Tuesday, April 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
An estimated 90,000 broadcast professionals are in Las Vegas today, learning about the latest in interactive and multimedia communication, hearing from media giants and applauding radio and television stars.
The National Association of Broadcasters is meeting through Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and, for the first time in the convention's history, the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
Many exhibits on new multimedia technology will be displayed at the Sands when the convention's trade show opens today.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp. and the owner of the Fox Television Network, was the keynote speaker today. He was scheduled to speak after a presentation of the 1996 Distinguished Service Award to Charles Kuralt, the longtime CBS News correspondent who retired in 1994.
The NAB show, the largest gathering of broadcasters in the country, is an opportunity for other smaller organizations to meet at the same time. The Television Bureau of Advertising's annual marketing conference is planned in conjunction with the NAB show.
Vice President Al Gore is slated to be at the marketing meeting Tuesday morning. He will discuss the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which overhauled 1934-vintage laws and relaxed rules for television, telephones and home computers.
The new law and its effects will be addressed in a number of seminars, including one attended by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt.
NAB delegates this week will honor broadcast personalities with a pair of inductions into the industry's halls of fame.
"MASH" will enter the Television Hall of Fame. Scheduled to accept the award are Mike Farrell, Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit, Larry Gelbert and Gene Reynolds.
Heading into the Radio Hall of Fame will be shock jock Don Imus, who is delivering his nationally syndicated "Imus in the Morning" talk show from The Mirage today and Tuesday.
The keynote speech at Tuesday's luncheon will be delivered by Charles Osgood of CBS Radio's daily "The Osgood File" and "CBS News Sunday Morning."
The increased attendance for the show has been attributed to the growing number of exhibitors. The 1995 show took up 550,000 square feet in the Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas Hilton. This year's show covers 650,000 square feet.
The number of exhibitors is up from 992 last year to more than 1,088 expected for this year's show.
The NAB show is also the first major show to be staged since the opening of the Desert Inn Super Arterial. The east end of the new roadway empties near the convention center, but its presence isn't expected to significantly reduce the number of traffic snarls that traditionally occur when big conventions are staged in Las Vegas.
The only delegates who may use the road to get to the convention sites would be those staying at the Rio and Gold Coast hotel-casinos.
About 350 people, many of them journalism students, attended a job fair Sunday at the convention.
Recruiters from 30 companies, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, were looking for the next Walter Cronkite.
"It's a lot harder to get a job out of college than I thought," lamented Margaret Kaplan, a senior at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. Still, she thought some interviews were promising toward her dream of landing a TV production jobs in news.
"We're encouraging the development of future talent for our industry," said NAB spokeswoman Lynn McReynolds.
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