The Jacobs Media Blog

There’s a noticeable shift happening in the world of subscription entertainment. Some of the biggest companies – among them, Amazon, Comcast, and Netflex – are changing up their business models to pile on even higher monthly fees. Some are even adding commercials to what used to be commercial-free services. As a longstanding member of the entertainment and information club, broadcast radio might have a pathway to driving home a positive difference. Now that would be a plus.

In a follow-up to recent blog posts, I’ve got three tantalizing “whatever happened to stories” – AI DJs, radio stations in video games, and the ever-widening incidents of mental health issues – thanks to a furry muppet.

If you’ve achieved a modicum of success in the radio business, chances are you attribute it to talent and hard work. But the odds are also good that luck figured into it as well. We don’t always talk about the happenstance of good fortune, but it’s a factor in more successes than we may realize. Like mine.

You’re looking at one of my favorite blues titles for a song.  As bluesmen go, Robert Cray is a youngin’ at just 70 years of age.  Compared to his elders – folks like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and so many others who forged the trail, Cray is still earning his chops.  But the lyrics of […]

Whether you love, loathe, or are indifferent to CNN, their new CEO has created a turnaround strategy for the once-proud cable news pioneer. Sir Mark Thompson has held the top spot at the New York Times and BBC. His schematic for CNN is a brilliant analysis of what it will take to reverse his network’s course. And it’s a great read for any legacy brand hoping for ongoing success and sustainability. Do you see your company in his step-by-step recovery plan?

That gargantuan dashboard you see staring back at you isn’t a concept.  Nor is it something that is only available on high-end vehicles, like the top-of-the-line Mercedes or BMW EV models.  Nor is it the latest and greatest from the minds of Tesla. It’s a Ford. Actually, it’s a Lincoln – Ford’s luxury brand, to […]

There’s a 4-letter word making the rounds this fall, even trending from time to time. “Grit” is that hard-to-define term people in sports and in business and organizations. But when you’ve got it, you have something special. It works on a football gridiron but also in the air studio, the sales cubicles, and the corporate offices. Elusive? Perhaps, but that’s all the more reason to embrace it.

We’re not even one month into 2024, and the business fails in the media world are already taking their toll. Whether you look at radio, music, or journalism companies and organizations, the analysts and critics are circling like buzzards, trying to make sense of it all. Most of them ignore radio, a medium they’re writing off as “over” or perhaps never gave it its due to begin with. Does radio have a role in breathing life into a content strategy and business model that need some serious rethinking and innovation? I’m going to want to hear from you on this one.

One of the unmistakable trends at CES 2024 earlier this month was glasses and goggles that open up virtual worlds to us. We got to see a number of variations by brands like Ray-Ban. But Apple’s new entrant in this embryonic space – Vision Pro – wasn’t at CES, but was introduced while we were there. Here’s the skinny on this new product, along with thoughts about whether this might be the moment for this visionary gear. And if you haven’t heard the price yet of Apple’s new virtual specs, make sure you’re sitting down in a real chair before reading today’s post.

It’s been said every relationship has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And truer words were never spoken when it comes to talent and radio ownership. There are many storylines, both pleasant and tragic, between stars and their parent companies, and lessons to be learned. As radio has changed and evolved over the decades, this dynamic goes on as evidenced by two huge radio stories from just the past few weeks.

Since ChatGPT’s mass debut about a year ago, it’s been an ongoing debate over AI: panic or panacea? Tsunami or the path to success? There are lessons to be learned about how we’ve embraced or rejected technology in the past, mostly driven by our hopes and fears. We can learn from Amazon and their Alexa voice platform that needlessly scared off many consumers and even some broadcasters. As AI becomes an even bigger societal and media force, we’ve got decisions to make. Today’s blog post makes the case for acceptance and innovation, despite the rants and the risks.

On Martin Luther King Day, we remember the civil rights activist and leader as a radio personality, and the impact he had over the airwaves. Today’s post revolves around three lessor known facts about MLK, his radio career and a certain rock band’s anthem to Dr. King that originally was written for a certain U.S. President.