At age 67, Tom Brokaw – typical of Baby Boomers – is still in touch with the times. Maybe leaving the daily grind to someone else at NBC has even given him a fresh perspective. So leave it to Tom to deliver the news to the folks at the Washington Post, during a recent tour of their plant, that he doubts they’ll even have a printing press there in 10 years.
And really, why should consumers care? Ask Gen-Y how they get their news and information, last night’s scores, or the latest music. Many laugh at the quaint suggestion that they might want someone on a bicycle to deliver a daily printout that’s hours old. Or that they’d wait through 5 minutes of commercials and 5 bad songs.
Brokaw didn’t say there wouldn’t still be a need for news journalists, but that there may not be much of a need for newspaper. Oh, but the "paperboy" is as American as apple pie! He’s downright Rockwellian! Of course, so were milkmen and ice truck drivers, even though we now drink refrigerated milk without their help.
Once upon a time, the printing press put the Town Crier out of business, but it also created new jobs requiring new talents. So will digital media delivery.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Here in the Bay Area the new model seems to be free tabloid daily papers. The SF Examiner is a great 20 minute read especially for BART or Cal Train commuters.
Their readers skew younger than the SF Chronicle. Also in the suburbs the same thing is happening with free tabloid papers in the Peninsula cities. The end of newspapers would be the end of most content used on the Internet news sites. A blogger only news world would be a bit scary.
On the other hand check out Uniontribune.com, they have taken the offensive and have a 24 hour news-talk-personality online radio station featuring well known market talent