Interesting times, eh?

So… what are you learning through this season of COVID-19 and the protests of racial injustice?

What are you learning about your radio station that wasn’t as clear before?

One of the things I’m learning is that when we get outside “our lane” we are noticeably irrelevant. In other words, when we start doing a bunch of stuff that no one comes to us for we lose our impact.* It’s bad enough to be talking about National Pie Day (that’s 3.14, don’tcha know?) in ordinary times, but in these times we sound pert near foolish.

So, what are people hiring you for?

Maybe you’re learning that your talent haven’t been trained to talk effectively about a difficult topic within the perimeters of your station’s purpose.

Maybe you’re learning that you haven’t built up relationships with African-American churches/communities to be able to tap into their perspective and wisdom that would help us come together as believers, not to mention the opportunity to model behavior to the world.

Over the last few months I’ve personally witnessed dozens of stations embracing this struggle. You know what? They are better radio stations because of it.

If you think your radio station is only about songs and deejays and unfamiliar music, you’ll never understand how to connect with what people are feeling today.

*I recommend that every radio station do an audit to determine why each programming element is on the air. Then be willing to have the hard conversation about ridding yourselves of the ones that don’t answer the question, “What are they hiring me for?”