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As an avid baseball fan for more than five decades, you often feel like you’ve seen it all – until earlier this week, that is. This has been an absolutely abysmal season for my Detroit Tigers. In April, the team jumped off to a roaring 11-2 start, and the city was thinking World Series. At the very […]

We’ve talked about the amazing NPR One app over the past year, and even gave it our “Radio’s Most Innovative” seal of approval. It was originally referred to as a Pandora-like app for NPR and local public radio programming, with the ability to skip stories, pause, and even rewind 30 seconds. The NPR One app […]

I always look forward to Nielsen’s data releases, especially about audience dimensions that go beyond the ratings. Their reports on streaming, mobile, and other key dimensions are often revealing and helpful for those of us actively positioning and marketing radio in a fast-moving media environment.  And their newly released Total Audience Report is a great […]

Putting your politics aside, watching the Republican Debate the other night on CNN presented an interesting challenge about how to gain attention in an overcrowded field. With 11 candidates on the main stage (posed somewhat awkwardly below in front of Air Force One), the burden was on each of them to stand out, to be remembered, […]

Yesterday in a blog post called “’The Marlboro Man’ Guy,” we talked about how radio’s great program directors of the past did more than just shuffle songs and make out the weekend schedule. They shaped their stations, made them special, and in the case of the truly great ones, built megawatt brands – some of which […]

Back in the ‘80s, Paul Jacobs took a break from radio to work for a marketing services agency. This company created and executed promotional campaigns for several major league brands – like Philip Morris. Each of the companies and products they repped had a brand manager, but the one that truly mattered – Marlboro – had one guy […]

Last week, we talked about how the podcasting financial model is beginning to shake out. Many of those sitting in garages, basements, and studios delivering on-demand radio – better known as podcasters – are becoming more intricately involved with their sponsors. Advertisers are finding podcast commercials are more effective when delivered by a trusted personality […]

In just a couple weeks, something amazing is about to take place in Pittsburgh. And unless you’re in public radio, you probably have no idea it’s even happening. You see, public radio programmers have their own dedicated organziation – PRPD – dedicated to working with content creators in their system to make better radio. While commercial broadcasters […]

Now that the Donald Trump campaign is showing continued signs that not only it isn’t going away, but looks to be competitive for the foreseeable future, understanding the media’s fascination with the phenomenon is instructive to all of us in radio. Everywhere the pundits turn, Trump is proving that breaking the well-defined rules of politics […]

There is no city in the world that is more synonymous with work and workers than Detroit, Michigan. Detroiters pride themselves on their work ethic, and when you think of the Labor Movement, the Motor City always comes to mind. So as we jump into this year’s Labor Day Weekend, it’s an opportunity to take […]

Maybe you remember seeing Minority Report and the creepy scene in the mall where Tom Cruise gets bombarded with personalized ads as each nearby store gleans personal information about him from scanning his eyes. Far-fetched? Not really. In fact, today’s mobile beacon technology comes close to replicating that futuristic scene (minus the eye part), serving up […]