The Jacobs Media Blog

While checking out my Twitter feed a couple weeks ago, someone offered up a great Seth Godin line that actually comes from a blog post that’s four years old.  It hasn’t lost an ounce of importance during that time: “The only reason to answer the phone when a customer calls is to make the customer happy.” […]

Public radio fan, Paul Jacobs, takes a look at program development at NPR and how it differs from traditional efforts.  Thanks to Larry Rosin for bringing the story to his attention. In the decade just concluded, we were fortunate to work closely with NPR on their overall strategy, programming, digital, and revenue development.  I don’t have to […]

We tried something very different for this year’s tech survey… and it worked. Thanks to some pushing from Joel Denver, we opened our annual tech study to everyone in radio.  And 170 stations and more than 57,300 respondents later, we have something very special. There’s data on everything from Pandora to in-car audio entertainment systems […]

You know that when a blog post is titled like this one, something amazing could happen. Actually, the chances of that are poor here because sadly, no one seems to have “the answer.”  That’s what makes navigating radio in 2012 a combination of exhilarating and frustrating. When I first started working in the business, I was […]

Many of us were taught about the importance of consistency when we got that first radio station gig. That’s how you won in the diary – giving them exactly what they expect day in and day out.  And many have come to believe that’s the secret of success in PPM, too. I beg to differ. Yes, […]

When you run into people who have gone to events like Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza, I always ask “What was the most memorable moment for you of the entire festival?” I have a feeling that if you bump into those who just experienced Coachella, they might tell you that the best live performance was a dead […]

We have used this space to discuss the Kodak failure to innovate with digital, while instead holding fast to their traditional film business.  A recent New York Times blog asked how a small start-up called Instagram could create a new application for photography, while Kodak, Nikon, Olympus, Canon and many others did not.  And that leads […]

I was the consultant for the team that helped launch Howard Stern’s syndicated career on WYSP in Philadelphia.  It’s easy to forget that most industry pundits were very bearish about Howard’s ability to “relate” outside of New York City.  And they also forget that in Philadelphia, Howard was not an instant success.  It took several ratings books […]

If you’re a Mad Men watcher, one of the new story lines a couple episodes back was the possibility of a new account for the fledgling ad agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.  Jaguar was part of the story line as the agency principles wined and dined (and then some) that car company’s account manager. It turns […]

These days, many stations and broadcast companies are grappling with the role of the DJ. Gone are the days when “four and out the door” was acceptable.  In 2012, personalities and hosts need to bring more to the table – social media skills, blogs, video, agency calls, and a host of other duties and touch […]

Last week, our post about the sons of the Beatles possibly reuniting generated a lot of comments about how the Classic Rock radio format is being forced to go after younger demos to satisfy media buyer demands for 25-54 adults. Now along comes a nice piece from Forbes called “Five Misconceptions About Marketing To Boomers.”  It’s […]

With thousands of broadcasters running through casinos at the NAB, let me remind you that there is no formula for winning in roulette. But smart bettors realize that the more numbers you can cover, the better your chances of winning. It’s a form of gambling ubiquity.  You may not be able to control the spin […]

There’s that old saying, “The fish rots from the head down.” In the case of Best Buy, that may be an unfair assessment of the Brian Dunn era.  But his resignation as CEO calls into question whether that mega-company has been beset by leadership problems that have trickled down from the corner office.  On the heels […]

Perhaps you saw the AdAge headline – “Young Consumers Switch Media 27 Times An Hour.” Not a day.  An hour. And if you’re over 40, you probably read the story and concluded that there must have been a typo.  How is it even possible to make an average of 27 media audibles an hour? That’s because if […]

You NBA fans will remember the exciting years we witnessed here in Detroit in the mid-2000s when the Pistons emerged as the league’s hardest working team.  They won a championship in 2004, besting the Kobe/Shaq-led Lakers in the NBA Finals, and continued to play great basketball until age, change, and bad draft picks conspired to […]