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Today we welcome Beau Phillips with a guest blog talking about how he pulled together WFNX’s and Snapple’s "Summer Free For All." After years of living and breathing radio, I now represent advertisers.  Let me share what I hear from them:  The clutter is brutal.  If "less is more," you can’t tell by listening to […]

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In one of those less-publicized findings from our Technology Poll, we learned more about the power of radio to expose new music to its audiences.  Overall, more than half say they hear about new music first on FM radio stations.  While that’s #1 with a bullet, as we used to say, we don’t know whether […]

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Joining us for a guest blog today is Jacobs Media’s Keith Cunningham: After reading Russell Smith’s Globeandmail.com column “Hyped about Hyperreal,” (paid subscription required) allow us to introduce you to the new term that may be buzzing soon, “Hyperreal.”  It’s the combination of hyper and real and it’s being used to describe the next wave […]

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You have to admire those execs at Turner Classic Movies.  They realize that Cary Grant and Fred Astaire aren’t going to deliver advertiser-friendly demos.  And if they don’t do something to broaden their reach, they’ll end up like…WCBS-FM. So, give them some credit for trying something different.  They’re using late night hours to bring in […]

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Many of you have read the recent Pew study about "cell phone onlies" versus those with landlines.  Depending on who you talk to, this study may confirm Arbitron’s conclusion that CPOs aren’t all that different from everyone else, and that once you apply "weighting," the differences become even less significant. Of course, we beg to […]

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If you were a reader of Superman comics back in the day, you may remember an odd spinoff character, Bizarro.  Created by Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor, Bizarro was a flawed copy of the Man of Steel who did everything…. well, oddly.  There was even a Bizarro World, a planet where everything worked opposite of how […]

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You know it’s an election year when the indecency monster rears its ugly head.  Even though the majority of complaints filed with the FCC are coming from the Parents Television Council (and other organized groups), Senator Brownback – with an assist from the always politically correct Senator Frist – is fast-tracking a Senate bill to […]

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Thanks to Mark Ramsey for putting our new Technology Web Survey under the spotlight on his site, Hear 2.0, including a podcast of our interview (click to download).  Hey, I don’t have those Arthur Penhallow pipes, but it was fun to talk with Mark about what’s happening with technology.  Enjoy.

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-“Once that bad November drops out, we’ll be in great shape.” -“There’s that lag time between when our TV runs and when it registers in Arbitron.”-“How could we lose 75% of our 18-34 Men in just one month?”-“The next trend will tell us a lot about how our morning show is growing.”-“Our cume is down.  […]

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Our own Tim Davis is a man of varied interests, one of which is his curiousity about the world outside of the U.S.  As a result, he is a subscriber to National Geographic, and recently received the email invitation included below. Note the language: the promise to find out about events before other readers, and […]

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How else would you describe the absurd stunt that Clear Channel pulled on Detroit radio listeners this week?  On Tuesday, they announced the demise of WDTW and drove listeners to the website 1067needshelp.com.  At least, the website was well-named.  The smart money was on a switch to Country, but the stunt suggested otherwise. The site […]

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That is the question your listeners will be asking each other this morning.  And hopefully, someone from your morning show went to see it. Whether or not your team likes these big movies, the culmination of "American Idol," or how Jack Bauer saves the world on "24," the point is that big portions of their […]

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Inside Radio reports that the RAB has six candidates to replace President/CEO Gary Fries, some radio vets and others from different industries.  It’s hard to handicap a race without a program, but our vote is to go from outside the bun.  If there was ever a time for new thinking on the radio sales front, […]

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Buzz Knight has turned me on to a new bio about Babe Ruth, "The Big Bam," especially timely in the summer where Barry Bonds will undoubtedly pass The Bambino in round-trippers.  Of course, Babe’s reputation as a hard-drinking, party animal is the legend that we all remember, but author Leigh Montville portrays another side of […]

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We’re welcoming back Paul Jacobs for a guest blog today: If you want to get to the bottom of why radio revenue isn’t growing, maybe it’s time to face the harsh truth that we’re out of favor with the advertising community.  While we can argue the reasons, the finding from a recent study from Forrester […]

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That’s how it feels from here, as we announce our 11th Jacobs Summit, this time in cahoots with R&R and the NAB.  As you probably know, those august organizations have combined forces to schedule their conventions in the same hotel in Dallas in mid-September.  As has always been the case, there will be no registration […]

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While flipping through a recent Billboard Radio Monitor devoted to alternative delivery for radio, I happened across a column called "Programming For Kids:  Still Off Radio’s Radar" (subscription required).  Edison’s Larry Rosin had a telling quote about why commercial radio has virtually no appeal to younger listeners, "You reap what you sow.  Target them and […]

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