The Jacobs Media Blog

Howard Hesseman, the guy who played Dr. Johnny Fever, the patron saint of rock radio DJs on the “WKRP in Cincinnati” sitcom, passed away. Fever wasn’t just a sitcom character or a laugh track. He was a caricature of the real thing – cool rock radio DJs who rules the airwaves back then. Today’s blog post looks at radio’s “cool factor” – where it went, why it matters, and maybe how to get it back.

The JacoBLOG junk drawer is back, and today we’re getting you away from it all with three great stories about radio in faraway places. Bon voyage!

Another day and another blaring headline about the demise of new music. But when it comes from a respected author and writer, it’s worthy of our attention. And because the state of music – especially the new stuff – is important to radio’s present and future, there are implications worth noting. Today’s blog post brings the data, some of it disturbing, but an unvarnished look at how our culture is changing. And with it, the radio broadcasting business, and several of its most important and profitable formats.

Every radio company is different, of course. But whether you’re talking about the biggest public companies with thousands of employees or those mom & pop operations, the one complaint they all share is this: not enough bandwidth. How can organizations make the most of their resources, while optimizing results. That’s the heavy lift of today’s blog post, along with 8 common sense suggestions to help you get there.

After a few years where we did not see much in the way of tech advancement in the automotive world, CES 2022 turned out to be a fork in the road. Yes, there has been innovation in both autonomous and electrification. But much progress has been made in visual displays. They’re bigger, they’re personalized, and there are more of them. For an audio medium like radio, there are challenges, but also opportunities in the cars of the future, as well as vehicles rolling off the assembly line today. How’s your station’s video strategy?

An ongoing debate in U.S. radio circles revolves around the value proposition and even the definition of “local.” Commercial, public, and Christian music operators are all grappling with this issue, especially because of its dependence on resources, human and financial. Today’s blog post offers up real-life examples of why the local ethos matters now more than ever, as well as my test to measure a station’s “local-ness.” Can yours pass the test?

It’s early January, and you know what that means for U.S. radio? The one-day sale. That’s when entire clusters rationalize the first quarter is always slow, so let’s bring the entire cluster together and offer one-time-only deep discounts on sales inventory that’s just piling up anyway. Our sales guru, Paul Jacobs, thinks this isn’t the best of ideas. And to prove it, he carts out perhaps the savviest financial manager in the country to offer up a better alternative. Keep those red tags on hold and check out today’s JacoBLOG post.

It’s early January, and many of us are already feeling that deja vu effect that 2022 is feeling a lot like the past two years. It’s one of those moments when many of us are feeling the weight – the pressure and the frustration. Including a certain “Sesame Street” character who always is in a good mood. But even the best of us can fall victim to a bad mood. And that’s where radio comes in, with the power to make us feel good, if just for a few minutes. That is, if we’re truly in the moment for the audience.

Most of us kicked back over the New Year’s weekend. But the SiriusXM marketing team was busily constructing a massive ad campaign to promote their strategic goal to be a big-time medium player. Where did they run these thousands and thousands of spots? On the medium they’re trying to take down – broadcast radio.

While most of us whiled away the holiday weekend watching bowl games and partying with family and friends, Axios used the coming of the new year to launch a very ambitious plan. Its CEO issued a warning to all local news media outlets in the form of a detailed manifesto. For legacy media outlets – commercial and public radio, in particular – that have made their living and reputation on local news coverage, the Axios challenge should grab everyone’s attention. Today’s blog post looks at Axios’ shot across the bow, and plots a course of action.