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At long last, a new AC/DC album is on the way (untitled), and the big news is that it will only be available at Wal-Mart stores.  This is more evidence that distribution paradigms are rapidly changing, and that the labels continue to lose control over their domains. This news comes on the heels of the […]

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Kudos to Edison’s Larry Rosin for his recent think piece about college grads and radio.  If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth your time.  To give you the 10-second headline, Larry’s Arbitron analysis shows that college grads give considerably less quarter-hours to radio than their less educated counterparts. And he raises a myriad of […]

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We heard from a number of you about our streaming blogs last week.  R&R’s News/Talk/Sports Editor (and former Jacobs Media staffer) Mike Stern writes today’s entry: Radio people don’t seem to realize that listeners don’t understand or care about the legal and talent issues that affect streaming.  All they know is that when they stream […]

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What is on the minds of Buffalonians these days?  It’s not the economy, the war, the weather, or even a quarterback controversy.  Instead, it’s why 97Rock chose "Sweet Emotion" as the #1 song in the station’s annual Memorial Day Weekend "Rock N’ Roll 500." For one of those "evergreen" promotions that programmers often tire of, […]

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Here is a guest blog from our own Keith Cunningham enlightening us on the power of topical CGM: While it’s not the greatest photo gallery you’ll find online, you’ve gotta give CNN some credit – they definitely get CGM.  With the passing of the legendary Bo Diddley earlier in the week, CNN sprung into action […]

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What goes up on your home page when your hometown team wins the big championship?  If you’re WRIF, you play it up big, provide great resources, and make it the big deal of the day – because that’s what the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup means in Detroit. It’s this flexibility and understanding "What’s […]

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Question: How are television networks working around the TiVo problem? Answer: By doing something that radio has done forever. The New York Times reports that live commercials (or as we call them in radio, "live reads") are making a comeback on network TV shows.  Jimmy Kimmel (yup, a former radio guy) has done a live […]

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So, musicFIRST in their "humorous" effort to extract pay performance fees from broadcasters is sending the following songs from iTunes to the NAB: Springsteen’s "Pay Me My Money Down" Steve Miller’s "Take The Money And Run" McCartney’s "Back in the U.S.S.R." (huh?) Sheryl Crow’s "A Change Will Do You Good" Maybe David Rehr can respond […]

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In Part 1, we talked about all the weird and lame reasons why many stations still aren’t streaming.  I’ll bet the majority of you who read this blog smugly read that post, comfortable in the knowledge that your station has been streaming for years. Well, I’m here to tell you that many broadcast radio streams […]

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As streaming capability rapidly makes its way into phones and cars, I think about the odd and meandering course that radio has been traveling during the past decade.  Slowly, but surely, most stations and companies have reluctantly thrown in the towel and begun to stream – as if they’ve been forced to do so. And […]

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You have to hand it to Fox Entertainment.  They’re going to try a new experiment with two of their new television dramas this fall – fewer commercials at higher rates.  What a concept. As Peter Liguori, chairman of Fox Entertainment, notes: "It is potentially revolutionary." If it works, it truly will be revolutionary.  Marketed as […]

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A burgeoning trend among many web-savvy businesses is to create microsites to help their efforts stand out.  A great example of this in radio is KQRC/Kansas City.  They’ve built a microsite for their upcoming all-day concert event, Rockfest.  Users have access to resources that include a venue map, ticket info, rules, lodging options, the full […]

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It’s just a game, right?  No, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are more than just games.  They capture the fantasy aspect of Rock music that we all have inside us.  From the very first dude who ever played the "air guitar," Rock music lovers have always pretended to be Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy […]

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Today’s posting title is a quote from Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, and it cleverly sums up how the Internet now exceeds television during the daytime hours.  In fact, a recent New York Times article actually asked the question, "What is primetime?"  That’s because 6,000,000 May sweeps viewers have disappeared since last year. The culprit?  […]

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What will kids do this summer when the schools let out next month?  According to Toys ‘R’ Us, a big trend is "Backyard Bands," spurred on by the success of brilliantly marketed concepts like Disney’s Jonas Brothers. The idea is kids yearn to be Rock stars (thank Reality TV for that), and toy manufacturers are […]

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The JacoBlog will return tomorrow.  Have a great day!

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Jacobs Media’s Eric Holmes weighs in on Metallica’s new website: I’d like you to meet the newest Jacobs Media client, our first band – Metallica!  Well… OK, so we’re not consulting Metallica, but it definitely looks like they got the W.T.D.A. memo.  (Or maybe they could have written it!) Their new website is called Mission: […]

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