Author Archive

Leigh Jacobs

Keep doing what you are doing. Shot of a baseball coach talking to his team while out on the pitch.

Moneyball: Expert Thoughts on Talent (a New CRS360 Webinar)

By Leigh Jacobs / May 26, 2025

A new CRS360 webinar published just ahead of the Memorial Day holiday titled, “A Face for Radio?” …A Difference for Your Listeners.” It features new Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee Clay Hunnicutt, iHeartMedia Nashville’s Gator Harrison, Carolyn Gilbert, and me taking a deeper dive into what Country radio listeners say about personalities on Country…

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Business connections

Moneyball: The Importance of Connections

By Leigh Jacobs / May 19, 2025

Many years ago, in an introductory college course on broadcast radio the professor laid out that the goal of commercial radio isn’t to build a large audience, the goal is to sell advertising. As the advertising landscape shifts toward highly targeted digital solutions, stations are turning to other revenue streams like events. It’s a natural…

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Moneyball: More Meaning, Fewer Words, Maximize Listening

By Leigh Jacobs / May 12, 2025

A few days ahead of the May 7 deadline to have REAL ID compliant credentials to get through airport security, we heard a midday host bring up the topic coming out of a song. As someone who’s dragged their heels on upgrading their driver’s license, I was engaged by the topic. The host mentioned that…

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Empty space with podcast equipment to record talking show

Moneyball: Live, Local, Relevant

By Leigh Jacobs / May 5, 2025

We’ve been reviewing what we learned about personalities in our study for this year’s Country Radio Seminar as we prepare for a CRS 360 in the weeks ahead. At the big study presentation in Nashville, we showed that 3 out of 5 County radio listeners (1,185 of them in a nationwide sample of 1.500 Country…

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Vintage car radio

Moneyball: New Vehicle Infotainment Systems

By Leigh Jacobs / April 28, 2025

Knowing my involvement in the radio business, friends recently asked for help with the audio system in their new car. How do they access FM radio stations? Does their car have AM at all? What are the HD stations they talked about at the dealership? There aren’t any buttons, how do presets work? They tried…

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woman with glasses, smiling with a banana and peace sign

Moneyball: Banana Ball Reminds Radio …

By Leigh Jacobs / April 21, 2025

The radio business came to mind last week while watching the CBS 60 Minutes segment on Banana Ball last week. Depending on where you live and the media you consume, it’s completely possible you’re unaware of Banana Ball, yet the games sell out major league baseball stadiums and NFL football stadiums when the league tours…

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Young woman adjusting car radio while driving modern vehicle

Moneyball: Make Your Content Sizzle

By Leigh Jacobs / April 14, 2025

The spring book is underway. Even if you’re among the lucky ones who were able to get a music test completed earlier this year and have your marketing plans underway, you may still have concerns about your morning show or other key talent taking the coaching notes you’ve been giving them steadily. Research can help.…

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The pride of royalty

Moneyball: Ca$h is King, but Fun is Infectious

By Leigh Jacobs / April 7, 2025

Last week we wrote about lower-cost options for contesting. Keeping in tune with Nielsen’s practices would draw stations in diary markets to fulfill contest prizes online – or, even better, in-app. As noted, some listeners may resist coming to a station location for a lower-value prize – but the instant gratification available with online fulfillment…

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Hundred dollar bills, lot of money

Moneyball: The Case for Cheaper Contest Prizes

By Leigh Jacobs / March 31, 2025

Years of NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Studies have shown the tremendous pull of $1000 and even $500 contest prizes. Well-orchestrated group contests give the appearance of constant $1000 giveaways across a swath of stations for a relatively modest expenditure. If your crosstown rival seems to be giving away $1000 an hour all week long, it may…

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Three cute dogs laying down outdoors

Moneyball: All You Need is Three (Minutes)

By Leigh Jacobs / March 24, 2025

With apologies to Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon, in case you now have one of their songs now running through your head, all the listening you need for credit in a PPM quarter hour is now three minutes, instead of five. As we noted last week, the first month’s PPM data with the…

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