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While many of you are entering the dreaded “budget season,” we’re deep into the planning stages for our third annual tour of CES this January in Vegas. There’s a lot to talk about in media and technnology, especially the arrival of 5G – technology that will rock our worlds. We go to CES each year because we don’t want to miss a future full of change, opportunity, and innovation. Here’s a preview.

Guest blogger Dave Beasing wrests the keyboard away from me today to write a great guest post from his perspective in L.A. Dave has started a new podcasting business, and brings us 8 ways Hollywood is embracing on-demand audio – and what that means to the radio broadcasting industry. Podcasting is a hot topic, and Dave’s perspective is spot-on.

Radio is a fragmented industry, but there have been initiatives of late that demonstrate how powerful the medium can be when it speaks in one voice. Today’s post looks at what radio broadcasters can accomplish when they collaborate and cooperate.

More and more, we rely on Big Data to help us make decisions. But despite the research, metrics, and analytics, a single person can make a powerful impact in the world of politics – and in the world of radio. Today’s blog looks at “The Power of One.”

At the NAB Radio Show this week in Orlando, corporate radio is on display – in keynotes, on panels, and roaming the hallways and meeting roooms. One of the things that defines great leadership is the ability for the person at the top to define a clear vision for their company – and the radio broadcasting industry. “The vision thing” is the subject of today’s blog post – a gut check for CEOs that can unite shareholders or employees, or create even more uncertainty in a business that is very much in a state of flux.

As media and technology converge, marketers are increasingly focusing on that massive group of teen (and pre-teen) consumers, better known as Gen Z. Except in broadcast radio. A new research you haven’t seen vividly illustrates the box radio has put itself in by its myopic 25-54 focus. Today’s blog post offers a way out of that box.

Yesterday, we took a hard look at a series of unfortunate events that have impacted podcasting. In today’s post, we travel thousands of Internet miles to learn how the Chinese are approaching podcasting – and why it’s working.

In just the past several days, there’s been a lot of media buzz around podcasting’s unfortunate series of recent events. Is this just a temporary speed bump or a sign the bubble is about the burst? In today’s post, we dive in to answer that questioin, puzzling many in and out of radio broadcasting.

Personalities are the lifeblood of the radio industry – the proprietary “secret sacue’ that separates the great brands from the wannabes. In today’s JacoBLOG, talent guru Steve Reynolds is in the driver’s seat with the 10 things he looks for when determining whether potential personalities have what he calls the “IT Factor.” You’ll want to look for these traits in future interviews with talent, as well as evaluating your own airstaff.

As audio proliferates, bolstered by new gadgets like smart speakers and smartphones, the question of measurement is on the minds of many radio broadcast executives. And for good reason. There’s a spike in headphone usge and its impact on radio measurement is staggering. Today’s blog post offers up new data and old questions about headphones and ratings.

Billions of dollars have been spent attempting to determine the most effective ways for brands to market to Millennials. Transparency and authenticity are common values, but it turns out that something even simpler and more direct motivated loyalty and word of mouth. And it’s something every radio station knows a lot about.

It seems like not a day goes by when a new technology breakthrough rocks our world. In radio circles, rolling with the changes goes to the heart of the challenge facing every broadcasting company. Today’s post looks at the breakneck speed of tech, and how strategists can stay focused and calm – in the middle of the tsunami of change.

The results are in, and for the fifth consecutive year, Classic Hits and Classic Rock earn “Format of the Summer” honors in the Nielsen PPM ratings. Meanwhile, CHR audience numbers declined, perhaps a contradiction during a period when kids are out of school and the record labels work hard to produce big summertime hits. Of course, we have a theory – and some data to back it up – for why gold-based radio stations continue to win the summer ratings wars. See if you agree.

It’s hard not to be fearful of the world around us – especially when it comes to our changing, disrupted professional lives. It’s FOFB – or the fear of falling behind. Not to worry – we’ve got a dozen ways to overcome and conquer that fear. And most are fun, painless, and inexpensive. Dive in.

As a smart obsesrver of media and technology recently quipped, “The revolution will be vocalized.” Today’s post takes a straight-on look at the voice revolution, what it means to broadcast radio, and how some of the habits acquired during the early PPM days won’t work so well in the era of voice. Alexa, open today’s JacoBLOG.