The Jacobs Media Blog

In radio as in life, an important goal is to build and establish long-term relationships. In the case of radio, it’s an order that has grown taller over the years as human and financial resources are now at a premium. New research sheds light on brand-building and relationships, key ingredients as the year wears on.

Were you caught by surprise last week by the news All Access was suddenly calling it quits? So was I. In this blog post to start the new week, a look at All Access, its many accomplishments and the hole it will leave for both the radio and the music industries.

Could broadcast radio ever be considered cool among today’s Gen Z? There’s lot of hard evidence that suggests it’s just no longer possible. And yet, radio is often glorified and even romanticized by other media. Now, a new video game – “Killer Frequency” – is out, racking up stellar reviews. And it’s all about that lone nighttime jock tasked with not only entertaining a town – but saving it.

In less than five days, the new social media phenom – Threads – has done the impossible. It has blown through ChatGPT’s “old record” of reaching 100 million users in two months. How to explain the Threads phenomenon? Let’s start our search, with Elon Musk, who has made a lot of Threads’ growth possible. A CEO might have more power and influence – both positive and negative – than we may have thought.

As our lives get crazier, are there any media outlets that have “permission” to be open and tell real-life stories? Lately, it seems like there’s been more empathy and vulnerability all over radio airwaves, here in America and around the world. Today’s post showcases stations and shows that have broke format to “get real.” Looking forward to your comments.

  One thing about this blog – and especially after doing it consistently for 18+ years now – you meet a lot of people along the way.  Because of my writing and the topic of radio (and related things), many posts touch the heartstrings of a lot of people, whether they’re still in the game […]

A lot of research we see online that compares generations is just clickbait. And often it sets up culture skirmishes between us. Is looking at data through the generational lens still valuable? We’ve been doing it in our Techsurveys for years. But now the well-respected Pew team is questioning this analytical point of view. Is it fair and insightful to compare Boomers vs. Millennials (and other odd groupings)? We’ve got the answers.

This has been an interesting week on this blog.  Volume was markedly increased, as was the number of comments left by scores of you, not only here but on my socials.  But too bad there’s no way to measure the emotional intensity of the written word, because this week’s posts – especially Monday and Tuesday […]