Of course, it all started with the special edition U2 iPod. Now, thanks to the humor of Leisure Design, here’s the newest batch of personalized iPods: Wille Nelson’s Tommy Lee’s Dolly Parton’s Ray Charles’ And of course, Foghat’s: See some more over at Sync Magazine Online!
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Our founder, Fred Jacobs, discusses the issues facing broadcasters today.
Pyramid Of Pain
The Jacobs Media Technology Web Poll has been released to participating client stations, and will be making its way into the trades in the coming days and weeks. There’s so much data here, that it’s difficult to determine the most impressive finding. Many of you have already read the “cell phone only” story. There’s […]
Read MoreStar For An Hour
Funny thing happening with New York Mets fans. Every time the team travels on the road to Philadelphia, Met devotees stand in line at Citizens Bank Park to participate in a promotion that Philly fans are tired of. (Of course, if you know Philly fans, they hate everything – including themselves. But that’s for another […]
Read MorePodcasting Station Content
There’s been lots of talk about podcasting during the past year. As is typically the case with new technology, everyone debates about whether it’s the next big thing or another geeky wild goose chase. Our new Technology Web Poll confirms one important thing – about one-fifth of our Rock sample owns an iPod-like device. And […]
Read MoreDecisions, Decisions, Decisions
On a recent NPR “Morning Edition” program, anchor Steve Inskeep interviewed Michelle Peluso, CEO of Travelocity. The gist of their conversation centered on how Peluso makes quick, but thoughtful decisions for her company (think Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink“). During the interview, Peluso referred to her Consumer Experience Team. In the process of redesigning Travelocity’s web site, […]
Read MoreA Win-Win-Win
Recently, we sent out three commercials produced by WCSX/Detroit that represent an outstanding creative idea that generated new business. (click here for an example). As of today, these have been downloaded over 500 times, a record, by far, for our website. While a lot of this traffic was generated by curiosity, I believe it represents […]
Read MoreTrout On Strategy
I was recently emailed a summary of a new Forrester Research study (“The Future of Digital Audio”) that predicts that satellite radio will reach 20.1 million homes by the end of this decade. Contrast that news with a speech I heard last week from positioning maven Jack Trout. Last week, I was invited to speak […]
Read MoreAnother Country Heard From
What? One consultant publishing a memo from another consultant? You bet. Guy Zapoleon is one bright guy with a great view of our universe. I’ve sat in a number of meetings with Guy over the years, as I represent a Rock station and he looks out for the best interest of the AC in the […]
Read MoreDriveway Moments
NPR has this feature called “Driveway Moments.” Listeners submit examples of programming they’re heard on NPR that was so riveting, it literally left them listening to the end of the segment from their driveways (or parking lot, etc.). Those are the moments that programmers cherish. When I was a programmer, nothing (including a good trend) […]
Read MoreWhere Are The Democrats?
Last week, our blog commented on Representative James Sensenbrenner’s (R-WI) (SP) senseless concept to make on-air indecency violations a criminal offense. Somehow, we just can’t picture visiting some of our favorite morning shows in federal prison. Now former Rep Bob Barr, a staunch Republican conservative, has commented on Sensenbrenner’s idea. In a recent guest column […]
Read MorePower Of Local Branding
In the Sunday New York Times Magazine, Tom Peters has an insightful quote about branding and the Internet: “The Web makes the case for branding more directly than any packaged good or consumer product ever could…So how do you know which sites are worth visiting? The answer: branding. The sites you go back to are […]
Read MoreOur Ratings, Ourselves
That’s the title of the cover story of Sunday’s New York Times Magazine – Our Ratings, Ourselves. It’s a great piece about PPM, and Arbitron and Nielsen’s joint efforts to change how audience habits are measured. If you’re looking for a great piece that explains the confluence of new technology and media consumption, this is […]
Read MorePhone Scam
We’ve put the wraps on our all-client Technology Web Poll (more than 50 participating stations and 19,000+ completed interviews). The research is rich with incredible findings about how Rockers use streaming audio, iPods, and videogames, along with opinions about satellite radio and other new media. But the big finding that emerged from the study is […]
Read MoreStarbucks… More Than Coffee
Is it me – or is Starbucks becoming more and more like a great radio station? Or the kind of station we’d all want to work for? After I bought some shares of their stock, they sent me a special “shareholders card,” loaded up with $3.50. Every time I use it (yes, I loaded it […]
Read MoreGo Directly To Jail…
The new twist in the indecency debacle comes from Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) who recently told the cable industry that when it comes to indecency violations, he’d rather seek criminal prosecution as an enforcement measure. When all of this started shortly after Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, we started a site – www.saveradionow.org. It is an […]
Read MoreHave You Had A "Think Week"?
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a fascinating story about how Microsoft mogul, Bill Gates, takes two "Think Weeks" a year. Gates goes off by himself to a secluded cabin somewhere in Washington state where he isn’t interrupted by other people or distractions. A couple months before each "Think Week," Gates’ assistant gathers papers from […]
Read MoreHave You Had A “Think Week”?
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a fascinating story about how Microsoft mogul, Bill Gates, takes two "Think Weeks" a year. Gates goes off by himself to a secluded cabin somewhere in Washington state where he isn’t interrupted by other people or distractions. A couple months before each "Think Week," Gates’ assistant gathers papers from […]
Read MorePushback
On the front page of this morning’s New York Times is an article about satellite radio. The twist is that it addresses the issue that broadcast radio has begun to respond to the challenge. The article cites reduced commercial loads, expanded playlists, and the notion that commercial radio will always be a hugely successful business. […]
Read MoreClearing Up The Mysteries Of Guy Named Formats
John Hager (WGRF) writes in to point out that the new Jack sign-on in Albany at WEQX yesterday was indeed an April Fools Day stunt, signing on Dick-FM (“You don’t know Dick”). But thanks to the Albuquerque Tribune, we now know what happened to Fred-FM, the station that suddenly became Ed-FM. As we suspected, XM […]
Read MoreNo Foolin' – It's "Jack Friday"
No shock given our recent memos and blogs, but several stations took the Jack plunge today – from Detroit (Doug), to perhaps TWO stations in St. Louis, Des Moines (The Bus), and even Albany. For stations that are being “attacked” by these new players, it’s the time to reassess variety, audience loyalty, and personality interaction […]
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