The Jacobs Media Blog

We’ve gotten great reviews on our two CGM panels at Summit 11.  First, the "real life" radio examples, as presented by Bill Weston, Jennifer Williams, and Ryan Patrick.  And then the view from 35,000 feet from guru Ben McConnell, who provided some great context and graphic examples of CGM at work. And then there’s this: […]

Nice commercial segue during the baseball playoffs last night on Fox – not preprogrammed by Selector or MusicMaster. Nissan is using "Iron Man" to market their new truck, which went right into Best Buy’s "Just What I Needed" spot. Thought I was listening to CSX.

One of the best lyrics in all of music history comes from Lou Reed’s aptly named "Rock N’ Roll" when he sings, "Her life was saved by rock n’ roll." A few weeks back, the San Diego Padres lost a game to the L.A. Dodgers that they should have won.  The Dodgers hit four consecutive […]

One of the best lyrics in all of music history comes from Lou Reed’s aptly named "Rock N’ Roll" when he sings, "Her life was saved by rock n’ roll." A few weeks back, the San Diego Padres lost a game to the L.A. Dodgers that they should have won.  The Dodgers hit four consecutive […]

There’s a bank in Portland, Oregon called Umpqua, and they’ve hit on a clever way to build their brand – and their deposits. No, they don’t give away toasters, they don’t have catchy jingles, and they don’t have celebrity spokespeople. They’re doing it with local music. As a way of differentiating themselves from the mega-banks, […]

An interesting article in USA Today got me thinking about the radio business, especially coming off the NAB Convention. They featured Anne Mulcahy, the CEO of Xerox, who has pulled that company from big losses, and reinvented it.  It turns out her first move was to contact Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett – who she did […]

This article below, from the Thursday 9/28 edition of USA Today, was written for the newspaper business.  But substitute "radio" for "newspaper" and you have the prescription that was delivered so well at Summit 11 in back-to-back panels from Gordon Borrell (Borrell Associates) and Jason Calacanis (Weblogs, Inc./AOL). Gordon provided the data – how local […]

Today we’ve got a guest entry from Jacobs Media’s Paul Jacobs: While the NAB, R&R, and Jacobs Media Summit 11 convened in the "media capital" of Dallas last week, we’ve now returned to our offices only to be treated to an amazing PR onslaught this week.  You would have to be dead or out of […]

Sirius CFO David Frear is defending the company’s accounting practice where nearly a half million unsold vehicles on car dealer lots are considered Sirius "subscribers." Meanwhile, terrestrial broadcasters are spending millions of dollars trying to be in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, making sure that their numbers are completely on the level. Of course, if we could […]

Sirius CFO David Frear is defending the company’s accounting practice where nearly a half million unsold vehicles on car dealer lots are considered Sirius "subscribers." Meanwhile, terrestrial broadcasters are spending millions of dollars trying to be in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, making sure that their numbers are completely on the level. Of course, if we could […]

It’s amazing how many industry observers and so-called "mavens" continue to look at "shuffle weekends" as just another gimmick or trick.  (Then again, that’s how many perceived Classic Rock originally, and we know how that story ended.) Since we helped get the "shuffle" programming going on Q101 18 months ago, the phenomenon has caught on […]

Here’s something I’ve been doing lately while speaking in front of groups about technology, and it’s something that you can try at staff meetings or any situation where you’ve got an assembly of people in a conference room: -First, ask how many people have a radio with them.-Then, ask how many are carrying around an […]

Here’s something I’ve been doing lately while speaking in front of groups about technology, and it’s something that you can try at staff meetings or any situation where you’ve got an assembly of people in a conference room: -First, ask how many people have a radio with them.-Then, ask how many are carrying around an […]

If you need any evidence that those Google guys aren’t as smart as you think, consider this:  Google is going to crack down on the use of its brand as a verb, as in "I googled you."  To quote a representative of their company, ""We think it’s important to make the distinction between using the […]

No, not the Cheap Trick song, but Jason Calacanis’ advice to Summit 11 attendees as part of our "24 Hours to the Future" program.  Jason took on the difficult challenge of defining "The Future of Media." Those who saw the speech in real time hopefully left for the day with the right takeaway – that […]

No, not the Cheap Trick song, but Jason Calacanis’ advice to Summit 11 attendees as part of our "24 Hours to the Future" program.  Jason took on the difficult challenge of defining "The Future of Media." Those who saw the speech in real time hopefully left for the day with the right takeaway – that […]

Another strong convention day as Summit 11 wrapped up here in Dallas.  Baseball historian and management guru Jeff Angus walked us down the basepath where sports and business cross. And Ben McConnell continued our discussion on CGM with a great review of what’s happening globally with the democratization of the Internet, and media in general.  […]

We had a great opening day at Jacobs Media’s Summit 11.  Here’s a taste of today’s well-attended sessions… David Rehr, the new CEO of the NAB kicked off the day with "The Future of Radio" – and as hyped, it was a very cool look at the new guy and what he brings to broadcasting.  […]

A report from Media Daily News indicates that ad dollars targeted at 18-34 demos are moving away from traditional media and toward "branded entertainment, event marketing, and experiential marketing." And here’s a quote that will make those of you who own, operate, program, and sell Rock stations a little nuts.   It’s from Leo Kviijarv, VP/Research […]

The New York Times points out that research and development initiated by the U.S. government is often a way of determining how the future will unfold.  Of course, the U.S. is the world’s biggest investor in R&D, but its overall spending has been going down since 2002.  Not surprisingly, The Times’ analysis finds this alarming. […]