“You can do anything,” boomed my dad’s voice to his mischievous adolescent son. But he added one more word. “Once.” “You can do anything… once.”

Those words served as a life lesson of accountability. But, you know what? Those words were also true. I COULD do anything… once.

So can your station.

Making programming decisions based strictly upon what you’ve already done is like driving looking in the rear view mirror.

The same goes for programming based upon PPM numbers. It won’t get you anywhere but where you’ve already been.

There are so many incredible examples of stations demonstrating their purpose during the pandemic and racial unrest. There have been drive-in worship services, listeners in their cars at hospital parking lots cheering healthcare workers at shift change, online concerts, Zoom conversations with air personalities and listeners, onair and social media shoutouts to 2020 graduating seniors, and lessons learned from the perspective of our African-American brothers and sisters about this season in our country.

I like the way that Andy Stanley says it,

“When the story of COVID-19 (and now the racial unrest) is just a story we tell, let’s make sure our stories are stories worth telling.

Resisting a new idea because “it doesn’t sound like my station” is the cry of someone peering in the rear view mirror.

“If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post.”

G. K. Chesterton

The Father’s Day programming lesson is that you can do anything… once!

It’s called innovation!