Interesting times in the media worlds as the television and Internet continue their mash-up dance. Some interesting statistics from a recent article by Terry Teachout.

In 1949:
- Americans owned 85 million radios
- Americans owned 1.3 million TVs – of which over 70% were located on the east coast
- a 16 inch picture tube TV $695, or the equivalent of $6,212 in today’s dollars.
- TV networks were losing money at a clip of about $116,000 (today’s dollars) EACH day

Then came the tipping point. Fifteen TV stations on the east coast and in the Midwest got connected via a crude coaxial cable network, which enabled far more viewers to see network programs “live.” As a result, movie theater attendance dropped by 72% but bars who had TVs installed were filled to the rafters on certain nights.

Who made it safely to the other side? Big (radio) media companies who kept funding their vision, and entertainers who embraced the new medium, as opposed to pining for the past. Bob Hope and Big Crosby made the leap from radio to TV, while Fred Allen, a big radio star, decried the loss of the “theater of imagination” that radio made possible, and got left on the far shore.

These are underlying principals of service design; understanding what customers want, using technology as an enabler, and being patient to see your ideas to fruition. (This latter point is difficult for public companies who live quarter-to-quarter.) All in all, the transitions of previous media shifts are all good history lessons for today’s media executives.

In April of 1991, Bob Cooper, a 29-year old copywriter with a Philadelphia marketing communications firm, quit his full-time job to start his own company. Over the summer, he built a business plan and raised a small round of private angel financing. His vision was to create a company that combined media with the interactive power of a personal computer. A few months later he hired a few former co-workers, his wife, and sister-in-law to launch the new business. In September of 1991 Frontier Media Group was born. The firm, based in Malvern, PA, became a pioneer in the development of high-impact multimedia for sales support, training, and entertainment for Fortune 500 firms. Over the next seven years, Frontier Media Group grew to become an internationally recognized firm, employing over 65 people with consistent profitability. (more…)