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As Lori and I make the final preparations for our Morning Show Boot Camp presentation later this week at Don Anthony’s historic conference, I can’t help but think about how the role of personalities in radio has changed over the past few decades. Our session for MSBC utilizes our ten years of Techsurveys to lay out […]

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As smart as automakers are when it comes to marketing, they are frequently surprised by car sales demographics that often defy logic – or certainly go against the grain of why a model was designed in the first place. Consider this list of vehicles that represents the best sellers among a specific age group. So […]

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No, today’s blog post title is not an oxymoron despite what you hear from naysayers in and out of the radio business.  But as an industry, I think we all can agree that when it comes to innovation, we could do more and we need to do better.  And that’s why today, Jacobs Media is introducing […]

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You own a smartphone, you download apps, and your radio station may be very involved in the mobile ecosphere.  But a guy who lives this space every day of the week, jācapps’ COO Bob Kernan, brings a unique perspective to the conversation.  Recently, Bob celebrated his one year anniversary with the company, during which time he’s […]

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If you’ve been following our Consumer Electronics Show and telematics conferences tours these past few years, you know the one thing we’ve learned about the “connected car” is that there’s no single pathway to success. The lack of standardization among the automakers and their suppliers was a big topic at DASH last October, because the many […]

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More than a year ago, we ran a blog post called “Gone Mobile” that highlighted two photos taken from the same vantage point at St. Peters Square in the Vatican – taken eight years apart. It was a stark reminder about how much our world has been changed by the mobile movement in less than […]

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So Al Yankovic’s newest effort, Mandatory Fun, is the #1 best-selling album in the country?  Wow.  Amazing.  Weird. Weird?  Not really. When you think about the state of the music industry and the rapid change in the ways that personality brands have the ability to market themselves, it’s not weird at all.  It makes all […]

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That is the question, and one that Lori Lewis gets asked a lot. After all, stations are aggregating likes, followers, and connections at a rapid rate.  Why shouldn’t they monetize them? And in fact, there are ways to motivate and engage these socialized consumers.  But there are also downside risks that come into play as well, […]

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Yesterday, Mike Stern wrote a guest post about “super consumers.”  The idea of focusing on hardcore P1s has been around for decades, but the advent of new media tools changes the conversation and the strategy.  This played out in a recent Nielsen Insights memo that talked about the value of finding and delighting these uber fans. And […]

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Mike Stern has programmed lots of great radio stations in small markets and Top 5 metros alike.  No matter where you go, super fans – or as they are often called, “contest pigs” – are always part of the package.  In today’s guest post, Mike takes a look at how one consumer product has approached […]

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An ongoing trend in social media is the realization that the free ride is, in fact, over.  Maybe it never truly existed, but like many things free, it felt pretty good for a while. Facebook, and then Twitter, convinced brands (or did brands convince themselves?) that for absolutely zero investment, they could build pages that […]

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Last week, Dave Martin fired off a tweet featuring a cartoon created by the brilliant marketer, Tom Fishburne.  It depicts a corporate meeting that has the ring of truth for some of you who work for companies going through the difficult transition that has impacted the world of media over the last decade. The “low hanging fruit […]

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Last week, I was reminded by Don Anthony that Steve Dahl’s famous “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park (in an aborted doubleheader with my Detroit Tigers) was celebrating its 35th anniversary. When you look back at this bombastic event, it doesn’t feel dated.  More to the point, it begs the question of why these over the […]

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Now I’m not sure if a broadcast or cable TV network executive ever actually uttered the words, “Netflix is not television.” But I’ll bet a lot of them thought about it these past couple years, since House of Cards and then Orange Is The New Black became mega TV hits from Netflix.  (House of Cards’ Kevin Spacey […]

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The story of how Tamara Keith ended up at NPR is an inspiring one that was covered in both Scott Simon’s blog and on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday earlier this month.  She was 15 years-old when she wrote that first letter to NPR host Scott Simon. I hope you take three minutes at the start of a […]

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Earlier this week, my email box blew up with notifications from friends and clients about a new research study about the Classic Rock format.  But this one wasn’t put together by an analyst like Philippe Generali, Charlie Sislen, Nielsen, Mediabase, or one of the radio trade publications. It came from FiveThirtyEight.com and it sure got my attention. […]

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True story: More than a decade ago, I’m on the phone with a Classic Rock PD who was quite exuberant about his spring book. That’s because his station finished in the Top 5 25-54, triggering a ratings bonus. A week later we’re on the phone, and I ask him how he’s spent the aforementioned bonus. And he sadly […]

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Today marks the sixth anniversary of the opening of a store that has changed the world.  No, it’s not a brick and mortar operation and you won’t find it on your GPS. But the Apple App Store has changed our world in just a few short years, so let’s get out the candles and consider our […]

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Today marks the sixth anniversary of the opening of a store that has changed the world.  No, it’s not a brick and mortar operation and you won’t find it on your GPS. But the Apple App Store has changed our world in just a few short years, so let’s get out the candles and consider our […]

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When did the National Enquirer break into radio?  Or maybe we’re talking about your typical local TV news tease. But these days, it seems like everyone’s jumping on the “connected car” bandwagon with their own version of “expert advice” and hype about what you should do about radio’s relationship with the car. My two compadres in media […]

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