The Jacobs Media Blog

You have to hand it to the Newspaper Association of America.  When they book a keynote speaker, they don't mess around or worry about angering their membership.  Case in point:  Google CEO Eric Schmidt closed out their convention last week, a controversial but important player in the new media game.  I don't know about you, […]

As March Madness comes to an end – hey, Michigan State did their very best – it continues to amaze me how many media outlets and personalities utilized their version of brackets to have some fun and make a little noise.  We were pleased that many of our stations hopped on for the ride.  Rachael […]

If you're wondering what ever happened to all those gold and platinum album pictures that you sent us last month as part of the "Going for the Gold" promotion to protest the performance tax, stop wondering. The NAB has launched a new website – https://www.noperformancetax.org. Right there on the front page is a dynamic digital mosaic […]

It's getting more and more painful to read the radio trades these days.  It seems like every morning, there's another raft of companies running into financial problems, flirting with bankruptcy, and firing more employees.  As the names have scrolled by over the past year, you cannot help but react personally as a person who has […]

You have to give KISS, Craig Lambert, and Tommy Nast credit when it comes to re-energizing old brands, and giving fans a voice.  The newest twist on this 35 year-old institution is to let the audience determine where KISS will play this year on their North American tour.  Using Eventful as their back end, KISS […]

Here’s a guest blog from Keith Cunningham, who continues to be inspired by some of the incredible metrics being generated by Facebook. In the inaugural Jacobs Media Tech Poll, the “cell phone only” problem was first discovered, and there was also a little thing called the iPod that looked to have some promise.  What a […]

I was recently in Toronto at a meeting about iPhone apps (apparently, a recession-proof business), and was startled by the skyline.  I'm not talking about new building construction (which is happening, by the way), but by the number of radio station billboards I spotted in a short period of time.  It was like going back […]

It is fascinating that at a time when there are real signs that streaming is working – in both PPM and in sales revenue – some broadcasters are pulling the plug.  I'm not talking about Jerry Lee's B101 because I believe his cessation is about protesting musicFIRST, rather than trying to save a few bucks. […]

Jonathan Knee is an investment banker who has lately been advising the newspaper industry about bankruptcies and selling off failing newspapers.  He is also director of the media program at the Columbia Business School and has co-authored a soon-to-be-released book called Curse of the Mogul: What’s Wrong with the World’s Leading Media Companies? He recently […]

What should a personality do when he/she moves to a new town and needs to learn the lay of the land?  Most would advise him to get out, see the city, show up in as many places as possible, and get to know the people and the market.  For some reason, however, it's often difficult […]

That guy you see in the boarding area, frantically downloading another app on his iPhone, would have to be our Keith Cunningham.  Enjoy his guest blog: There’s a recession going on, but you’d never know it by looking at what’s going on in the mobile device world.  The iPhone app model has totally changed how […]

Today's guest blog from our own Paul Jacobs mentions how radio should seize the opportunity to grab advertising dollars from the sinking newspaper industry. I knew today's blog post title might get your attention.  No, it's not a new TARP model for banks.  And it's not what GM hopes to get during the next round […]

We all like to think that if or when disaster strikes a city or town, local radio will step up and do the right thing.  But oftentimes, stations are too busy or caught up in their own agendas to really recognize the need to "break format" and speak directly to their market. >Click here to […]

What do you do when your image sucks, and consumers associate you with all the wrong perceptions? Well, you can always change call letters. That's what AIG has done.  Can you imagine telling friends, family, or even new people that you meet that you work for AIG?  So, in order to repair its horrible rep, […]

I have heard from many broadcasters during the past week or so since we initiated our "Going for the Gold" campaign.  Not surprisingly, radio professionals pretty much line up on the same side of the fence on the performance tax issue – perhaps one of the few instances where this is the case.  If you didn't […]

I have heard from many broadcasters during the past week or so since we initiated our "Going for the Gold" campaign.  Not surprisingly, radio professionals pretty much line up on the same side of the fence on the performance tax issue – perhaps one of the few instances where this is the case.  If you didn't […]

It is more than a little interesting that during the same week that Greater Media's Buzz Knight praised FMQB's U2 3 Nights event, one of his own stations was pulling off another historic moment of their own. I am obviously a shameless fan of Greater Media, especially in the current environment.  (Yes, I work for them […]

As the media industry continues to try to understand where it really stands, some very smart analysts are taking their shot at interpreting the present, and what it means for the future.  It is easy to blame our current media woes on the recession, but harder to develop an accurate vision for life after a […]

With research budgets moving from sparse to virtually non-existent, radio stations are hard-pressed to keep in touch with audience tastes and trends.  As we've discussed in this blog, web polls are an outstanding way to track the tastes and attitudes of core listeners.  But whether it's a perceptual study or a web poll, the output […]

You may have missed the announcement, or perhaps you haven't looked too closely at the red can lately, but Coca-Cola has ceased using the word "classic" to brand their venerable beverage.  After 24 years, their recovery campaign after the New Coke debacle is apparently complete.  For Coke, it's been a textbook story of coming back from […]