Yesterday’s post about Bell Media’s decision to divest 40% of its radio division while laying off more than 4,000 employees was overshadowed by the company’s assertion that radio is no longer a viable business. It was a lighting rod for many of you. So, it’s only fitting that on World Radio Day 2024, we follow up the Bell Media controversy with a celebration of radio – from two of the new owners of these stations, and a number of broadcasters who tell their stories of radio’s incredible impact.
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Our founder, Fred Jacobs, discusses the issues facing broadcasters today.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Radio Stations
The big – and rather shocking – radio story last week came from across the border. It wasn’t that Bell Media was selling off more that 40% of their radio group to seven different broadcast companies – it was that one of their corporate officers announced the reason for the sale: radio is no longer a viable business, according to the company. In today’s post, I’m going to talk about what it means to say the quiet part out loud, and why the effects of their announcement may be felt in the 50 states.
Read MoreAre You Programming Your Radio Station (Or Just Changing The Oil)?
The elements of great radio programming are becoming more elusive with each passing year. In today’s blog post, I go to a TV station about a dysfunctional restaurant for inspiration. Whether in the food business or the radio business, it’s about surprise and delight.
Read MoreAm I A Radio “Homer?”
These days, you’re either “fer or agin.” It’s no longer possible to straddle the center. You’ve got to take a position, an extreme, a pole. And that’s been the case in radio for several years. The haters gonna hate, and the diehard fans will defend Marconi’s medium ’til its demise. Isn’t there any common ground? That’s the tricky topic of today’s blog post. Which side are YOU on?
Read MoreHas Radio Gone To The Dogs?
Radio stations are always in search of mass appeal promotions that generate buzz, go viral, are sales friendly, support public service, and are community focused – without spending any money. Impossible, you say? I have been doggedly pursuing the answer and may have found it, ready for you to read all about it in today’s blog post.
Read MoreThe Art Of Leveraging Nostalgia (And Why Radio Keeps Screwing It Up)
One thing all us humans have in common is the power of our memories. And thanks to the media-rich time in which we live, millions of us share and cherish these collective memories of the past. Today’s post looks closely at how brands like McDonald’s lean into nostalgia, one of the most successful tools in their tool kit. For radio, “mental time travel” has been there all along, but stations often don’t leverage it as wisely as they could. From the Grammy Awards to Harry Potter tot Happy Meals, let’s do a little time-tripping.
Read MoreThe Constant Cha-Ching Of The Plus
There’s a noticeable shift happening in the world of subscription entertainment. Some of the biggest companies – among them, Amazon, Comcast, and Netflex – are changing up their business models to pile on even higher monthly fees. Some are even adding commercials to what used to be commercial-free services. As a longstanding member of the entertainment and information club, broadcast radio might have a pathway to driving home a positive difference. Now that would be a plus.
Read More3 JacoBLOG Follow-Ups
In a follow-up to recent blog posts, I’ve got three tantalizing “whatever happened to stories” – AI DJs, radio stations in video games, and the ever-widening incidents of mental health issues – thanks to a furry muppet.
Read MoreWhat’s Your Favorite Album?
What’s your favorite album? It’s a question we’ve been asking each other for decades. In fact, I asked it four years ago this month. To get a look at what I was saying and you were thinking back in early pre-pandemic 2020, click below and let’s have that conversation.
Read MoreWhat’s Luck Got To Do With It?
If you’ve achieved a modicum of success in the radio business, chances are you attribute it to talent and hard work. But the odds are also good that luck figured into it as well. We don’t always talk about the happenstance of good fortune, but it’s a factor in more successes than we may realize. Like mine.
Read MoreIn 2024, The Forecast Calls For Pain
You’re looking at one of my favorite blues titles for a song. As bluesmen go, Robert Cray is a youngin’ at just 70 years of age. Compared to his elders – folks like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and so many others who forged the trail, Cray is still earning his chops. But the lyrics of […]
Read MoreFixing CNN, Fixing Radio?
Whether you love, loathe, or are indifferent to CNN, their new CEO has created a turnaround strategy for the once-proud cable news pioneer. Sir Mark Thompson has held the top spot at the New York Times and BBC. His schematic for CNN is a brilliant analysis of what it will take to reverse his network’s course. And it’s a great read for any legacy brand hoping for ongoing success and sustainability. Do you see your company in his step-by-step recovery plan?
Read MoreRadio’s Pillar-To-Pillar Dashboard Dilemma
That gargantuan dashboard you see staring back at you isn’t a concept. Nor is it something that is only available on high-end vehicles, like the top-of-the-line Mercedes or BMW EV models. Nor is it the latest and greatest from the minds of Tesla. It’s a Ford. Actually, it’s a Lincoln – Ford’s luxury brand, to […]
Read MoreOut With The New (Music), In With The Old (Music)
A JacoBLOG post from eight years ago is in our crosshairs today. When it was first published, it covered a music milestone: for the first time ever, catalog music outsold new music. But that same month, weekly music streams had set a record. How that trend from 2016 informs us about our trajectory today is what it’s all about. How can we learn from the past, and what does it say about our future?
Read MoreDefining Grit
There’s a 4-letter word making the rounds this fall, even trending from time to time. “Grit” is that hard-to-define term people in sports and in business and organizations. But when you’ve got it, you have something special. It works on a football gridiron but also in the air studio, the sales cubicles, and the corporate offices. Elusive? Perhaps, but that’s all the more reason to embrace it.
Read MoreIs Netflix Becoming The Classic Rock Of Video Streaming Platforms?
We’re not even one month into 2024, and the business fails in the media world are already taking their toll. Whether you look at radio, music, or journalism companies and organizations, the analysts and critics are circling like buzzards, trying to make sense of it all. Most of them ignore radio, a medium they’re writing off as “over” or perhaps never gave it its due to begin with. Does radio have a role in breathing life into a content strategy and business model that need some serious rethinking and innovation? I’m going to want to hear from you on this one.
Read MoreIt’s That Vision (Pro) Thing
One of the unmistakable trends at CES 2024 earlier this month was glasses and goggles that open up virtual worlds to us. We got to see a number of variations by brands like Ray-Ban. But Apple’s new entrant in this embryonic space – Vision Pro – wasn’t at CES, but was introduced while we were there. Here’s the skinny on this new product, along with thoughts about whether this might be the moment for this visionary gear. And if you haven’t heard the price yet of Apple’s new virtual specs, make sure you’re sitting down in a real chair before reading today’s post.
Read MoreWhy Radio’s “Killer App” IS A Killer App
The most powerful asset in the digital tool kit is the smartphone and mobile apps – ubiquitous, portable, easy to use, a fashion statement, and ready-made for any company – or radio station – to make its way to the phone’s “front page” of apps. In today’s JacoBLOG, Bob Kernen lays out a mobile strategy for radio that works!
Read MoreWhat Mary Richards Has Meant To Radio
The passing of Mary Tyler Moore seven years ago stimulated today’s Throwback Thursday post from that year about how far women have come in the radio broadcasting industry. In company after company, women have attained positions of prominence and leadership. The broadcasting business has grown up since Mary Richards took that job in the WJM-TV newsroom – as well as in the seven years since her passing.
Read MoreThe Beginning, Middle, And End Of Radio Relationships
It’s been said every relationship has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And truer words were never spoken when it comes to talent and radio ownership. There are many storylines, both pleasant and tragic, between stars and their parent companies, and lessons to be learned. As radio has changed and evolved over the decades, this dynamic goes on as evidenced by two huge radio stories from just the past few weeks.
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