Graveline Blasts Shapiro, Says His Radio Show Won’t Have CES Booth for First Time in 23 Years

Into Tomorrow radio broadcaster Dave Graveline spared few words in blasting CTA and CEO Gary Shapiro, as well as the viability of CES, for the fact that his company won’t have a broadcast booth on the show floor for the first time in 23 years. CTA wanted Into Tomorrow to pay $17,600 this year to build its broadcast “pavilion” in a secluded “alcove” of the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the company refused, blogged Graveline Friday. CTA at previous shows gave Graveline the space for next to nothing, he said, suggesting Shapiro was taking retribution for not having been interviewed often enough on Into Tomorrow: “It’s not all about you Gary Shapiro, it’s about your Exhibitors!” The association respects and appreciates "how Dave and his Into Tomorrow team have covered CES and other CTA events over the years," said spokesman Jeff Joseph in a statement Monday. "As a general rule, we do not pay our CES Media Partners or other broadcast outlets to cover our events, and as we communicated to Dave several months ago, following our 2018 show we can no longer justify continuing the financial subsidy we uniquely provided for several years to his company. Respecting our long relationship, we did, however, offer him space in one of our broadcast towers for CES 2018."