The Jacobs Media Blog

This year’s Lollapalooza festival looked, felt, and sounded different than in past years. Jacobs Media’s Mike Stern spent four music-filled (and at times, rain-soaked) days at the iconic Chicago event, and came away with the sense that Rock music may be on the verge of making a comeback.

Major advertisers and local businesses are often confused and disenchanted about digital marketing. That spells opportunity for radio. Paul Jacobs authors today’s post, focusing on 5 ways radio can instill much-needed confidence in marketing programs that combine digital with traditional spot advertising.

More radio companies are embracing digital content and distribution, especially in the podcasting space. But some CEOs are more enthusiastic about the uncertain digital future than others. It’s a mindset issue, and it’s the topic of today’s blog post.

Heavy metal rocker, Ronnie James Dio, passed away in 2010. But thank to technology, his hologram starts a European concert tour featuring a live band. It’s another way fans can engage with their favorite musician – even posthumously. But will people pay to see it?

At last week’s Conclave, legendary programmer John Gehron received the prestigious Rockwell award. In his speech, John reminded every industry executive in the room about the importance of responding to everyone, especially when you’re in a position of power. And he told a great story about an important meeting where it truly paid off.

There’s something of a tsunami happening in television as both local and network ratings decline. Cord cutting and on-demand viewing via services like Netflix are part of the story. TV’s woes provide clues for how radio might avoid the same fate.

In today’s disruptive world of business, it’s easy to get frustrated with the change that’s all around us, impacting our industry and our brands. Or we could simple innovate our way to solutions. I’ve got a great example in today’s post of just that.

To be successful in any business, a key management fundamental is hiring to your weakness – bringing in people who complement your skills and fill in your “holes.” That’s especially true in the radio business where brand growth comes from staffs with diverse skills sets.

Just about everyone in radio is involved in audience research of one kind or another. And the keyword that powers research studies is curiosity. Here are 5 rules of the research road to ensure your research is productive, actionable – and satisfies your curiosity.

The Nielsen numbers are in, and Classic Rock continues its amazing run – even among 18-34 year-olds. Recently, a Canadian music columnist wondered whether “Classic Alternative” – artists like the Violent Femmes and Psychedelic Furs – could become “the next Classic Rock.” That was too tempting a question for us not to tackle in JacoBLOG today.

The actor who voiced the part of Kermit the Frog was fired last week by Disney after 27 years on the job. This proves once again that no single talent is bigger than the brand. But in today’s hot social media environment, the blowback on social media is part of the price that management may pay.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has done more than just transform retail shopping and launch the Kindle and the Echo. His turnaround legacy media project – the Washington Post – provides 6 important lessons for traditional media businesses about competition, brand building, and serving the customer.

In an otherwise, routine Major League Baseball All-Star Game, something happened that made this predictable event interesting and buzzworthy. Seattle Mariner Nelson Cruz did something that’s never happened during a game before. Here are 8 reasons why his spontaneous stunt worked, and what it says about radio events.