jacoBLOG

The next time you’re sitting in a sales meeting with Classic Rock account executives, and you hear someone talk about how the music is stale, or that no one’s listening, or that if they hear "Stairway to Heaven" one more time they’re going to puke, ask them to consider this: As of this past weekend, […]

Read More

If you’re the NFL, you’re getting a little worried.  (Of course, there’s MLB’s steroid issue and the NBA’s gambling referees, but that’s for another blog!).  After the Michael Vick mess, how do you go about re-selling the perception that all NFL players aren’t dog killers?  You run great PSAs (see sidebar with links below). That’s […]

Read More

An article earlier this week in USA Today may have surprised some people who work in radio and music – but not anyone who’s been involved in the Classic Rock format.  It reports that once you dig beyond the big hits of the day, some of the best selling digital downloads are Classic Rock standards, […]

Read More

The margin of success… and failure is ever narrowing.  A case in point is Fox’s "Anchorwoman" debut and demise.  After just one poorly rated episode, the network canned the show.  With the benefit of overnight ratings and Fox’s internal metrics, the decision was apparently a no-brainer. While the speed in which this call was made […]

Read More

The margin of success… and failure is ever narrowing.  A case in point is Fox’s "Anchorwoman" debut and demise.  After just one poorly rated episode, the network canned the show.  With the benefit of overnight ratings and Fox’s internal metrics, the decision was apparently a no-brainer. While the speed in which this call was made […]

Read More

Sometimes jumping on the bandwagon makes sense, but to a point.  When it comes to media buyers (and many clients), moving the majority of ad dollars to the hot new media avenues is just nuts. At the Arbitron Consultant Fly-In recently, Joe Lenski’s "Infinite Dial" presentation showed that most people don’t even know what a […]

Read More

Sometimes jumping on the bandwagon makes sense, but to a point.  When it comes to media buyers (and many clients), moving the majority of ad dollars to the hot new media avenues is just nuts. At the Arbitron Consultant Fly-In recently, Joe Lenski’s "Infinite Dial" presentation showed that most people don’t even know what a […]

Read More

Paul Jacobs weighs in with his take on media fragmentation: It’s no secret that fragmentation has impacted all media as well as iconic programs and events.  Gone are the days when the final episode of "M*A*S*H" reaches 3/4ths of the country, or the Super Bowl or Academy Awards captivates the nation.  The highest rated prime […]

Read More

…you’re hot.  And when you’re not, people stop buying your stuff. That’s what’s happening to President Bush "logo ware" in Crawford, Texas.  The Wall Street Journal reports that sales of Bush "swag" and souvenirs have precipitously dropped as tourists to the President’s home away from home have greatly diminished.  And even Cindy Sheehan has left […]

Read More

…you’re hot.  And when you’re not, people stop buying your stuff. That’s what’s happening to President Bush "logo ware" in Crawford, Texas.  The Wall Street Journal reports that sales of Bush "swag" and souvenirs have precipitously dropped as tourists to the President’s home away from home have greatly diminished.  And even Cindy Sheehan has left […]

Read More

While everyone may be talking about the new video playing Nanos, as well as the new iPod Touch (in essence an iPhone without the phone), our eye was drawn to the new iPod Classic.  Back in ’85, Coca Cola used the "classic" moniker to rescue the company from the New Coke debacle. At that same […]

Read More

At the recent Arbitron Consultant Fly-In, the fur was flying as broadcasters wanted to know what the Houston numbers and related issues were all about.  Not surprisingly, Arbitron is experiencing some growing pains with PPM.  It’s all new to an operation that has been cranking out diary-based ratings for decades.  To shift to a platform […]

Read More

As I traveled around London and Paris a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but notice the incredible number of European cars and trucks everywhere you look.  Of course, there are very few Fords or Buicks (none of the latter, not surprisingly).  But also sparse totals on Japanese cars, too.  Despite the huge numbers of […]

Read More

Paul Jacobs chimes in with some thoughts on the future of radio in a New Media world "Online Ad Revenue To Surpass Radio In 2008" No, I haven’t lost my mind.  While this item could be construed as depressing if you’re in terrestrial radio, maybe we should look at it differently.  What other medium is […]

Read More

One of the more interesting findings from the Arbitron/Jacobs "Bedroom Study" was the realization that video gamers aren’t just kids sitting in their basements by themselves.  Like TV viewing, gaming is becoming a social activity.  A recent Advertising Age article points out that marketers are beginning to figure this out. Whether it’s Wii parties or […]

Read More

Many of you probably saw the story recently about how a new MediaVest report no longer groups "radio" as a discrete medium.  Instead, it’s now a part of a larger category known as "audio."  Included under this new umbrella label are satellite radio, online radio, mobile content, iPods, mp3 players, and even television. The good […]

Read More

With apologies to Doug Podell, it is gratifying to see that Brian May will finally be awarded his doctorate in astrophysics – 30 years after he formed Queen.  We’ve all heard the cliché about radio or Rock N’ Roll, "It’s not rocket science."  Seeing that May’s thesis is entitled, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust […]

Read More

Paul Jacobs offers a follow up to his piece earlier this month about marketing mistakes: A while back I wrote a posting about how Diet Coke’s market share has fallen and pointed out several lessons that broadcasters could learn from their experience.  Here’s another example from outside of our business that points out the cost […]

Read More

This must be "Bite The Hand That Feeds You Month."  Recently, the musicFirst coalition used that inane "study" by a university professor in Texas to make the claim that radio airplay hurts record sales.  Then, Cox’s Bob Neil was attacked for claiming that many Oldies artists’ careers were made by radio airplay.  And if that […]

Read More

Jacobs Media’s Tim Davis points to some great resources for doing "write" by your Web audience: Now that everyone’s firmly focused on Internet revenue, and specifically, station websites, I wanted to give you some of my perspective.  As we know, radio station Web sites are often a work in progress, and redesigns are ongoing. We […]

Read More