The Jacobs Media Blog

While radio companies are busily beefing up their digital assets, creating entirely new departments, hiring tech experts, and rushing to get their content onto new platforms, the industry may be missing an obvious revenue-generating opportunity: Merchandizing and marketing radio’s best brands with logoware. Regular readers of this blog have heard me make the same plea […]

Verizon had a major presence at the Consumer Electronics Show last week.  Their big news was unveiling their 4G LTE network, that COO Lowell McAdam says “amps up the speed 10 times” over what we’ve become used to. It was also referred to as “the end of waiting,” and for consumers, that’s really the headline, […]

On the first day of CES in Las Vegas, a running theme that stands out amidst all the gadgetry and technology is that the explosion in innovation is being driven by regular folks. Like the people who listen to radio. A spectacularly produced morning keynote presentation featured execs from Verizon, Time Warner, Motorola, and Google.  And the connecting fiber all […]

On the first day of CES in Las Vegas, a running theme that stands out amidst all the gadgetry and technology is that the explosion in innovation is being driven by regular folks. Like the people who listen to radio. A spectacularly produced morning keynote presentation featured execs from Verizon, Time Warner, Motorola, and Google.  And the connecting fiber all […]

What kind of year did you have in 2010? Let’s hold off on the revenue discussion for a second, and focus on audience growth.  If you moved your cume 10% higher, you’re probably feeling pretty good about your performance, especially without the old tools like Film House commercials or massive billboard showings. But if you’re […]

While you were doing that last minute bit of Christmas shopping late last year, Ford was unveiling its newest dashboard innovation – AppLink for SYNC. Up to now, systems like SYNC simply used Bluetooth to hook up smartphones with cars.  In this way, you could simply punch up one of the apps you downloaded on […]

This week, we’re off to the Consumer Electronics Show for the second consecutive year to check out the new toys, technologies, gadgets and trends.  As many of you know, this is the largest trade show in North America, and the challenge is to figure out a way to simply take it all in. One of […]

So we ended 2010 with a to-do list to make your job more interesting and meaningful in the new year.  And so now we’re here. But what is our approach – not just to the new year – but to the way we view our jobs, our careers, our roles, and how we spend our […]

Many years ago, I received some advice from a mentor that I have always cherished.  He told me that at the end of each year, it’s a great time to take your “career inventory” by asking yourself some key questions: “In the past 12 months, did you learn new skills, were you challenged, did you […]

For the past couple of weeks, we have gone back into our JacoBLOG 2010 archives to highlight some of the most-read and/or most-talked about posts.  And so we end the year with the post that introduced us to the Consumer Electronics Association’s CEO, Gary Shapiro.  In “Buggy Whip, My Ass!” we discussed the need for […]

It’s never been harder to navigate all the new media innovations and gadgets.  And to make matters worse, you’re not just a consumer.  Many of you reading this blog are media managers and programmers, tasked with not only keeping up, but assessing how it all fits together and affects your brand.  In this last week […]

2010 is drawing to a close, and many media outlets have already gone through a tough budget process for the new year.  I’m betting that many of you will be challenged to do more with less.  And so today’s “Best of” post talks about how to best utilize the research resources you have – whether […]

As we wind down the year, our blog is looking back at some of the better posts, based on page views and feedback.  It is interesting that this month, “Black Swan,” is a hit movie.  And last summer, we posted a blog about the White iPhone (now supposedly coming out in the spring of 2011) […]

It is indeed that time of year.  And what’s better than a viral video that captures the spirit and perhaps the insanity of our modern times? Thanks to Tom Bender, who truly combines the best of digital and devotional, for sending me this video:   >EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW DIGITAL NATIVITY VIDEO< And […]

We sincerely hope you are able to enjoy the holidays with friends and family, while refueling for the challenges ahead in the new year.  As we wind down our blog for 2010, we have pulled out some of the more talked-about posts from this past year.  Today’s entry goes back to last May, and a […]

During the holiday season, we are going back into this year's archives and pulling out some of the more interesting, provocative posts.  Back in March, we wrote a blog that was devoted to radio sales, and some of the challenges that stations are facing in the new media environment.  It's called "Snakes." Do you remember […]

As we highlight some of the more popular and/or discussed blog posts from 2010, I went back to a 3-part series from March called "Local Schmocal."  It was all about the importance of radio harnessing its local assets in an exploding global media environment.  Here's part three from that series: Over the past couple of […]

Until the end of the year, we'll be reposting some of our most-read and tallked-about blog entries from 2010.  This first one ran nearly a year ago, back in January, not long after I returned from the Arbitron Fly-In.  The theme that radio is fighting two simultaneous wars was referred to throughout the year, and […]

As social media has grown by leaps and bounds, many of us have had that seminal moment on Facebook – an incident that might cause you to exclaim, “HE’S on Facebook?!” Well, that moment happened for me last year when my 81 year-old mother tried to “friend” me on Facebook.  For me, it wasn’t so […]

Recently, a good friend, Art Timko, retired as station manager of public radio station, WEMU, in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  Art held that position for four decades, and at his retirement party made the statement we've posted below. From both a public radio and journalism point of view, Art's thoughts are worthy of your time.  I have […]