The Jacobs Media Blog

Last week’s blog entry, "The Graveyard Shift," struck a responsive chord with many of you.  Bill Figenshu chimed in with some comments of his own, well worth taking a few moments of your time to read (below).  We appreciate his views as someone who has spent much of his career in leadership roles in radio, […]

Jacobs Media’s Dave Beasing gets his game on in today’s post: Quick quiz:  What brand name gift item has been in the top 3 on Amazon.com’s wedding gift registry for the past several weeks? Give up?  It’s the Nintendo Wii videogame system.  Apparently videogames have evolved from a reason couples split up to become something […]

In Richard Laermer’s Punk Marketing manifesto, there are seemingly two conflicting planks.  (Actually, this happens with a lot of marketing books.  Seems like many of the "22 Immutable Laws" contradicted each other.)  On the one hand, Richard urges marketers to use the tools of the revolution – in this case, podcasts, blogs, etc.  On the […]

"My first job was playing the religious tapes on Sunday mornings.  Every now and then one of the tapes would break and I’d be on the air live."   — John Tesh, TeshMedia CEO"My first paying job was as a part-time disc jockey in 1976 at WLYV/Fort Wayne.  I got fired three months later because my […]

Tim Davis will want to take some credit for the discovery of singer Leslie Feist, known just by her last name. But the reality is that until she showed up in that iPod Nano ad, singing "1234," nobody knew who she was.  Since that spot started airing nationally, Feist and "1234" are bona fide hits.  […]

Much has already been written about these new satellite radio ratings numbers released by Arbitron from the Spring ’07 survey.  Some are questioning the accuracy of the data, suggesting that listening levels are understated, given the challenging task of recording channel numbers from XM and/or Sirius stations, and other methodological aspects.  I will leave this […]

As this amazing baseball season ends, two unlikely teams did battle in the World Series – the come-out-of-nowhere Colorado Rockies and the comeback kids themselves, Boston Red Sox.  Redsox Nation was convinced, of course, that their team should have been in the Series by virtue of fate.  But the Rockies story was truly remarkable. But […]

As this amazing baseball season ends, two unlikely teams did battle in the World Series – the come-out-of-nowhere Colorado Rockies and the comeback kids themselves, Boston Red Sox.  Redsox Nation was convinced, of course, that their team should have been in the Series by virtue of fate.  But the Rockies story was truly remarkable. But […]

Jacobs Media’s Ralph Cipolla talks about the potential writers strike & CVC: A work stoppage looms, one that will impact nearly everyone in the mainstream of contemporary American society.  No, it’s not the UAW – they’ve struck a deal with GM, and are now well into finalizing discussions with Chrysler.  I’m referring to the Screenwriters […]

The drama surrounding the Joe Torre situation last week finally came to a head.  The Yankees – proving once again that legendary achievements don’t necessarily translate into class – gave Torre a substandard offer (a reduction in pay, no less), and the manager did the right thing, and walked.  This ends an incredible era in […]

At Lincoln Financial Media’s FM 94/9 in San Diego, they proudly say, "It’s about the music."  But when over 300,000 people have been evacuated and everyone else in the county is "on standby," it’s about vital information. So when the local public radio station that has a big reputation for news coverage had their transmitter […]

At Lincoln Financial Media’s FM 94/9 in San Diego, they proudly say, "It’s about the music."  But when over 300,000 people have been evacuated and everyone else in the county is "on standby," it’s about vital information. So when the local public radio station that has a big reputation for news coverage had their transmitter […]

In yesterday’s blog, we previewed a new TiVo/Rhapsody service that puts 4,000,000+ songs in the hands of the consumer.  As we saw in the Arbitron/Jacobs Media "Bedroom Project," CVC – or control-variety-choice – are major attributes that separate desirable media devices and technologies from the rest of the pack. The other innovation that is worth […]

In "The Bedroom Project," we identified CVC – or control-variety-choice as major attributes that separate desirable media devices and technologies (iPods, for example) from those that lack many of these same qualities.  Radio – as it exists for most consumers today – often fails the CVC test. And as we also saw in "Bedroom," music […]

As more and more people see "The Bedroom Project" clips, the power of DVRs and TiVos becomes more tangible.  Add that to the fact that the penetration of these TV recording devices is in the 18% range, and thus having a major impact on television ratings.  More and more people store shows on these convenient […]

In the latest marriage of Classic Rock and digital technology, Verizon and Led Zeppelin are now offering wallpapers, ringtones, and full-song downloads of the band’s catalog. Check out this quote from the director of digital music at Verizon Wireless, Ed Ruth:  "Verizon Wireless is proud to be the exclusive over-the-air retailer of digital downloads from […]

"We will strive to ensure that radio is on new, emerging technologies. It’s our job to make sure broadcast signals are available on every gadget, everywhere."       —David Rehr, NAB President/CEO That statement was part of the "Radio 2020" initiative introduced at the NAB Convention, last month in Charlotte.  It’s timely for a number […]

Mark Ramsey talked with me about the inside scoop behind "The Bedroom Project," available as a podcast he’s streaming on his blog – Hear 2.0. It’s a nice synopsis of the study, and talks about some of the implications this Arbitron-sponsored ethnographic study has on our business.  It weighs in at just 15 minutes, and […]

Mark Ramsey talked with me about the inside scoop behind "The Bedroom Project," available as a podcast he’s streaming on his blog – Hear 2.0. It’s a nice synopsis of the study, and talks about some of the implications this Arbitron-sponsored ethnographic study has on our business.  It weighs in at just 15 minutes, and […]

Everyone knows Mark Cuban, right?  He’s the media maven who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo! and forever became a media/entertainment icon.  Cuban is also the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and is the most recent phenomenon on ABC-TV’s hit show, "Dancing With The Stars." But those are just items on his resume, because Mark Cuban […]