to decide mostly organizational matters and to approve our business plan. We will have a conference call with everyone that has signed up at radioiba.org shortly after the board meeting to review the business plan and goals of the IBA. If you have not yet signed your company up, it’s not too late.”

Stone expects the membership section of the IBA website to be operational by August 1. Everyone that has signed up at the link in the above paragraph will receive an email with instructions. He added, “The IBA will be running at full speed in August and we anticipate delivering substantial parts of the program to our members before the end of 2020. We have some heavy lifting to do, and everyone is excited to get to it!”