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No activity in the world symbolizes the labor experience more than the manufacturing of the American car.  So as we head into a three-day weekend that celebrates the end of summer with barbeques, swimming, golf, and other activities, this post is a reminder of just how important the automobile has been to all of us here […]

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It seems like since Late Night With David Letterman first became the TV show that many of radio’s morning teams tried to emulate, it’s been all about generating “water cooler content” – the stuff that leads to those valuable conversations in the workplace, dorm rooms, and hair salons. But today, that chatter is occurring socially, […]

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Bill Jacobs may be watching too much TV, but the good news is that he’s seeing qualities in popular television series characters that just might have some application to what we’re doing in radio. – FJ While not everyone is into the hit AMC show Breaking Bad, it’s clear that the show has huge momentum […]

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Pandora had some big announcements last week that sounded an awful lot like they’re channeling broadcast radio. First, they walked back their 40 hour limit, installed just six months ago.  At the time, we described limiting listening as being almost un-American.  They must have come to that conclusion, too. Chief Strategy Office Tim Westergren rationalized […]

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The title of today’s post may end being thought of us as famous last words, right alongside “The Internet is a fad” and “Why would I want to check email on my cell phone?” I can think of three big reasons to believe that things are going to be changing in the streaming revenue department – […]

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I’m not sure which radio manager was the one who first said to me, “This would be a great business except for all the people.”  But at times, I can empathize. The fact is, radio isn’t the scalable business that many investors and corporate mavens think it is.  And dealing with talent is often one […]

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One of the hot topics in radio for several years – but reaching a fascinating apex at this point in time – revolves around streaming and whether stations are getting proper credit and compensation for their audience usage numbers. As pure-plays continue to grow their reach, as radio grapples with single-line reporting, as the automotive […]

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Last weekend, Detroit Public Television CEO and former CBS Detroit market manager Rich Homberg sent me a feature story produced by MSU’s Russ White for WKAR Radio all about the legendary Detroit morning star, J.P. McCarthy. It’s the 18th anniversary of McCarthy’s passing, stricken by a rare blood disease that led to his death at 62.  […]

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A new study from TVB says a lot about how local television is able to both aggregate a large audience and generate active social media behavior.  In TV, second screen viewing and fan engagement are major topics of conversation. This research conducted in partnership with Colligent, a social affinity mapping company, looked at the social […]

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned from expanding our Techsurveys to other formats is that Sports Radio fans are something special.  While they are especially engaged with Twitter, the other critically important reality is that sports fans are highly mobile creatures, accessing information wherever and whenever they like. This puts unique pressure on Sports Radio […]

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Recently I ran across an article about the often strange but very typical things that people say to those who work in not-so-common professions.  The article listed all sorts of different jobs, followed by some of the weird, odd, but very common statements or questions that are encountered. And it got me thinking about some of those same […]

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Today, Mike Stern takes over the blog desk with a post that speaks to his background in both rock and news/talk radio.  I couldn’t say it better myself. – FJ The first 2:30 of this segment from The Daily Show should be seen by every Program Director in America because it directly speaks to delivering […]

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Two more research/usage reports providing hard evidence that our mobile lives are moving faster than we could have ever imagined. First, it’s that eMarketer study that we reported on recently, showing that daily mobile usage continues to rise almost exponentially.  In 2013, nearly 2½ hours a day are devoted to time spent with mobile devices – […]

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There it was on RAIN last week (pointed out snarkily by consultant James Cridland on Twitter, I should add) in an article about a new Rdio feature called “Stations” which is all about creating “radio-style listening” on a pure-play platform. Rdio is yet another company hacking away at trying to create a new and different version of radio […]

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Our newest consultant, Mike Stern, makes his home in Chicago.  Aside from having to put up with amazingly bad baseball this summer, Chicago is also the place to take in a now-historic concert festival, Lollapalooza.  Here are Mike’s reflections on this year’s event, with a few timely tie-ins to radio. – FJ It was somewhere […]

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It used to be that “senioritis” was that strange feeling that overcame high school and college seniors during their final year of school.  It turned them into slackers, just trying to get through that tedious last year. Well in radio, “senioritis” may be something altogether different.  It’s a malady that is impacting an industry that […]

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All of a sudden, the newspaper industry is…in the news! Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame has purchased the Washington Post and now the rumors, conjectures, whispers, and prayers are flying at that paper – and perhaps at most other newspapers in the country. Think about this – our newest Public Radio Tech Survey indicates that […]

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Back in May of last year, I went out on a limb and recommended buying Facebook on the eve of their IPO.  Since then, it’s been an incredibly rocky ride – mostly down – as Facebook has struggled amidst all kinds of Wall Street obstacles.  (Eventually, NASDAQ admitted a glitch and paid a $10 million penalty […]

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