Articles have been hammering the internet about the jailbreaking of the new iPhone operating system. For those who may not know, jailbreaking is a term used when a user “hacks” into the operating system on the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad in order to install third-party applications that have not been authorized by Apple. Jailbreaking allows users to customize their device for things ranging from wallpaper to a different cellular network. It seems that all of the effort put forth by Apple to protect their latest operating system, iOS 4.1, was blind-sided as hackers found a hole in the boot ROMs of both the iPhone and iPod Touch.

To date, an estimated 10% of all iPhones have been jail-broken. Is this number large enough for Apple to care? Furthermore, is it that big of a deal? The actual benefit of jailbreaking an iPhone is essentially that it becomes more customizable to the user. However, doing this presents a risk to the user as it voids Apple’s warranty.

This also makes me wonder if perhaps Apple’s “exclusivity” appeal is starting to backfire on them. There are already reports on the Internet saying Apple is losing customers due to bad service with AT&T. If Apple were to start cracking down on jailbroken iPhones, they could run the risk of losing even more customers. If a customer deems that a jailbreak is necessary to fit their needs, and if Apple does not adhere to this, I’m sure there’s another company out there that will. It all comes down to what is more important- a business model or the potential for a user to harm their own device. Android, are you listening?

July marked the first time People Meters were used in Milwaukee to track listenership. These are the new portable devices that clip to an individual’s clothing and record a station and the time spent listening. Radio stations encode an inaudible, unique signal as part of their broadcasts. It’s supposed to be much easier for respondents, who used to carry around diaries to write down their listening habits. Sounds like a good thing, right?

I felt the same way until I started noticing a disturbing trend. At first, I had a producer from one of the local stations inform me that they were no longer doing interviews from local guests. Apparently, the People Meter showed that when music played listenership was up. When interviews ran, the listenership dipped.
I didn’t think much about it because this was a radio station that attracted a young demo and we all know young people love music. However, when several other stations responded to interview requests saying that they were moving in a different direction and doing less interviews, I got to thinking, is this really a good idea for local radio? Are we in danger of turning Milwaukee into a market with a new breed of unremarkable, cookie-cutter music stations that all sound the same? What makes them any different than satellite radio? Is this knee-jerk reaction a bit short-sighted?

So that I’m completely transparent, I am admitting to be a publicist whose job description is to get publicity for my clients. Radio stations have always been a great venue for getting clients on the air to talk about events and stories that involve their company. We try not to be dry. We strive to offer spokespeople who can entertain, fascinate and compel the listening audience to want to attend an event. We tie in to trends that matter, or offer people who have done something so remarkable, listeners will want and need to hear more about their story.

Not every interview is great, some are definitely more compelling than others, but shouldn’t that be the gold standard for booking interviews? Let’s look for local people, events and stories that will entertain the heck out of the audience, as opposed to dismissing them altogether.

Local TV certainly recognizes the importance of bringing the story home to its audiences. They’ve expanded their local newscasts in the morning and on weekends. Their websites have become home to not only news stories that have aired, but also interactive sites to upload videos, photos, surveys and share comments from its viewers. In some cases, the information shared has become part of the content within a newscast.
If I were a radio programmer in the new era of People Meters, I’d be looking for ways to be more local and more relevant than ever before. Great morning show teams, live deejays, entertaining guests and topics, more news, and maybe even more direction to advertisers to create better commercials. I’d place much less emphasis on repetitive announcements of the station’s call letters, and non-stop music sets. With the People Meter, repetition is no longer necessary. Entertainment and local content is.

No matter which side of the political aisle you stand in, I was just wondering if anyone really believes what either party is dishing out? I, for one, am numb from the past 30 years of attack ads, empty promises and real lack of substance in political advertising. The only campaign that I can even recall to have any real ideas for action was the 1994 “Contract with America” brain child of Newt Gingrich.

Today’s political ad strategy is for politicians to try to scare their base to the polls by telling us what horrors we are in for if the other side wins. That’s really a shame but it seems like it’s the only way to be effective in the 30- and 60-second world of commercial advertising.

My solution…

1) Ban all political commercials from radio and television.

2) Give each party a 24/7 cable channel so they have no time constraints on their content.

3) Government-funded political web sites allowing all candidates unlimited content.

4) Do not allow commentary about opponents on the cable channels or web sites.

5) Appoint an independent fact-checking body on all claims and statistics

The government has had no problem regulating advertising on many products and services. Have you ever listened to the disclaimers in car dealer or lottery ads? Tobacco ads are gone altogether! It’s time to get the money out of politics or the corruption and deception will escalate out of control.

The more things change the more they stay the same…The invention of television was supposed to mark the end of radio.  Who was going to go to the movies once we had VCR’s?  Website marketing is being challenged by social media and mobile marketing.  It’s true that emerging and digital media is impacting our media habits, but at the end of the day there’s still a radio in every car and your living room furniture is still arranged around a TV set.

The basic equation of reach and frequency to generate a response to your advertising is still the driving factor and radio and television are still great reach vehicles.  The equation has just gotten a little more complicated. Compared to 25 years ago, the average consumer is being bombarded with more than ten times as many advertising messages per day.   That means frequency of message must increase dramatically in order to generate the same results.  The good news is that we have much more of an ability to target messages and many new media outlets to help us achieve this for very little cost.   Reach, however, cannot be ignored or sacrificed if you are going to be successful.

Now more than ever having an integrated mix of traditional and emerging media is the key to a successful advertising campaign.  We have entered an era where getting professional help with media strategy and placement has never been needed more, yet the value placed on media buying by advertisers is shrinking.  Don’t be fooled by low commission “buying services” that don’t understand the relationship between traditional and digital media…the money you save could cost you way more in the long run by not reaching your campaign goals.