The Jacobs Media Blog

Yesterday, we looked at a Media Behavior Institute study that strongly suggested that the habits of advertising professionals don’t match those of the general population – especially when it comes to radio listening. In fact, while only 42% of these Madison Avenue mavens listened to radio during the day-long test period, 80% of consumers spent time […]

We’re getting closer to the World Series, and we’re already seeing some hotly contested, competitive games of baseball. And there’s nothing worse than teams that are always going at it with the umps – arguing balls and strikes or feeling that the deck is stacked against them. Similarly, the teams that blame other variables – the […]

While radio often assumes that its mega companies will be the most innovative, Saga Communications has had an interesting several weeks when it comes to stepping out and trying new things. First, it was the announcement that its stations’ streams would no longer have ad insertions, instead opting to simply simulcast their broadcast signals on their […]

Earlier this week, Lori Lewis’ “Merge” column in All Access took on the issue of who’s running your social media efforts.  Maybe because Facebook and Twitter are “free,” broadcasters often feel they are easy to master – or perhaps just aren’t that important in the overall scheme of things. But as we learned in Techsurvey8, […]

It’s amazing the things you are taught by your parents…and then you pass them along to your kids. We were always taught that a personal, handwritten thank-you note was mandatory for gifts and good deeds.  And we imbued that “old school” acknowledgment into our children. As digital media has become the lifeblood of communication, many believe […]

Two of my least favorite words in the new business lexicon are “best practices.”  That’s because the new rules are being written so quickly – and then often modified – that there really isn’t a rulebook anymore. I know that’s a tough thing for a consultant to admit, but the rapid change in the new media and […]

One billion is a lot of zeros and a pretty impressive accomplishment. You might have thought I was talking about McDonald’s with this headline, but burgers are a lot different than digital connections with people (OK, there are lots of dogs and cats in there, too). When observers talk about who “the next Facebook” might […]

Sometimes you just need a break. That’s essentially the way Dave Grohl explained it last weekend as he concluded a Central Park concert.  While he didn’t indicate the Foo Fighters were breaking up, he conceded that he didn’t know when the band would be playing again.  As he explained, “…it’s a good thing for all […]

When it comes to social media, we’re still figuring this out.  And something that Lori Lewis wrote last week for her All Access “Merge” column continues to resonate with me. It’s the age-old question: which metrics truly matter? We’ve had this discussion in radio since Bill Drake.  Is it cume – that is, the total “circulation” of […]

By now, you know the drill.  If you run into a problem with a company or brand, you can go right to their Facebook or Twitter page, and let them know about your complaint or issue. And sometimes you get a positive result – and sometimes you don’t.  Many brands don’t even bother to acknowledge […]

As we head into the final leg of the Presidential campaign and the first debate tomorrow night, the topic of how a music station should be dealing with this contentious historical event is front and center. Morning shows have to talk about the election, the debates, the mud, the advertising, the polls, and the gossip.  […]

So it took just a couple days after that Monday Night Football debacle, but the NFL and the referees quickly got back together and solved their problems in record time.  And the zebras even got standing ovations over the weekend. The interesting aspect of this labor strife getting solved after some gnarly exhibition games and […]

Yesterday, we highlighted NPR’s Kinsey Wilson (at left) and American Public Media’s Dave Kansas (below right), both of whom were featured panelists at a Public Radio Program Directors session moderated by NHPR’s Virginia Prescott in Las Vegas a couple of weeks back. Today, I’d like to focus on two big topics from that session:  new […]

In a panel at “The Radio Show” last week about mobile apps, moderator Steve Goldstein asked a question about podcasting and who is doing a good job in this area.  Noting that NPR and public radio have excelled in the space, he wondered whether commercial radio has experienced similar success. And Steve’s question speaks volumes about […]

So football fans everywhere are up in arms about these replacement officials.  And our Ralph Cipolla – Bills devotee extraordinaire – is no exception.  (Lori Lewis is still in mourning over Monday’s night’s Packers loss.)  Today, Ralph finds a way to analogize these stand-in officials with a more common occurrence in radio. Game on. When […]

One of the more disappointing aspects of the Presidential campaign is that radio has somehow gotten the short end of the political advertising stick.  As the two candidates have amassed unthinkable sums of money to focus on this last leg of the race, most of those dollars will go right into television in swing states. […]

It was another Radio Show, and another speech by the NAB’s CEO Gordon Smith about the necessity for an FM chip in cell phones.  As he told the assembled masses at the Anatole: And in this corner, it’s Gary Shapiro, the head honcho of the Consumer Electronics Association who recently wrote this in an op/ed piece: […]

It’s amazing to watch the frenzy around iPhone 5.  Even though some tech pundits and geeks have essentially written that it’s not a breakthrough device for Apple, early sales figures are through the roof.  In the first 24 hours it was available, Apple had booked 2 million orders for its new technological wonder. It’s in […]

Seth Godin has done it again. He has boiled down success to choosing among six different constituencies, making the point that successful organizations can be focused on any of the following groups (and this is a partial list): the sales force the stock market potential new customers existing customers employees or the regulators While he lets […]

We saw indications of this in our Techsurvey8.  Now, our new public radio version of our trended tech surveys is out, and PRTS4 reveals the same finding about Twitter. While Facebook and LinkedIn dominate in the world of public (and commercial) radio, Twitter is growing fast – up 57% from PRTS3’s results back in late […]