In radio, we often spend a lot of time and a lot of money bribing the audience to listen to our stations.  Sometimes, contests have strategic value – like the “Workforce Payroll” promotion that supports at-work listening. But for the most part, contests are steroids.  They can move the needle temporarily and perhaps help “buy […]

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Our resident personality coach and morning radio fan, Keith Cunningham, just about got Weinered-out last week.  Here are some thoughts about how any show can use smart treatment strategies to be just like Howard. While he may be further out of the media limelight these days, Howard Stern still knows how to stir it up and […]

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Last weekend was simply beautiful in many parts of the country, a full baseball schedule, the U.S. Open on TV, and it was Father’s Day. And in the middle of it all came the announcement that “The Big Man” – Clarence Clemons – passed away.  While Bruce Springsteen isn’t the staple he was back in […]

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OK, it started with this screaming headline in Radio Ink. (You have to hand it to Eric Rhoads – he loves a good controversy and enjoys using his publication as a forum.) JERRY LEE: “STREAMING YOUR STATION IS A BAD BUSINESS MODEL” And from there, a digital can of worms opened, eliciting comments – often […]

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Imagine the frustration and humiliation of being a market leader in an industry that is exploding – only to lose your dominance and even your respect. Ask Rupert Murdoch how he feels about the demise of MySpace at a time when social media has become a dominant part of the culture. And now Research in […]

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Every day we are barraged by articles, blogs, and research about media and technology.  It’s easy to miss something important amidst all the new gadget releases and pundit observations. That was the case with a recent MediaPost email I received.  Buried at the bottom was this headline: “Smartphone sales up 80%.” The piece itself was just […]

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As you may have read yesterday on AllAccess, an A&E produced show, in partnership with Popular Mechanics, rated all of the most important, innovative, and incredible devices in history. On “101 Gadgets of All Time,” the #1 most important device is the smartphone. And sitting at a solid #2 (above TV, the hypodermic syringe, and […]

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We know that consumers behave differently today. They carry their phones with them everywhere they go. They ask if “there’s an app for that?” They say whatever they want when they comment on blogs. They meet in social networks, they create and share content, and they spread their voices. Ultimately, they can redefine our brands […]

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Yesterday’s post showcased Southwest Airlines, a company that has truly stood apart from the field – by design – during its historic 40 years in the business. Today, we’ll take a look at Spirit. In a tough industry, it’s hard to stand out. But Spirit has done just that – trying very hard to, at […]

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I’m a Delta guy, largely because they’re hubbed in Detroit.  Like with Northwest before them, I’m your typical Platinum frequent flyer who is virtually oblivious to cabin announcements, seat belt instructions, and all the other formalities of air travel.  Like George Clooney in Up In The Air, except for the physical looks and hot girls […]

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Our resident sales guru, Paul Jacobs, sees the tide turning out there in Agency Land.  Hey, men shop, too.  Read on. When I first became a general manager, my new boss told me something that always stuck with me: “There are two types of people – those who let things happen and those who make […]

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We have discussed the rapid ascent of Groupon in this blog a lot this year.  Our new Techsurvey 7, conducted among 70+ rock-formatted stations, netting nearly 21,000 respondents covered a lot of digital ground this year. And we devoted some questionnaire space to eCoupon sites like Groupon and Living Social.  The results among these rockers […]

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During the past several weeks, Jacobs Media’s social media maven, Lori Lewis, has been working her way through a series of posts called B-A-L-A-N-C-E.  Today’s post is the last letter – “E” – and it’s about the need to Establish, and then maintain your credibility in the community. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Build […]

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We are excited about the release of Techsurvey 7, our seventh annual media and technology web survey.  With more than 70 Rock/Alternative/Classic Rock/Triple A stations participating – in the U.S. and now Canada  – more than 20,000 core radio listeners have weighed in. The free AllAccess webinar takes place today.  Click here to register and participate. […]

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I read lots of different publications – online, newspapers, and magazines – because you just never know where the next great idea or pearl of wisdom will come from. One of my regular reads, believe it or not, is the Costco Connection, which is actually a very well-written publication, produced by my favorite place to […]

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I enjoyed last Friday's post from Lori Lewis about the need to use metrics in determing social media success.  But looking at the bigger picture of brand success, I would suggest to you that it is the unmeasurable qualities that often make the difference between winning brands and losing brands.  With all those metrics, analytics, […]

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During the past several weeks, Jacobs Media’s social media maven, Lori Lewis, has been working her way through a series of posts called B-A-L-A-N-C-E.  Today’s post is the letter “C” – creating metrics that work.  Read on. “And you may ask yourselfAm I right? Am I wrong?And you may tell yourselfMY GOD!  WHAT HAVE I DONE?…”-Talking […]

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Today’s post was co-written by Fred and Lori Lewis, Jacobs Media’s social media whiz, who always advises that when it comes to tech, do the right thing. Is that a hacker in your account or are you just happy to see me? As you have no doubt heard by now, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) had […]

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There’s something interesting happening at the crossroads of television programming and social media that is worthy of our attention.  While many of us are addicted to consuming TV shows through a DVR for maximum convenience, there’s a sub-event occurring around live programming. There are certain real-time events that don’t make sense for the DVR – […]

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