jacoBLOG

Last month, I was fortunate enough to participate in the "Super Session" at The Conclave.  Moderated by Saga’s Steve Goldstein, the panelists included Charlie Cook of Cumulus, Rick Cummings from Emmis, and Tom Bender from Greater Media-Detroit.  I was sitting in for Greg Strassell who was unable to make the session. The session was very […]

Read More

Mark Ramsey wrote an interesting marketing email that many of you received yesterday via email (or saw on his blog, Hear 2.0) titled "Radio’s Biggest Mistake."  Among other good points that Mark made, this quote stood out to us: "What they really want is not more niche options and more reasons to switch between them.What […]

Read More

Mark Ramsey wrote an interesting marketing email that many of you received yesterday via email (or saw on his blog, Hear 2.0) titled "Radio’s Biggest Mistake."  Among other good points that Mark made, this quote stood out to us: "What they really want is not more niche options and more reasons to switch between them.What […]

Read More

The blog you’re reading now is nearly 18 months old, and despite some misgivings I had when it first started, it’s been one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done.  I decided early on that, without fail, we would post at least one entry each weekday.  We have not failed to achieve this goal, […]

Read More

A new L.A.Times/Bloomberg poll confirms what we’ve known all along – 12-24s are bored as hell, despite all the media entertainment available to them.  Of course, that’s probably a universal truth that comes with simply being that age.  But, even with more choices than ever, they still can’t find anything good to do. But here’s […]

Read More

The big news – sort of – recently involved Metallica finally making its catalogue available on iTunes.  After all that rhetoric about filesharing being the death of music, Active Rock’s former poster boys came to the realization that the digital way is the future… Or the present. But image-wise, the damage has been done.  While […]

Read More

As more and more young consumers consider the iPod as the "go anywhere" medium, while radio is perceived to be tethered to cars and nightstands, the Steven Jobs assault continues.  The big news coming out of the auto industry is the announcement that iPod access will become even easier.  Ford, GM, and Mazda have teamed […]

Read More

"MTV is challenging the status quo in TV programming and transferring control directly to its audience." That’s a quote from an MTV press release, announcing a new TV channel for their UK and Ireland unit.  According to MTV’s Angel Gambino, viewers will be able to visit a website called Flux, where they can choose videos […]

Read More

Happy to share another guest blog from Jacobs Media’s Dave Beasing: In case you’ve been living under a rock, Katie Couric starts anchoring the CBS Evening News on September 5.  What with all the media exposure – not just on CBS, but everywhere – everyone knows that, right?  So what has Katie been doing since […]

Read More

Hats off to NAB President David Rehr, and his strong letter to U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter regarding Internet radio.  Recognizing the importance of streaming audio to radio’s digital future, Rehr laid out five reforms for consideration. In the letter, Rehr notes, "Broadcasters are concerned with the future and viability of Internet streaming […]

Read More

It’s been a rather slow summer for meaty morning radio material.  Until now… Thanks, big guy!

Read More

It is truly amazing how the rules of business continue to be written and then re-written.  A great example is Steve Case, AOL’s founder, who now rues the day his company merged with super-content provider Time Warner.  Speaking with Charlie Rose, Case noted that the best thing AOL could do was "de-merge" with Time Warner […]

Read More

My relationship with Lee Abrams has always been a little odd.  As a PD, I never had a consultant.  As a consultant in the early years, I found myself competing against Lee and his group for many years.  As he gravitated to Z-Rock, and eventually XM, we have stayed in touch. Lee has been kind […]

Read More

Way back in mid-April, we did a series of blogs about satellite radio, culminating in a plea to terrestrial radio broadcasters to dump their XM and Sirius stock.  The premise was that satellite is truly out to destabilize and destroy our business, so why would terrestrial broadcasters invest in these companies? Well, it certainly wasn’t […]

Read More

Headline:  Apple sold more than 8 million iPods during its recent quarter. Headline:  The #1 feature that teens would like to have in their iPods is an FM radio, according to a recent Ipsos study. So what’s going on here?  We’re certainly not surprised that iPods are still a very hot item.  Our two Technology […]

Read More

In the "Consumer Generated Marketing File," check out WCSX/Detroit’s newest campaign that focuses on letting listeners generate your buzz.  They dug deep into the fan/fanatics in their database to find a group of listeners willing to turn their cars into rolling billboards.  But they’re even better than that. CSX’s Jennifer Williams worked with a local […]

Read More

Today we have a guest blog from Jacobs Media’s Dave Beasing: If you have kids of your own, this is old news to you – but bear with me.  You’re used to the concept that children often teach us as much as we teach them, about life in general and about the rapidly evolving world […]

Read More

Nielsen SoundScan reports that while album sales continue to fall in 2006 (-4%), 281,000,000 individual tracks were downloaded so far – a jump of 77% over last year.  This data continues to confirm the trend that started years ago, as consumers move to digital downloads over CDs, and tracks versus albums. And it’s all the […]

Read More

You’ve undoubtedly seen the "Dr. Z" TV commercials for Daimler-Chrysler, featuring company CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche.  Their research has told them they need to break from "The Big 2" – GM and Ford – by showcasing their differences – German engineering, association with Mercedes-Benz, etc. So, instead of "just the facts" ads or cars perched […]

Read More