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There’s a cry heard at many stations around the country.  There’s just no merchandising dollars, despite the fact that listeners want to display our call letters – on their cars, on their backs, and on their heads.  But funding stickers, T-shirts, and hats has become difficult expenses for many stations to fathom. Contrast that with […]

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There’s a cry heard at many stations around the country.  There’s just no merchandising dollars, despite the fact that listeners want to display our call letters – on their cars, on their backs, and on their heads.  But funding stickers, T-shirts, and hats has become difficult expenses for many stations to fathom. Contrast that with […]

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There’s lots of talk these days about viral marketing.  We’ve spent many Jacobs Media memos and advisories over the years discussing the potential of listeners becoming the engine for spreading the word about your stations, morning shows, contests, and other content. Much of this originated with the writing of Seth Godin, specifically his "Idea Virus" […]

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Dave Beasing joins me today in a "group effort" entry: A recent "Research Briefing" from The Center for Media Research speaks volumes about how radio personalities have an incredible opportunity to send great emails, while also improving web content.  And it has nothing to do with music, client appearances, or concert calendars. When so many […]

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An interesting development in the marketing of stock brokerage firms is playing out.  Schwab, a stock trading outfit that has had better days, is returning to its roots, and founder Charles Schwab.  As they duke it out against well-known brokerages like Merrill Lynch on the one hand, and many discount companies on the other, Schwab […]

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An interesting development in the marketing of stock brokerage firms is playing out.  Schwab, a stock trading outfit that has had better days, is returning to its roots, and founder Charles Schwab.  As they duke it out against well-known brokerages like Merrill Lynch on the one hand, and many discount companies on the other, Schwab […]

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Maybe that’s what they’ll call it – political candidates and incumbents who use podcasts to communicate their messages.  More and more, politicians from both parties are getting into the podcast game.  The White House is now podcasting all of President Bush’s speeches from ’05.  The Republican National Committee now offers "BookCasts" (interviews with authors) and […]

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Thanks to Mark Pennington of WRIF for the heads-up on a new Kenwood car radio that is moving in the right direction – under $150 and barely over $100 on some sites.  It would appear to have it all – CD and Mp3 playback, as well as being XM, Sirius and HD Radio ready.  It’s […]

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Today it’s a guest blog from Jacobs Media’s Dave Beasing: That’s how John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, explains this summer’s box office slump in the LA Times.  Not unlike in other businesses, the tendency in the movie industry is to fix blame – elsewhere – whenever things go wrong.  That’s […]

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Today it’s a guest blog from Jacobs Media’s Dave Beasing: That’s how John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, explains this summer’s box office slump in the LA Times.  Not unlike in other businesses, the tendency in the movie industry is to fix blame – elsewhere – whenever things go wrong.  That’s […]

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The "crossroads" we’ve been long expecting for morning radio materialized big-time today. Infinity announced its post-Stern national plan (see www.ik9.5f7.myftpupload.com for the release), and Howard had one of his replacements, David Lee Roth, as a guest. While speaking to Roth, Stern said something very interesting. In discussing his Sirius network and the Infinity regional morning […]

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The "crossroads" we’ve been long expecting for morning radio materialized big-time today. Infinity announced its post-Stern national plan (see www.ik9.5f7.myftpupload.com for the release), and Howard had one of his replacements, David Lee Roth, as a guest. While speaking to Roth, Stern said something very interesting. In discussing his Sirius network and the Infinity regional morning […]

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Back in August, I used this space to talk about Jon Stewart’s great Wired interview that totally supports the notion that "content is king."  Well, at the end of the piece, he was asked about how people will be watching the show in 2008.  His reply?   "We make the donuts;  We don’t drive the truck." […]

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Back in August, I used this space to talk about Jon Stewart’s great Wired interview that totally supports the notion that "content is king."  Well, at the end of the piece, he was asked about how people will be watching the show in 2008.  His reply?   "We make the donuts;  We don’t drive the truck." […]

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A recent newspaper article about Katrina noted that during times of weather crises, it’s not uncommon for people to hear busy signals when attempting calls (whether to FEMA or not).  The writer also pointed out how the busy signal has become nearly extinct – thanks to cell phones, and services like "call waiting."  When you […]

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Check out the new issue of Business Week.  The cover story is "Love Those Boomers," and it’s a fabulous rationale for why marketers and advertisers are going to be mining 50+ year old listeners.  As the feature article points out, both qualitatively and quantitatively, there’s so much money to be tapped with the leading edge […]

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Last month, we wrote about Rupert Murdoch purchasing MySpace.com – an incredibly successful site that now has more page views than Google.  It’s essentially a social network site where teens and college students meet each other, make friends, and hang out on the Internet. Why is this a big story?  First, Murdoch paid $580 million […]

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It’s great to see a morning show jump on the bandwagon, and put together a tour of the market.  We’ve long been fans of the "30 Bars in 30 Days" promotions when a new jock joins a station.  And readers of this space know we acknowledged the "50 States" promotion on ESPN. Now, veterans Tommy […]

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OK, my math SAT score left a little something to be desired, but years of analyzing callout and extrapolated Arbitrends qualify me to raise an eyebrow over recently reported Sirius subscriber rates.  According to TheStreet.com, while Sirius reports adding 359,000 new customers in the third quarter, there are some questionable reporting practices in effect. – […]

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