FRED JACOBS GIVES YOU A TOUR OF CES 2019 THROUGH A RADIO LENS • DALLAS, HOUSTON & DC PPM RATINGS

If you haven't ever been to the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), you should do it at least once. CES [link] claims to be the world's largest gathering for people who invent, market and use consumer technologies in many fields. 

Conference topics include health & wellness, automotive, sports and gaming, home entertainment, advertising, Internet and mobile devices. The show even has the latest information about drones.

Often devices that debut at CES become household items in future years. Because CES is all about new trends, many people in the media business go every year. But the show, with 182,000 attendees, 4,400 exhibitors, over 1,000 speakers and 3-million square feet of activities, can be daunting, even for people who attend it frequently.

Fred Jacobs is wears comfortable

shoes when he gives tours at CES

Enter Fred Jacobs. Jacobs is well known in both commercial and public radio. Each year Fred and his brother Paul give in-depth walking tours of CES for attendees who work in the radio and audio industries. They call the tours CES Through a Radio Lens.

Of course the Jacobs brothers want to mingle with current and prospective clients. But, according to Fred Jacobs, the tours are an educational experience and a way to help radio and audio content producers succeed.

Fred Jacobs believes that commercial and public radio people need to get out of their comfort zones and look at radio/audio as a part of a larger ecosystem. Jacobs wants those who work in radio to “get smarter” and be more aware of changes in technology.

Do you want to come along on tour? We can’t transport you to Las Vegas but we can give you Jacobs’ description of what he saw via a podcast provided by Inside Radio.  You can download the podcast here.

Paul Heine

For over 20-minutes Jacobs shares his observations with Paul Heine, the Managing Editor of Inside Radio [link]. Every week Heine publishes a new podcast. They have become “must listens” for us.

Jacobs has posted often about CES on his blog [link], particularly the frequent question: “So, what was the hottest gadget you saw at CES?”

Jacobs said on his bog [link] that there was no obvious “killer gadget” that dominated the show in 2019. To him, CES 2019 was about the confluence of many digital systems that are, or will become, bigger parts of our lives.

Jacobs did find one item that impressed him: the Smart Toilet.  

 It is made by Kohler that sells for around $7,000.

NIELSEN AUDIO PPM RESULTS FOR DALLAS, HOUSTON & WASHINGTON, DC

It is difficult to find enough superlatives to describe the performance of NPR News/Talk KERA over the past two years. 

In Fall 2016 KERA had a record high number of estimated weekly listeners. 

Since then KERA has added 15% more weekly listeners.

Plus, KERA’s AQH shares have grown in virtually every “book.” 

Now KERA is the top radio news/talk station in the nation’s fifth largest market. This is a helluva accomplishment.

The number of weekly listeners to the five stations was up 1% in Fall 2018 compared with Fall 2016.

While KERA is much above Fall 2016, KUHF isn’t having that kind of success in Houston-Galveston. KUHF lost around 50,000, over 11%, of its estimated weekly listeners between Fall 2016 and Fall 2019. KUHF’s AQH share also dropped.

Neither Classical music on KUHF-HD2 and satellite-delivered Xponential Radio on KUHF-HD3 are getting much traction with listeners. KUHF needs to find a translator and put Classical on the FM dial where it belongs.

The number of weekly listeners to the four stations was down 1.7% in Fall 2018 compared with Fall 2016.

Just a quick look at the two-year trends for WAMU in Washington, DC tells you why we have written so often about WAMU’s loss of estimated weekly listeners and AQH share. 

According to recent PPM monthly ratings, WAMU has pulled out of its slump.

One possible reason for WAMU’s audience is that the three rated stations in DC lost 5.7% of its weekly listeners between Fall 2016 and Fall 2018. In raw numbers, this means around 100,000 people who listened to these stations in Fall 2016 weren’t listening in Fall 2016.