On January 5, 2019, Howard Michel, WB2ITX, the new ARRL CEO was the keynote speaker at Ham Radio University. I’d urge you to watch the whole video. I think you’ll see why I support our new CEO. If you can’t watch the whole thing, here is the TL;DW (too lazy, didn’t watch) version.
Right off the bat, he says, “I’m here to start a conversation,” and then went on to say that he, …wants to move the hobby into its second century in a way that makes sense for everyone.” Note that this is quite a bit different from the way the ARRL has operated in the past.
He then went on to share his vision of the ARRL as a balance between being a membership association, a 501c3 public charity, and a business organization. Striking that balance is tricky, but it must if the ARRL is going to succeed.
ARRL as a business
In discussing the ARRL as a business, the first thing he did is to identify the corporation’s revenue streams: awards, membership, publishing, advertising, and VEC. He then went on to note that revenue from all these streams is down!
Why is revenue down? The simple explanation is that the ARRL is not creating enough value for amateur radio operators. For the ARRL to succeed, it’s going to find out what its customers want and then figure out how to give it to them. One way Michel plans to do this is to reorganize the staff and its functions.
Another way is to be innovative in what they are currently doing. For example, Michel noted, the ARRL is the dominant player in providing information about amateur radio. But, they need to be innovative in how they provide that information. As he noted, QST is derided for being both too technical and not technical enough. A more innovative approach would be to find a way to deliver the information that each individaul member is looking for at the level that they’re looking for.
ARRL as a membership organization
Next, Michel tackled the problem of declining membership. He noted that there are approximately 30,000 new licensees, but only 17-18% join ARRL (a little more than 5,000), and of those 5,000, nearly 40% fail to renew their memberships the second year. This not only does not bade well for membership in the long term.
One of the consequences—one that I’ve pointed out many times—is that fewer members means less clout. Michel could have been reading from one of my blog posts when he said, “How can we claim to the FCC that we represent amateur radio when fewer and fewer are ARRL members?”
To show what the ARRL is up against, he showed two charts:
On the left is the current makeup of the ARRL membership. The proportion of members holding an Extra Class license is shown in yellow, General Class in blue, and Technician Class in red. On the right is the makeup of the entire universe of U.S. amateur radio operators. The takeaway here is that while the ARRL may be serving the needs of its members, that’s not necessarily the right strategy to increase membership.
So, the question, then, is what do Techs want? To answer that question, he showed the following slide, which include the results of a recent study.
The ARRL has started working on this, but I’m afraid that their effort is going to be too little, too late.
Ham spectrum
Next, there was kind of an abstract discussion of the “ham spectrum.” This was an attempt to classify hams into various classifications with the idea that different types of hams have different membership needs. I don’t know that I’m really big on these types of exercises. They’re simplifications of the real world, and while they do have some value, they only have value when those using them are cognizant of the model’s shortcomings.
I was disappointed that this talk didn’t discuss the role of volunteers in the ARRL. Michel had said he was going to talk about this, but apparently ran out of time. As I’ve said before, the ARRL could be so much more successful if it could harness the brainpower of the membership. Getting priorities straight, and reorganizing the staff to work towards those priorities is important, but getting the volunteers on board will make a huge difference.
Michael Morgan says
Dan, Thanks for posting this on your blog. I admit to being one of those ARRL members who pay the dues, but get little from the organization beyond access to QST on line, and occasional good deals on publications. I must pay closer attention!
Alan Biddle says
Interesting that he was NOT selected at the just concluded ARRL Board meeting.