A great blog entry from Jacobs Media consultant, Dave Beasing, who notes that Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has come up with a great idea that gives his fans unique access to his music. He is offering their hit, “The Hand That Feeds,” in a free download with multiple tracks. Anyone can remix it, rearrange, […]
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Our founder, Fred Jacobs, discusses the issues facing broadcasters today.
Little Steven To Keynote Jacobs Summit X
Summit X (June 23rd) in Cleveland continues to come together. Little Steven, the man of many talents, will be our keynoter. Steven’s background in music, radio, and all-things entertainment, will have a lot to say about the state of our business and where it’s headed. If you’ve ever heard him speak, you know he’s all […]
Read MoreMC2
OK, it’s no SXSW, but there were lots of stirrings here in the Motor City as a burgeoning local music scene was showcased recently at the Motor City Music Conference (MC2). Paul and I have been in a behind-the-scenes mode with these guys for a lot of years now, and it’s great to see this […]
Read MoreArbitron Cell Phone Webinar
Arbitron just put the wraps on a Consultant-only conference call to address the “cell phone only” issue. Since the Arbitron Advisory Council presented the findings of our Technology Web Poll regarding “cell phone only” listening, Arbitron has made some moves. Aside from their past studies on the topic, they’ll be fielding a test this summer […]
Read MoreThe Pope Goes Neo
Just days after becoming the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has been informed by his technical support team that his new email address – benedictxvi@vatican.va – is good to go. This isn’t a pitch for you to email him, but like all great leaders, hearing from his core audience is obviously something […]
Read MoreA Shameless Plug
Beasing’s “Buzz” for April is now posted on our site. If you’ve never read one of Dave’s compendiums of pop culture notes, observations, and oddities, take five minutes and check it out. “Buzz” is always well-written, timely, and yes…buzzworthy. Enjoy the writing and the wit of one real smart guy. >Click Here To Read Beasing’s […]
Read MorePimped Out ‘Pods
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!
Read MorePimped Out 'Pods
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!
Read MorePyramid 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 […]
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