The Jacobs Media Blog

I’m not sure which radio manager was the one who first said to me, “This would be a great business except for all the people.”  But at times, I can empathize. The fact is, radio isn’t the scalable business that many investors and corporate mavens think it is.  And dealing with talent is often one […]

One of the hot topics in radio for several years – but reaching a fascinating apex at this point in time – revolves around streaming and whether stations are getting proper credit and compensation for their audience usage numbers. As pure-plays continue to grow their reach, as radio grapples with single-line reporting, as the automotive […]

Last weekend, Detroit Public Television CEO and former CBS Detroit market manager Rich Homberg sent me a feature story produced by MSU’s Russ White for WKAR Radio all about the legendary Detroit morning star, J.P. McCarthy. It’s the 18th anniversary of McCarthy’s passing, stricken by a rare blood disease that led to his death at 62.  […]

A new study from TVB says a lot about how local television is able to both aggregate a large audience and generate active social media behavior.  In TV, second screen viewing and fan engagement are major topics of conversation. This research conducted in partnership with Colligent, a social affinity mapping company, looked at the social […]

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from expanding our Techsurveys to other formats is that Sports Radio fans are something special.  While they are especially engaged with Twitter, the other critically important reality is that sports fans are highly mobile creatures, accessing information wherever and whenever they like. This puts unique pressure on Sports Radio […]

Recently I ran across an article about the often strange but very typical things that people say to those who work in not-so-common professions.  The article listed all sorts of different jobs, followed by some of the weird, odd, but very common statements or questions that are encountered. And it got me thinking about some of those same […]

Today, Mike Stern takes over the blog desk with a post that speaks to his background in both rock and news/talk radio.  I couldn’t say it better myself. – FJ The first 2:30 of this segment from The Daily Show should be seen by every Program Director in America because it directly speaks to delivering […]

Two more research/usage reports providing hard evidence that our mobile lives are moving faster than we could have ever imagined. First, it’s that eMarketer study that we reported on recently, showing that daily mobile usage continues to rise almost exponentially.  In 2013, nearly 2½ hours a day are devoted to time spent with mobile devices – […]

There it was on RAIN last week (pointed out snarkily by consultant James Cridland on Twitter, I should add) in an article about a new Rdio feature called “Stations” which is all about creating “radio-style listening” on a pure-play platform. Rdio is yet another company hacking away at trying to create a new and different version of radio […]

Our newest consultant, Mike Stern, makes his home in Chicago.  Aside from having to put up with amazingly bad baseball this summer, Chicago is also the place to take in a now-historic concert festival, Lollapalooza.  Here are Mike’s reflections on this year’s event, with a few timely tie-ins to radio. – FJ It was somewhere […]

It used to be that “senioritis” was that strange feeling that overcame high school and college seniors during their final year of school.  It turned them into slackers, just trying to get through that tedious last year. Well in radio, “senioritis” may be something altogether different.  It’s a malady that is impacting an industry that […]

All of a sudden, the newspaper industry is…in the news! Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame has purchased the Washington Post and now the rumors, conjectures, whispers, and prayers are flying at that paper – and perhaps at most other newspapers in the country. Think about this – our newest Public Radio Tech Survey indicates that […]

Back in May of last year, I went out on a limb and recommended buying Facebook on the eve of their IPO.  Since then, it’s been an incredibly rocky ride – mostly down – as Facebook has struggled amidst all kinds of Wall Street obstacles.  (Eventually, NASDAQ admitted a glitch and paid a $10 million penalty […]

This may be a first, but it may not be the last. In an honest admission of his capabilities and his passion (or lack thereof), Wilkes-Barre Times Leader‘s executive editor, Joe Butkiewicz, recently stepped aside because the paper’s new design direction “doesn’t fit my style.” Butkiewicz noted that while it was an emotional decision after 30 […]

Get ready for it because the headline in AdAge blares: U.S. Adults Now Spending More Time On Digital Devices Than Watching TV And deeper into the article, “Overall, the amount of time spent consuming media in all its forms – digital, TV, radio, and print – is cranking ever upward, though radio and print are dropping […]

The news last week that rock n’ roll icon Mick Jagger turned 70 years-old once brought up that age-old (sorry) question about how to position these milestones on Classic Rock stations. Back when everyone was turning 50 in the ‘80s, it was sort of a curiosity that rock’s old guard was somehow reaching this pinnacle.  […]

There’s not a week that goes by without conflicting opinions about the state of our lives.  Whether it’s a type of food that is both beneficial but harmful or news about a company like Apple that suggests both record sales and impending disaster, so goes it with the state of radio. In the same week, […]

Who are three of my new favorite people? George Alexander Louis (the royal baby), Geraldo Rivera, and of course, Anthony Weiner. All three of these wonderful celebrities have conspired to knock the Detroit bankruptcy story right off the front pages of newspapers and out of the mainstream news cycle.  Sometimes this short attention span thing works in your […]

In memory of one of America’s great radio personalities,  I dug back into our Summit archives.  Kidd graciously starred in our “President of Radio” presentation back at our 13th Summit in 2008 in Austin.  He was one of 10 different industry leaders and personalities who took the stage to opine about the state of radio. […]