The Jacobs Media Blog

The passing of Joan Rivers last week brought out a lot of memories, a lot of laughs, and a lot of emotion for those who were her fans for decades.  The Joan Rivers journey, starting with her standup comedy in the ’60s, her unique runway coverage in the ’90s on E!, and her well-known penchant […]

The passing of Joan Rivers last week brought out a lot of memories, a lot of laughs, and a lot of emotion for those who were her fans for decades.  The Joan Rivers journey, starting with her standup comedy in the ’60s, her unique runway coverage in the ’90s on E!, and her well-known penchant […]

Many of you know Beau Phillips – a guy who has held some amazing positions in media, from MTV to Dial Global.  But Beau cut his teeth in the business as a program director of great rock stations, notably KISW/Seattle from 1978-92 – truly golden years for the business and the format.  His new book, […]

Today’s blog post title are (in)famous words that we’ve all heard before that scream “ADDICT.”  Maybe we’ve even said them at one time or another in our lives. But while most of us think of addiction in terms of various substances or even activities like watching TV or playing video games, the inability to put […]

Since Lori Lewis joined our company in 2011, there has been an ongoing discussion about social media platforms and who makes the rules.  In a post from Lori’s early days, she even referred to Mark Zuckerberg as “the landlord” – the guy with the power to change the game at any time.  Today’s post may shock […]

Where did the summer go?   And what will the third half of the rest of the year bring to broadcast radio? More flat earnings, a rash of station buys and sells, a healthy political advertising climate, or something altogether different? First and foremost, let me thank you for taking the time to read this blog.  […]

That comScore study that made the rounds last week has brought out the best (and worst) in radio as everyone tries to understand the numbers and interpret what they mean – to mobile and, of course, to broadcast radio.  Like a report from the Fed about the U.S. economy, there are a lot of different “truths” […]

One of my favorite Sunday New York Times simple pleasures is when they highlight business leaaders from whom we can all learn from their collective experience.  Recently, the CEO of Guidepost Solutions, Julie Myers Wood, was interviewed.  When it came time to give advice to college students, she had this to say: One thing I always say is […]

Bad things keep happening at inconvenient times for radio. Whether it’s untimely deaths (Whitney Houston and Clarence Clemons both died on Saturday nights), or last weekend’s earthquake in Napa, radio’s inability to provide coverage when these emergencies occur – in either pop culture or real life – stands out.  Twitter continues to be first, usually […]

This morning, a reminder that radio no longer operates in a vacuum.  And important to note that this post is NSFW. It starts with a “news” item from The Onion (actually, it first appeared back in 2011) that came through my email box last week: Radio DJ Invites Whole Town To Some Bullshit News in Brief […]

In the past few years, we’ve devoted time in our Techsurveys to better understanding the threat that is Pandora, as well as other pure-plays, satellite radio, and even the iPod.  Debating whether Pandora is “radio” or not is beside the point.  The key is in assessing how consumers use these digital platforms, how they are […]

So when you think of things that move really fast, what comes to mind? Of course, there were those amazing Concorde SSTs that flew from New York to London in around 3 ½ hours. Or the new Chevy Corvette with a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds. But when I think about speed, the image that […]

Before you know it, the old pigskin will be tossed around, and soon, commercial radio broadcasters will head off to Indianapolis, while public radio programmers will make the trek to Portland, Oregon.  And that means that DASH 2.0 is right around the corner.  As you begin to plan out Q4, take a look at what’s planned […]

It’s one of the worst lines you’ll ever hear: “It’s not you, it’s me.” And the equivalent in the world of radio today: “The problem isn’t with our ratings, it’s with our sales.” How many radio stations – great ones, mind you – are hitting their ratings goals, are top 5 25-54 performers, are consistent […]

It’s one of the worst lines you’ll ever hear: “It’s not you, it’s me.” And the equivalent in the world of radio today: “The problem isn’t with our ratings, it’s with our sales.” How many radio stations – great ones, mind you – are hitting their ratings goals, are top 5 25-54 performers, are consistent […]

You may be thinking that it’s “Seattle DJ Week” on this blog – and you wouldn’t be wrong.  But it turns out the most fascinating stories in radio last week weren’t about the whereabouts of Casey Kasem’s corpse or what happened to radio’s Q2 revenue – they were about Bob Rivers hanging up his headphones and […]