Jacobs Media is one of today’s largest radio consulting firms. Their services – including the highly , s, uccessful jacAPPS iPhone applications – are utilized by nearly every major broadcasting company. We recently caught up with company President Fred Jacobs who offered his insight on a variety of issues, along with a preview of the Jacobs Summit 2009 at this year’s NAB Radio Show.
Fred Jacobs
Jacobs Media is one of today’s largest radio consulting firms specializing in Rock formats. The company, formed in 1983 by Fred Jacobs, created the Classic Rock format, and has been a leading force in Alternative and Mainstream Rock. Jacobs Media services are utilized by nearly every major broadcasting company, including CBS, Entercom, Emmis, Cox, Greater Media, Citadel and Journal. Their jacAPPS iphone applications have become an invaluable tool for radio. We recently caught up with company President Fred Jacobs who offered his insights on a variety of issues along with a preview of the Jacobs Summit 2009 at this year’s NAB coming in two weeks.
Jacobs Summit 2009 is nearly upon us. What can managers and programmers expect from this year’s gathering?
We are thrilled about this year’s lineup. The NAB gave us carte blanche to book the Summit, and our criteria has not changed: book sessions and guests that WE would enjoy or learn from. Our instincts have been pretty good and our batting average for compelling sessions has been solid over the years.
This year, we focused on the much-discussed “content” issue. First, how to create it…so we have NPR’s Terry Gross, the best interviewer in the business. She has the ability to interview people we’ve heard before, but she gets more out of them. She’ll talk about her style and methods. The challenge is that I will be interviewing her, so I’m already feeling the pressure.
We are presenting MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski who are doing a great morning show on TV. They now have a syndicated radio show, produced by Citadel so Joe and Mika are moving into the radio space. Joe and Mika have great chemistry, but they also have a way of taking serious issues, having fun with them, but always presenting a riveting show. They also have a great team of contributors that create a successful ensemble.
We have a great session planned on how to use social networking tools to engage consumers, and we went right to the guy who helped build the Obama For America campaign, Scott Goodstein. He will share some of their secrets and provide an understanding of how digital networking tools can work for radio. Scott has created strategies behind social media and that was one of the key reasons we sought him out. Plus, how can you argue with the success of the Obama campaign in its use of social networking, texting, and community building?
Finally, we address how to generate buzz. We have one of the authorities on the topic “Buzzmarketing” author Mark Hughes. Mark will also address how to facilitate word-of-mouth without having the benefit of marketing budgets. I saw Mark speak at a Greater Media seminar that John Fullam put together. He is inspiring, has great stories, and will get the room thinking about how to transform their content and personalities into buzzable tactics.
Finally, announcer extraordinaire Matt Cord, from WMMR in Philly, will be on the mic keeping us on track and entertained throughout the afternoon. We’re thrilled to have him.
It’s going to be a great four hours of compelling sessions and it’s open to anyone with an NAB badge. We hope to see a full room.
The Jacobs Media team is constantly researching audience trends. Has there been any compelling data of late that has signaled something of a significant nature?
Our most recent Technology Poll (the fifth in this series) contains some great data. We’re seeing some of the older listeners (our Classic Rockers) catching up. There are big increases in their use of social networking sites and texting, two activities that just a couple of years ago were dominated by young consumers. When heritage stations assume their listeners are tech-phobic or simply not engaged, they may be missing huge opportunities to connect with their audiences.
We are also seeing the rise of Facebook, now dominating MySpace, which is an incredible story that says a lot about leadership in the digital environment. Our data also shows the rising importance of video streaming, and some of the bigger increases in that space are for network television sites and Hulu, with some migration away from YouTube.
Finally, there was a very healthy jump for audio streaming this year, with the main beneficiaries being station streams. We have been pushing this for several years now: the importance of radio being available on a number of platforms like computers and mobile devices. With the growth of Internet radio outlets like Pandora, it is paramount that terrestrial broadcasters produce a quality stream which is easily accessible on multiple devices.
How important are social networking sites when it comes to connecting the radio station with its audience?
They are very important, and it cuts both ways. Yes, stations and personalities have to be cognizant of building profiles that provide presence on sites like Facebook, and Twitter can be a great tool for generating audience buzz.
But the other side of this discussion is that at a time when most stations have more money in the coffee jar than in the marketing budget, creative ways to tap into other online communities is a smart strategy. Too often, stations don’t spend enough time discussing their digital strategies. They instead just “do stuff” because everyone else is. That’s one of the big reasons we booked Scott Goodstein for the Summit.
The jacAPPS phone applications have become a huge success. At what point did you know that radio would embrace this new technology and what advice would you give to those who have not embraced it?
It was almost instantaneous. Remember, we launched this program in late October when the economy was at its worst, and NO ONE was spending any money. Yet, smart stations and companies saw the opportunity and jumped in. The visionary behind the program was our digital director, Tim Davis, who understood the need for individual radio stations to have their own branded icon on the iPhone “desktop.“
By the time this interview is printed, we will have 100 live applications in the Apple App Store and our downloads will have hit the one million mark. With more than 4 billion mobile devices in the world, taking a “wait and see” attitude on smartphone apps doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s why so many major media brands are rushing to gain presence on smartphone “desktops.” A great analogy is the lengths that radio went to in order to ensure that stations were programmed on car radio presets. That’s what smartphone apps provide in 2009 and it’s the way to bring portability back to radio.
As contemporary music formats, which format do you feel is more potent with respect to audience passion these days, CHR or Rock?
It’s like asking whether soccer or baseball has more fans. They’re both viable formats that speak to different generations of radio listeners. Each has challenges, but they both are major league players in pretty much every market in the country. In many ways, Classic Rock delivers a more adult audience, but it has been challenged by a lack of currency. That is, without new songs to play, Classic Rock stations have to work harder to stay connected and contemporary so they don’t get musty and taken for granted. CHR has that exciting influx of currents, and all the Pop culture that goes along with them.
Other than heritage Alternative stations like KROQ, LIVE 105, WFNX and a handful of others, why do you feel there are so fewer “pure” Alternative stations today than there were at the beginning of this decade?
I believe it is more about sales than programming. In many markets, there are simply time-honored barriers to selling this format, even though the demographic and psychographic benefits of the audience suggest otherwise. It’s amazing to me how television worships young demos, and in radio, we can’t run fast enough away from them.
Having said that, there are many bona fide Alternative success stories in medium markets, including Tulsa’s Edge and X96 in Salt Lake City. In Portland, KNRK has reinvented itself and perhaps the Alternative format for adults. There are also successful startups, like WRFF in Philly and WBOS in Boston. And in several PPM markets, heritage Alternative stations are finally getting some of the ratings they’ve been due, like KNDD in Seattle.
There is such a fine line between Heritage Rock and Classic Rock stations in many respects. How do you instruct your clients with both in a cluster (like Philly with WMMR and WMGK, and Detroit with WRIF and WCSX) regarding product differentiation?
It can be challenging, but in the two examples you cite, there are incredibly smart brand managers who understand product differentiation above and beyond playing certain songs and bands. If you just look at monitors, you are going to see some music duplication, but when you factor in personalities, production, promotions and the overall attitude and vibe of these stations, they are very different from one another. As the ratings indicate, there is room for all of these stations in their markets.
What are the most common mistakes programmers are making nowadays across all formats?
I believe the biggest issue relates to short-term PPM tactics that might be mortgaging long-term strategic brand building. While it might be expediently smart to be clean, brief and ultra-safe in order to move those PPM weeklies, what impact does that philosophy have on your station’s ability to be able to differentiate itself from iPods, Internet streams and the many options consumers have available to them? Stations need to determine their “secret sauce,” the elements and assets that set them apart, not just from the station across the street, but from the many choices and options that are growing exponentially.
The other mistake isn’t really an error or miscalculation, but the degree of difficulty of programming radio stations in this environment. Most PDs are so time-challenged and forced to multi-task several jobs that they just don’t have the percolation time necessary to listen to their stations and develop new ideas and applications.
What are the keys to HD Radio reaching its full potential?
There’s a chicken/egg phenomenon occurring with HD Radio that didn’t exist with FM radio. In the latter case, innovative programming drove FM converter sales and ultimately led to FM radio becoming ubiquitous. With HD Radio, companies are waiting for the installation of more radios in cars and homes before committing programming resources and automakers might move more quickly if there was more exciting, unique programming driving audience interest. Then there are the poor consumers, many of whom just don’t understand what HD Radio is all about and there’s not enough quality programming available to tempt them. And of course, all of this is happening in the midst of a technological entertainment revolution and a serious economic recession.
What do you say to those continuing to offer the opinion that the state of terrestrial radio is in decline and may never truly recover?
Terrestrial radio has declined and has been impacted by the tyranny of choice presented by other media and technologies. Radio has to reassess its heritage strengths and its future potential in order to remain relevant in future years. In the same way that individual radio stations can benefit from a basic S.W.O.T. analysis, determining its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the larger industry is in need of a reassessment. The industry needs to develop new strategies and models designed to adapt to societal, cultural and technical changes. We cannot sound like radio in 1978, and expect to remain relevant moving forward.
This is a process that needs to occur across all departments in broadcasting, from sales and marketing to programming and production. Radio has so many inherent assets and so much collective loyalty from listeners, but the need to reimagine this medium has never been higher. Radio will not regain its dominance from the ‘70s and ‘80s, but it can find a better place in the new media world.
What’s the one thing radio should focus on to ensure that it remains the primary media of choice for both listeners and advertisers?
Radio needs to truly understand that its two primary constituencies. Listeners and advertisers have changed considerably in the past decade. It is so cliché, but if radio operators aren’t focused on creating, growing and nurturing content, the future will be dim. But it also is a must that operators think beyond their traditional delivery systems and constructs (transmitters, towers) and forcing listeners to tune into shows according to our schedules. Control, variety and choice are what consumers are demanding, and radio will have to adapt in order to maintain its vibrancy and relevancy.
The “content is king” mantra is important to keep front and center. That’s why this year’s Summit at the NAB has been built on this platform. We have to keep creating great content despite the economy, but we also have to rethink how to disseminate it and utilize consumer passion and communities to better distribute and market it. Good times.
***eQB Content By Bob Burke***
