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A much-discussed article in USA Today this week – “Consumer Reports: Cars better, Infotainment Not” – presents an interesting dichotomy for car makers.  Ratings on the overall reliability and quality of many cars are exceptional.  But conversely, their infotainment systems frequently drag down their scores. They name Ford, Honda, and Cadillac as auto brands especially […]

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This year marks the 10th anniversary of a Jacobs Media initiative that was a total failure.  Or maybe it was a total success.  And that’s why while recently reading an article about the impact of social media on brand marketing, some of the NEO memories came rushing back to me in a torrent. For those of you […]

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The illogically crazy topic of demographics, ad agency demands, and radio’s game of chicken with its own formats speaks to a world where sanity is fleeting and chaos abounds. What do advertisers want when it comes to demos, lifestyles, generations, and targets, and why should radio jump through hoops to herd demographic cats? This has been […]

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One of the more difficult challenges as a manager, consultant, or researcher in this environment is keeping up with the onslaught of data.  As radio broadcasters that report to Wall Street release their Q4 2013 results, the trades are inundated with numbers, nuanced to tell stories about what worked – and what didn’t. And so […]

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There are a lot of radio loathers out there – notably people who worked in the business at one time but left (their choice or someone else’s).  And some are still employed in radio but don’t use their real names when they comment on posts.  It’s been a tough several years for the rank and file of radio.  […]

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Last December, you may recall a cranky post I wrote following the Nielsen Client Conference/Jacobs Summit about of all things, politics. At the event, Edison’s Larry Rosin and Joe Lenski moderated a panel with two mega-politicos, Mark Mellman and David Winston. The lowlight of the session was Mellman explaining how broadcast radio had failed to […]

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We all know the consumer’s attention span is shrinking because we have our own personal experience to draw from.  Everything’s getting shorter, to the point, and truncated (except baseball games), and that’s part of the reason why platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, and Vine have caught on in a big way. Tweets and snaps require very […]

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A recent opinion piece in The New York Times has made the rounds in radio circles these past few days.  Written by Beth Boyle Machlan, “Driving to the Music of Chance” sums up the charm of FM music radio, even amidst a smorgasbord of digital options and gadgets. Driving with her family, she talks about […]

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Mike Stern works closely with Jacobs Media personalities and morning shows, melding the fundamentals of great radio with the new digital tools.  In today’s post, he harkens back to a recent conversation about what makes content go viral and writes a post that will probably bring a smile to Bob Rivers’ face.  For me, he […]

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Those sports-radio analogies are just too tempting to pass up.  So Bill Jacobs – inspired by the Seahawks’ lopsided Super Bowl victory earlier this month – takes a look at conventional wisdom, media pundits, and the truth of the matter in this guest post. – F “After one of the worst picks in the first round […]

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When Chuck Daly coached the Detroit Pistons back in those “Bad Boys” days, he was constantly in search of ways to inspire the 12 millionaires on his bench.  After several years of managing the same core group, Daly admittedly starting running out of answers so he started watching TV evangelists for inspiration. I’m not that […]

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Last week was another series of radio news items filled with DJ stories – most of it in the department of not-so-good-news. The week started with the thrilling resolution to the Bobby Bones should-I-stay-or-should-I-go drama.  (He stayed.) And it ended with the abrupt announcement that long-time radio legend and PLJ mainstay, Scott Shannon, was ending his career […]

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Where were you when the Beatles hit the shores of America back in 1964 on this day? For many of you reading this blog post, you weren’t even on this planet yet.  But for those of us of a certain age, the memory is as indelible your recall of where you were and what you were […]

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Talk about put-downs. As he’s headed out the door and handing off the show to Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno takes a final shot at rival Jimmy Kimmel: “He is a radio guy at heart.” Jay goes onto define what he’s talking about – Kimmel’s a competitor who uses tactics like “attack(ing) the guy on the […]

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So it turns out I have something in common with Facebook.  We’re both Aquarians. I celebrated the anniversary of my birth last week, and it turns out that it’s in the same time frame as Facebook’s birthday as we covered in this space earlier in the week. You all know the Facebook birthday phenomenon.  When […]

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Most people probably agree that only Seattleites enjoyed Sunday’s “Big Game.”  But as is often the case, the ads were interesting this year (especially the ones I remember before I fell asleep in the third quarter). The casting of Bob Dylan in the new Chrysler ad was inspired, especially for someone like me who’s connected […]

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The worst thing about being on the receiving end of a lot of data is that it often conflicts with itself, making it even more challenging to get our collective heads around what’s really happening. You’d think that with a monolith the size of Facebook, its long-term status might look pretty clear.  But while the future may be […]

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We’ve all been a part of this situation in radio station strategizing.  The research company comes to town to deliver the data, the consultant flies in, the corporate staff shows up, and the station team is in the conference room.  And collectively, they’re all supposed to figure it out. But while having lots of great […]

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