The Jacobs Media Blog

You may think the title of today’s post is oxymoronic.  But the fact is, the airlines are doing some pretty smart stuff these days, besides charging for bags, food, and bin space, while filling their planes to capacity, and thus unlocking the keys to profitability.  And they are working toward improving the experience, especially when […]

Here we are, on the precipice of another moment that screams at us with a message that our once predictable world is now in a state of constant change. Today, Twitter goes public, fueled by a debate that has raged on for weeks and months about whether this IPO will be more successful than Facebook’s […]

Last week, Buzz Knight and I did our post-mortem on the baseball season.  As I was lamenting the disappointing exit of the Detroit Tigers – a team loaded with gifted athletes – Buzz reminded me of the intangibles that led the Red Sox to victory.  Looking at their lineup 1-9, there aren’t a lot of guys […]

Sometimes it seems apparent that we may not be as far along as we’d like to think we are. Case in point: an MIT Sloan Management Review and Capgemini survey of execs and managers from many different fields globally reveals that there are still a lot of Luddites hanging around corner offices when it comes to technology […]

No one enjoys food on the run more than Bill Jacobs, and today, he combines his love of chow with his smart POV on radio and Millennials.  Yes, there’s a connection. – FJ It may not be in your lexicon, but the term “Fast Casual” was created in the late 1980s to describe restaurants that are […]

If you want to get a true sense of where digital information gathering and usage is moving, look no further than sports fans. As a group, they have a voracious appetite for all-things sports – scores, information, the odds, fantasy developments, behind the scenes info, celebrity gossip, and yes, the games themselves.  The World Series […]

I was speaking with a broadcast executive last week who joked that new managers always get “A” grades when they’re hired, but drop to “C’s” when it’s time to let them go. “Hiring in radio” used to be an oxymoron, so it was no surprise that many industry trades gleefully reported this week that Cumulus is […]

No stranger to rate cards and sales meetings, Paul Jacobs takes a few minutes to school us about how generating radio revenue and local car dealerships are being redefined.  Paul moderated the car dealer DASH session, and clarifies some of the post-reactions to that panel and what it all means to radio.  Buckle up. – FJ […]

Mike Stern always enjoys looking for the great analogy for storytelling and brand-building.  Today, he hits the jackpot, showcasing a pop culture legend celebrating a major milestone.  Despite his advancing age, our hero is still faster than a great Internet connection and more powerful than a smartphone processor.  Read on. – FJ Just four or […]

I have to tell you that of all the things I’ve been involved with in my professional life, especially since forming Jacobs Media 30 years ago, DASH ranks right up there.  We hit a “responsive chord” (as Tony Schwartz called it) as evidenced by the nearly 300 engaged professionals who showed up in Detroit last week. […]

It was a milestone just waiting to happen, but Apple’s Tim Cook made it official earlier this week at his company event in the Bay Area: The iOS App Store has broken the 1,000,000 apps mark.  And those apps have generated 60 billion downloads. At jacAPPS, we’ve made a modest but important contribution to Apple’s […]

This morning, I’m going to address a large crowd of attendees at DASH by simply saying something that has never ever been said at a conference connected to radio: “Welcome to Detroit!” I don’t know how many radio conventions I’ve attended over the past 40 years, but it’s in the hundreds.  And though we have passionately argued […]

Maybe it started at CES back in 2009 when Ford CEO Alan Mulally remarked in a memorable keynote, “We are a car company but we are learning how to think like an electronics company.”  At the time, many inside and outside the auto industry probably wondered exactly what he was talking about. Now nearly five […]

It is sometime baffling to me how new and innovative concepts often run into immediate resistance by a business that says – on the one hand –  that we should be trying new things.  But on the other, doesn’t hesitate to criticize these same new things when they are first released.  A case in point […]

It was happening anyway, but now part of the fallout of the web, websites, smartphones, and social media is that data driven communication activities are trumping telephone contact.  How many of us would rather text, go online, or connect socially, rather than pick up the phone and take our chances with whoever is on the other end […]

When you first got into radio – whether that first job in the business was in the ‘60s or earlier this year – you’ve been indoctrinated about the value of cume – big box car numbers that represent a radio’s “circulation” or reach. The more listeners you have, the greater chance you can convert them into […]

Our overly connected lives mean that we are being inundated by information, data, charts, and research – a lot of which conflicts with one another.  How often do you receive emails laden with stats that seem to contradict ones you’ve just read? I had one of those Classic Rock “moments” last week with Inside Radio.  It […]

It’s no secret that converting ratings to revenue – a financial feat that used to come very natural to radio sellers – has now become a high wire act.  We all know many great radio brands with competitive or even stellar ratings that are struggling to “make goal.” Because let’s face it, too many radio […]

We’re having a beautiful fall here in the Motor City, and the last week or so has given us a stretch of cool mornings and sunny afternoons in the 60s and 70s that feel like it’s L.A. in Detroit – without the traffic. So the other night I’m heading home from work, the windows are […]