t

F

red, Paul and Bill Jacobs are three
of the most sought-after and influ-
ential radio talents in America. But
they're not on the air.
When they're rocking, rolling and doing
their jobs most effectively, they're in the
air.
"I think we've got probably 3 or 4 million
miles between the three of us," says Paul
Jacobs, the sales and marketing master-
mind of the Southfield-based
broadcast consulting firm Jacobs
Media. "We've paid for a few 747s.
When you walk into [Northwest
Airlines/ World Club and they go,
`Where have you been? that's pret-
ty sad."
Flying as much as 50 weeks a
year from Seattle to West Palm
Beach — so much so that they
haven't found time to furnish the
barren conference room of their
new office suite — the three Jacobs
brothers have had more to do with
shaping the sound of young Amer-
ica than any Detroiters since Berry
Gordy.
Their 13-year-old Jacobs Media
group serves as counselor, col-
league and confidant — a radio
rabbi, if you will — to dozens of
rock music stations from coast to
coast, including Detroit's WRIF-
FM (101.1) and WCSX-FM (94.7).
The Jacobs brothers advise the sta-
tions on everything from music se-
lection and on-air personalities to
contests, promotional events and
marketing — all geared toward
boosting their clients' all-impor-
tant ratings.
And they do it so well that the
company, and Fred Jacobs in par-
ticular, won this year's prestigious
Billboard magazine Monitor Ra-
dio Award as national Consultant
of the Year for mainstream rock.
The exact number and identi-
ties of their clients is a closely

Jim Mcfarlin is a freelance writer

specializing in broadcast media.

at)

guarded company secret ("More than a few,
but not too many," Paul teases).
"In the beginning, you tend to inflate the
number," says Fred, who, as the founder
of Jacobs Media and the oldest brother at
45, does most of the talking. 'Then you get
to our zone, and you just sort of dodge the
question."
There are countless radio consulting
firms in the United States, but no more

•

JIM MCFARLIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

than a half-dozen which specialize in rock
music on the expansive scale of Jacobs Me-
dia, and none with a more impressive pedi-
gree.
Fred, a nationally respected program-
mer for WRIF in the late '70s, is credited
as the creator and godfather of "Classic

Bill, Fred and Paul Jacobs run a successful coast-
to-coast radio consulting firm. Home base is
Southfield, Mich.

Rock," the album-oriented oldies format
still employed by WCSX and numerous
other FM stations nationwide. Then, in
1988, in a surprising change of direction,
Jacobs Media invented 'The Edge." A ful-
ly realized radio format of new, alternative
rock, 'The Edge" predated such modern-
format stations as The Planet (96.3 FM)
and 89X (Windsor's CIMX-FM) and is now
RADIO RABBIS page 88

PHOTO BY D ANI EL LIP PO T

a

Fred, Paul and Bill Jacobs of
Southfield-based Jacobs Media
serve as counselor, colleague and
confidant to dozens of rock music
stations across the country.