Daniel Craig as James Bond via 007.com Amazon is promising the NFL what nobody else can. And… Apple wants James Bond. Plus, rants and raves about a terrific new promotional app from TV’s The Walking Dead for Mountain Dew, the myth that the radio industry needs less regulation, and the strange phenomenon of “free range trees.” . It’s episode 71 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ug

Is NPR’s future all used up? And… What happens when Buzzfeed loses its buzz? It’s episode 41 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about pandering politicians, Domino’s Pizza’s new app that orders your pizza in ten second, thoughts on the Social Media Marketing World conference and some closing words about the legendary Prince. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button

Surprise! Distribution is KING! And… Time is running out for Big Media. It’s episode 39 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about an app that allows you to exchange your time for money, the ridiculous idea that movie review ratings should correlate to box office performance, and Neil Patel’s amazing Instagram experiment. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below

5 Critical Media Trends for 2016. And… Nobody Wants Your App! Plus, rants and raves on Adele’s latest success, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Microsoft and Apple Let There Be Peace on Earth. It’s episode 32 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by email, click here for the audio. For show notes go to the Media Unplug

What if your News/Talk station could have a mobile app that not only replayed your linear over-the-air stream, but also created something new? That is, what if you could personalize the content to the individual consumer – news, traffic, weather? And what if it could be presented in a non-linear stream, unique to every individual? That’s the promise of NewsBeat, a new platform built to give consumers the content they want whenever they want it – not just whenever it happens t

I have long argued that radio broadcasters demand too little of their mobile apps. Yes, they can stream the over-the-air content. But so can your radio. What else can they do? What about your app is so essential, so engaging, such an important complement to the over-the-air and streaming experience that it demands not only that I download it, but that I also use it on a regular basis? That’s why I like the Clip Interactive platform so much (I have featured them before in this

If all your favorite audio content is all over the place in a variety of different channels, why can’t you aggregate it all in one place? Well, now you can! J.D. Heilprin is founder of AGOGO, a stealthy mobile-first startup that was recently featured in the iTunes store as “best new app” and “top news app.” Much more than aggregating podcasts, AGOGO is a platform bringing together a world of audio (and the audio form of TV and textual media content made audio) in one place, a

“When it comes to mobile devices, we need to remind listeners that radio is FREE – that its use does not sap so much precious battery energy and even more precious data plan bandwidth.” So argue the folks I call the “freeks.” These are the well intentioned folks in the radio industry who believe that listeners do not have their own best interests at heart. That listeners are, as a group, a bit dull-minded. Thus, listeners must be marketed at and advertised to in order to conv

If you’re like me you get an empty feeling from too many radio mobile apps. The addition of podcasts and social links can’t mask the fact that the app is often little more than the audio stream with a fresh face. But is that all radio mobile apps should be? Clip Interactive doesn’t think so. Bill Freund is Clip’s EVP Chief Revenue Officer. What follows is an abbreviated transcript. For the full Q&A click the video image below. Prefer audio? Try this: Download Audio (You can s

Well, for starters, your content is in it. But not just yours. Podcast content too. But more than that: Content that is not audio is made audio. And your music (through Rdio or Spotify) is integrated with content that relates to your music to create a seamless and frictionless listening experience here, there, and on the go. Quality content from all over is curated according to your interests, irrespective of the channels or “silos” they are traditionally presented in or on.

Lots of blood, sweat, tears, and treasure have gone into making radio’s alternatives to Pandora et. al., yet I think both IHeartRadio and TuneIn are missing perhaps their greatest opportunity. And it’s staring them in the face. To be sure, these are terrific apps – as good as anything out there. So what are they missing and why does it matter? Let’s step back. If you’re going to provide an experience rooted in the radio stations listeners already know and love, then you shou

I think most broadcasters are thinking about mobile all wrong.  The thinking goes like this: “We need a dedicated mobile app for our station!” Or… “We need to get our stations on mobile apps that already exist, like Tunein or IHeartRadio!” Both of these are wrong (or at least vastly insufficient) for the same reason:  They are about you, while mobile is about the consumer – her problems, needs, and interests – and the advertiser – who wants more than reach in a world where yo

From Inside Radio: Aiming to bring talk radio fans closer to the studio, CBS Radio is beta testing a new iPhone app that enables faster, more spontaneous ways for listeners to get involved with its shows. Sports “The Fan” WFAN, New York (660) afternoon host Mike Francesa is the guinea pig for AudioRoadShow, which went live yesterday afternoon. CBS Local Digital Media president Ezra Kucharz called the new app “game-changing for sports radio” for its ability to let hosts quic

Why do what you’re doing?  Because everybody else in radio seems to be doing it?  Or because it’s the right thing for you and your organization to do? Why jump aboard the iheartradio bandwagon and make your stations available on that platform?  Because every so often there’s a news release about another broadcaster who has, or because it’s the best way for you to advance your progress in streaming? Why pursue a dedicated mobile app?  Because everybody needs a dedicated mobile

It hasn’t gotten a ton of attention, but SiriusXM’s recently revised mobile apps add some functionality which I think makes a dramatic difference in the quality of the user experience and also transforms the meaning of satellite radio online using the familiar metaphor of the DVR (not new for the conventional satellite radios, but certainly new for their streaming versions). It’s no longer simply the mobile way to stream most SiriusXM channels via the Internet.  It now allows

What’s going to happen to radio in the future? That’s what everybody wants to know, and it’s the wrong question. Here’s a better one:  How do broadcasters leverage the relationships we have between our consumers and our clients mediated in our presence or, as I like to put it, our “sandbox”? Do our brands need a regularly updated website or a mobile app?  Again, the wrong questions. It’s not about the fads you should follow, it’s about what business you are in and how to maxi

Too many News/Talk broadcasters just don’t get it. What can they learn from Amazon’s new Kindle Fire? Quite a lot, I think. This is not a piece about Amazon vs. Apple.  Nor is it a piece about the merits and prospects for Kindle Fire.  Those are all discussed ad infinitum elsewhere. This is a piece about strategic thinking, specifically the strategic thinking that makes Kindle Fire different from the zillions of other tablet alternatives to Apple’s groundbreaking iPad. Amazon

How many US radio listeners already have FM built-in to their mobile phones? And how often do they use it? How does this compare to the number who have downloaded a personalized radio app, like Pandora or Slacker?  How often do they use those? And how do these numbers compare to downloads and use of station-specific mobile apps? These were the questions I set out to answer in a national telephone study of 1,346 radio listeners, aged 15-69, conducted by VIP Media Research duri

There’s an app for almost everything, to be sure. And that means two things in particular: All apps are not created equal, and there are more apps in existence than there are folks interested in using them. I have written before about the unfortunate radio apps that do little more than package the stream in a mobile-friendly rectangle and slap a logo on it. This is still all too common in the radio business – our zeal for an app is ahead of our thoughtful consideration of

What can you say about publishing companies which create apps that have little or nothing to do with the publications they publish? You can say what Paid Content said about Condé Nast and its new iPad app, Idea Flight: The app debuted last week and marked a new direction for Condé Nast as “service provider” not just a publisher. Meanwhile, Hearst unveiled plans for its “App Lab”: …located in a windowless, soundproof room on the 41st floor of its New York headquarters, last Au