Our founder, Fred Jacobs, offers insights into the latest trends in broadcasting and digital media.
That Vision Thing
You have to give Kiefer Sutherland a lot of credit. A few years ago, he was just another actor, sleep-walking his way through forgettable movies. Then he became the creative force and face behind "24," a Fox-TV show that started out very slowly. In its first season, "24" was a cult show at best, struggling […]
Read MoreI Want My iPod
You can’t run away from technology. I’m not sure who originally said that, but in 2006, it has never been more true. Last year, our Tech Web Poll showed iPod ownership at a very strong level of 21% – pretty solid levels after the first big Christmas season for these personal MP3 players. But we […]
Read MoreHere Comes Du Soleil
What is it about the Beatles that keeps them in the news month after month, year after year? In just the past few weeks, their legal issue with Apple Computer was front and center. Then their "new" CD releases created buzz. And now, their project – LOVE – with Cirque du Soleil promises to be […]
Read More"TCATG"
Or "They come and they go." I worked for a guy who had that acronym on his desk as a reminder that success is fleeting, and the "next big thing" often fails to live up to the hype. So, like the ill-fated TV shows hosted by Chevy Chase and Magic Johnson, a quick goodbye to […]
Read More“TCATG”
Or "They come and they go." I worked for a guy who had that acronym on his desk as a reminder that success is fleeting, and the "next big thing" often fails to live up to the hype. So, like the ill-fated TV shows hosted by Chevy Chase and Magic Johnson, a quick goodbye to […]
Read MoreWe'll Be Right Back
You know that miserable feeling you get when you’re sitting in a movie theatre, after having paid $9 to get in, as well as $15 bucks for popcorn and soda – it’s when they start hammering you with commercials before the movie starts. And you think, I paid all this money to get away from […]
Read MoreWe’ll Be Right Back
You know that miserable feeling you get when you’re sitting in a movie theatre, after having paid $9 to get in, as well as $15 bucks for popcorn and soda – it’s when they start hammering you with commercials before the movie starts. And you think, I paid all this money to get away from […]
Read MoreThe Dangers Of Internet Advertising
Today we’ve got a guest blog from Paul Jacobs: All of us have been in the situation where a client calls and complains that their commercial ran next to a news story about their competitor, or even worse, next to a negative comment about their business. As a mature industry, we’ve built in safeguards to […]
Read MoreOut The Door
For whatever the reason, radio stations are having an incredibly difficult time finding, recruiting, wooing, hiring, and retaining good people. Many managers seem to be spending substantial percentages of their waking hours interviewing, reference checking, hiring, and hoping. I don’t think any of us can quite explain why this phenomenon is occurring. Many of us […]
Read MoreUp The FCC
Leave it to the geniuses who produce "Family Guy" to make the ultimate statement about the FCC and indecency (click to watch). You have to love the way these guys push the envelope.
Read MoreThe Holy Grail
The Holy Grail… That’s how MTV’s Van Toffler refers to cell phones. MTV now has access to one billion cell phones worldwide, allowing them to deliver all sorts of content to consumers. Citing research conducted by MTV, Toffler notes that young people value their cell phones ahead of laptops, video game consoles, and MP3 players. […]
Read MoreThe Sweet Spot
One of the realities of this most recent March Madness season was the huge number of office workers spending time on office hi-speed Internet connections – doing just about anything online other than actually being productive. Our Tech Poll II shows that 90% have access to hi-speed somewhere, so listening to streaming audio and video […]
Read MoreMr. Popularity
I’ve just come back from viewing a perceptual study for WMMR/Philadelphia. One of the more amazing findings in the research is the incredible popularity scores for afternoon drive legend, Pierre Robert. Pierre has been on MMR since ’81, and at this point, could be phoning it in. Yet, he stands above all others because of […]
Read MoreSatellite Blues III
Over the past several years during market visits and discussions with radio programmers and GMs, many have mentioned that they personally own stock in XM, Sirius, or both. Why? Because they secretly feel these new media companies are good investments, and they want to "hedge their bets." Against what? The demise of commercial radio as […]
Read MoreSatellite Blues II
And then there’s the news that Clear Channel will introduce six regional news and talk channels for XM, including programming from their terrestrial stations, such as WLW and WSIX. For one thing, this regional coverage would seem to go against the FCC grain of how satellite programming is supposed to work. But more importantly, why […]
Read MoreSatellite Blues I
Over the past couple of weekends, I’ve been catching a variety of "March Madness" games on local sports-talk radio stations here in Detroit. One thing that has jumped out at me is the number of commercials for satellite radio on these terrestrial stations’ radio networks. Whether the pitch is a part of an appliance store […]
Read MoreBut What About Kazakhstan "Cell Phone Onlies?"
Your eyes do not deceive you. The people of Kazakhstan may get passive measurement before U.S. radio stations do. That’s the subject of a new press release from Arbitron, announcing their PPM technology will be used to measure Kazakhstan television, replacing their antiquated diary measurement. Not sure where Kazakhstan is located? We’ve inserted this handy […]
Read MoreBut What About Kazakhstan “Cell Phone Onlies?”
Your eyes do not deceive you. The people of Kazakhstan may get passive measurement before U.S. radio stations do. That’s the subject of a new press release from Arbitron, announcing their PPM technology will be used to measure Kazakhstan television, replacing their antiquated diary measurement. Not sure where Kazakhstan is located? We’ve inserted this handy […]
Read MoreLess Suckage
Unfortunately, FM radio hasn’t been getting a lot of positive feedback and word-of-mouth lately – especially Alternative stations. That makes it even more special when a station – like KROX in Austin – starts receiving lots of e-mails like this one: Hey man, I just wanted to say that I think […]
Read MoreIs There A Rock Star In The House?
Cultural linguist and writer, William Safire, writes a weekly column for The New York Times Magazine each week that examines how the modern-day lexicon is ever-changing. In a recent article, he examined the term "rock star" – now being used quite commonly to describe people in various fields who have emerged as true icons and […]
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