The Jacobs Media Blog

Here’s a question for everyone in radio at the station level? How do you define your brand? Do you consider yourselves “The Classic Rock Station” or the station that plays “Favorites of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and Today?”  Or are you “The News Authority?” And how would your audience describe you? The fact is that radio […]

These days, it is often about reputation – how to build and maintain a good one.  And also how to turn around a reputation that has been sullied. So much about what we read in the news these days about personalities tends to be reputation-based, whether you’re looking at Jerry Sandusky or Herman Cain.  Yes, […]

Have we really been doing the Summit for 16 years in a row?  Apparently so, and this post will give you lots of reasons why we hope to see you in Baltimore on December 7th for a day of learning and career growth.  (Not to mention Arbitron’s great agenda as part of their Client Conference, […]

For radio stations and companies struggling to find ways to be better than Pandora, XM, or that voicetracked station down the dial, sometimes it’s a simple as seizing the moment. But in these times when programmers are hard-pressed to program because they oversee other properties, do an airshift, maintain the website, and host station events, […]

Our Bill Jacobs still stays up late on Saturday nights to take in SNL and files a great post about how digital has kept a heritage show fresh. Saturday Night Live has now been on the air an astonishing 37 years.  For those of us who have witnessed the show’s huge peaks and devastatingly low valleys, […]

A recent Nieman Journalism blog by Andrew Phelps leads with a glaring headline: Ira Glass: ‘Who cares if radio survives?  Something else will happen.’ Pretty inflammatory stuff, especially coming from a thoughtful, insightful radio professional and content creator. If you don’t know Ira Glass, you should.  He’s the host and main force behind the wildly popular This […]

So much in radio has changed, but you know that. As we watch the recent staffing cutbacks by both Clear Channel and Cumulus, it has to send out a message that in spite of all the rampant consolidation, something must have gone very wrong.  This is evidenced by the seeming necessity to cut budgets and […]

You have to give Huffington Post creator, Arianna Huffington, some major props.  She’s at the forefront of the digital journalism revolution, and in the process of trying to breathe life into AOL, Huffington Post is creating a variety of new services that are worth noting. The one that caught our attention is called HuffPost/50, a […]

Just when you thought that it could only happen in radio, TV Guide reported that Fox told the voice actors who star on The Simpsons that they either take nearly a 50% pay cut or the network will cancel the show.  (They ultimately settled for a reported 30% reduction.) Why is this happening?  At $440,000 […]

You’ve heard the oft-mentioned line a lot in the past year:  “Radio is the original social medium.” I’m not sure I buy that.  In fact, the moves and strategies that have traditionally worked so well in driving ratings often come off as flat and artificial when they’re translated to the social space. Maybe that’s why so […]

I have some sad news for you today.  Due to the circumstances that have hit the radio industry over the past couple of weeks – and are likely to continue for some time to come – we have dusted off our program to help Rock Radio professionals find their next jobs. You may recall a […]

In today’s post, Bill Jacobs addresses how brands are dealing with complaints, concerns, and questions at a time when consumers have an increasingly growing influence. A few years ago, we worked with a radio station that carried Howard Stern in mornings.  Due to growing concerns among advertisers, the market manager convinced his bosses to cancel […]

It has almost become a cliché – the way you win in business and in life is to have passion for what you do, your product, and your mission.  Why, then, do we continue to be amazed by Apple’s success? A new study covered in a recent New York Times piece attempted to explore the […]

Who is Art Levinson? Well, if you enjoy using and playing with apps on your iPhone or iPad, he’s the guy who convinced jobs that externally developed mobile applications might be a good idea.  If not for Levinson, your iPhone might look like this: Walter Isaacson’s bio on Jobs reveals that Jobs, the master of […]

CX and TSA – these acronyms would seemingly have nothing to do with each other.  But in fact, I have experienced something truly amazing from a government agency that speaks volumes about the changing nature of serving the customer. When you think about government workers, what words come to mind?  Entitlement?  Inefficient?  Impersonal?  Bad service?  Ambivalence? […]

We’ve devoted space on this blog over the past few weeks to analyze the Netflix (Qwikster) debacle.  It’s one thing when a radio company chooses an ill-fated format or personality.  It’s another when one of the most popular, innovative new media brands in history makes a spectacular miscalculation. How painful has Netflix’s fall been financially?  […]