jacoBLOG

Where were you on March 4-5? If you weren’t at the “Borrell Local Online Advertising Conference,” I’m afraid to tell you that you missed a good one.  Maybe a great one.  Steve Goldstein summarized some of the sessions in a well-read post here last week. So I’m an unabashed fan.  I’ve read the books.  I […]

Read More

Recently, we talked about Yahoo’s new policy to keep employees in the building when they banned telecommuting. But today, I want to potentially anger my friends and clients behind the mic by exhorting you to get out of the studio and put yourself in front of the people you serve and entertain. Why? Because it […]

Read More

These days, the more common question that everyone is asking is: “Is Rock Radio Dead?”  But I think that misses the point because any established brand, format or individual station can be successful in today’s environment – but not by mailing it in. For me, this new phase of the debate restarted a few weeks ago […]

Read More

You may have heard the story about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s edict banning her staffers from working out of the house.  The story is developed a number of odd tentacles, but if you focus on Mayer’s main message – that her employees should show up at work – there’s something interesting to talk about. Mayer […]

Read More

Thanks to NBC News, photos from the street leading up to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican give us a picture book lesson about how the mobile age has changed people, events, culture, and the world in just a few short years. Here’s a photo going back to 2005, as people crowded the area watching […]

Read More

All the talk this week about radio’s place in the “connected car,” along with the release of Mark Ramsey’s study, reminded me of something: We actually asked a question about car options and features last winter in Techsurvey8 – and again in our new study that’s just out of the field, Techsurvey9. The question was […]

Read More

So this morning’s post is a little different.  And while it’s for everyone, I believe that our friends and clients on the public radio side of the street will derive the most benefit from it. It’s about a video that’s been making the rounds in music circles that you may have seen.  Bob Lefsetz included it […]

Read More

The buzz this week has been about Convergence, especially that “connected car” session.  But a couple thousand miles away, Gordon Borrell was holding a much larger gathering of media companies.  Saga’s Steve Goldstein (pictured) writes today’s guest post with a look back at the Borrell event with some added perspective about where radio fits into […]

Read More

Yesterday was an interesting day for us and for many radio people – lots of blog traffic, comments, phone calls, and off-line emails about Eric Rhoads’ letter and what it might mean to radio and the car industry.  The day ended with Radio Ink publishing a letter from General Motors’ Chief Infotainment Officer (great title, by […]

Read More

The fireworks started on Friday as Radio Ink’s Eric Rhoads ran a controversial blog post and emailed it to his database – “A Cold, Harsh Reality For Radio.”  It’s all about the “connected car” and Eric’s “intervention” at last week’s Convergence panel that dealt head-on with this issue.  Below, I’ve linked Eric’s post, and then […]

Read More

There goes another one – Michael Smerconish announced this week that he’s taking his radio show and moving to satellite radio. According to the Associated Press, here’s the rationale behind the move: And there goes another one, in the footsteps of a growing exodus of once-broadcast radio stars who have moved onto satellite radio, podcasts, […]

Read More

You have to love all those crazy predictions about the future – especially the ones that never happened.  Robots cleaning our homes and flying cars should have been here by now, right? And yet, technology has never been more remarkable.  It seems like almost every day there’s a new announcement about how the intersection of […]

Read More

You probably saw the news last week that Groupon CEO and founder Andrew Mason lost his job – and his company – last week. In an amazingly honest and transparent letter to his employees, Mason laid it out – missed quarters, bad calculations, and just lousy performance.  Sad as it is, you have to love […]

Read More

On a recent investor call, Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins said something that very likely resonated with other corporate honchos, as well as the rank and file of the industry: “We’ve come through hell, like everybody else in the business.” Or maybe, “The road from hell is paved with tears, hard work, and reinvention.”   Forget […]

Read More

Today marks the eight anniversary of JacoBLOG.  When Tim Davis first convinced me to take on this endeavor in 2005, we were in the process of conducting our first Techsurvey, YouTube was just coming online, Howard Stern was still on terrestrial radio, and there were no apps. Obviously, a great deal has changed during the […]

Read More

If you’ve ever done an Arbitron diary review before, you’ll know exactly where this post is headed.  Back in the day, as they say, you had to fly to Arbitron in order to sort through hundreds and even thousands of diaries.  Many companies and stations regularly scheduled these excursions to better understand how they were […]

Read More

Or:  “10 Things Radio Can Learn From The Oscars.” 1. Be ready for prime time. (Or “Don’t hesitate to turn down a bad gig.”) – Being host of this show is a high wire-no net act.  Most cannot pull it off, given the three audiences – egomaniacal stars in the room, millions watching at home, and […]

Read More

After last night’s Academy Awards show, you may be happy, sad, or surprised by the outcome.  Or maybe just a bit bleary-eyed.  But you may also be wondering why they can’t produce an Oscar’s ceremony half as entertaining as the films it celebrates. But that aside, the annual rite designed to honor the best of […]

Read More