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The metrics from the Apple App Store continue to be spectacular, and another reminder that other devices and mobile companies are going to need to move even faster in order to keep pace.  The new data reveals that apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch have broken the 85,000 barrier, generating more than 2 billion […]

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I admit it – I have always loved Dire Straits, and I've seen Mark Knopfler perform many times as a solo artist.  I even walked down the marital isle to one of his songs, much to the chagrin of my in-laws.  So when I received the email below from Ticketmaster, announcing that Knopfler is coming to […]

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A couple of months ago, this blog drew your attention to a great full-page ad run by Target, asking for consumer feedback.  The headline was "Tell us what more we can do for you."  At the time, we applauded this effort, but also qualified our praise with the hope that Target would follow-up the ad […]

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I received a couple of emails in response to our blog post that compared the austerity program launched by NBC's new Jay Leno prime time show to inexpensive Jack-FM stations.  I was taken to task based on the notion that I don't know Jack, and that the format's personality-less appeal has somehow eluded me.  I […]

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Last week at the NAB Radio Show, it was yet another look at an industry in transition, attempting to come to grips with all the economic bad news, while trying to imagine the future, once the recovery takes hold.  As usual, the CEOs, the group PDs, and the digital gurus came together to discuss the […]

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In radio, we have relied on the contest model for many years to bribe listeners, extend time spent listening, and to generate buzz and excitement.  Over the years, radio stations have given away some incredible prizes – scores of Harleys, a new home, and tons of cash, broken down in many different configurations. It's always […]

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Perhaps with all the Beatles hoopla on 9-9-09 you missed the big story about a brand new Zogby Interactive poll.  Fortunately, Curtiss Johnson forwarded it to me, and I'm excited to tell you the suspenseful results. This Zogby survey, conducted among nearly 5,000 Americans, conclusively shows that Paul is the most popular Beatle by far, […]

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While on my way to researching something else online (one of the great aspects about search), I happened across a series of articles about what's known as "diagonal slice meetings." These are meetings that include members of different teams and various levels in companies who come together on a periodic basis to discuss "how's it […]

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A couple of weeks ago, an old friend and former client, Bob Ottaway, sent me an insightful analysis by Terry Teachout that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.  Titled “The New-Media Crisis of 1949,” it told the story of how network radio’s failure to adapt to television serves as an allegory to radio’s current-day struggle […]

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Last week, Paul and I had the pleasure of presenting a new research study at the Public Radio Program Directors Conference in Cleveland.  This week, it's the NAB in Philly. I'm expecting a different experience, but I'm hoping for a few similarities.  PRPD, run by Arthur Cohen and a very engaged board, uses its conference […]

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There's been a lot of attention in recent weeks about NBC's new 10 p.m. entry, The Jay Leno Show.  Aside from its prime time Monday-through-Friday time slot, the big news about the show is its cost. Specifically, the potential return on investment for the Leno prime time experiment is quite high, given that its production […]

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The Denuo Group is an interesting ad agency that manufactures nothing, but devises strategies to help big brands navigate the digital world.  And its CEO, Rishad Tobaccowala is one smart guy who has a way of summarizing what many of us are thinking. "The future doesn't fit in the containers of the past," he told […]

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No, it's not an Onion item.  Nor is it the newest entry in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Here's the true story: The four largest record companies are suing The Ellen DeGeneres Show for using songs without permission.  The "violations" in question are when Ellen does her wildly popular dance segments to pop songs.  The […]

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No, it's not an Onion item.  Nor is it the newest entry in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Here's the true story: The four largest record companies are suing The Ellen DeGeneres Show for using songs without permission.  The "violations" in question are when Ellen does her wildly popular dance segments to pop songs.  The […]

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After last week's Apple "There's FM radio in the new nano" announcement, we celebrated the event in this blog.  This step is something of a validation for broadcast radio, long the victim of bad PR and a lot of media piling on. OK, it's true that some of these wounds were self-inflicted, but radio has […]

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If you ever spent time as a radio station programmer in the '70s, '80s, or '90s, one of the keys to ensuring a healthy cume was to make sure your frequency was pre-set on one of those five car radio buttons.  It was an obsession.  Because if your station occupied one of those buttons, it […]

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Yes, it's that time of year where all of us parents breathe a little sigh of relief that our offspring are headed back to the halls of wisdom for yet another academic year of learning.  Last week, President Obama acknowledged the need for students to take their education seriously this year, work a little harder, […]

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Have you noticed that NFL teams are beginning to act like radio stations that need to have a great fall book?  This difficult economic year signals more problems for sports franchises, even in the premier league in all sports – the NFL.  There's the news that as many as 20% of games this fall with […]

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In what has to be a surprising announcement out of Cupertino, Steve Jobs himself announced that the new iPod nano will include an FM radio tuner.  In addition, this new nano features a live pause feature as well as iTunes tagging.  Apple is putting its own imprimatur on FM radio – as you might expect.  […]

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The story about how the Walt Disney folks paid a whopping $4 billion for Marvel's franchise superheroes – Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the gang – caused many investment analysts to gasp.  Did Disney overpay for Marvel's assets, and because many upcoming movies from these comic icons are already owned by other studios, what was Disney's […]

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