Every Christmas for the last several years I’ve thrown a few coins into the Salvation Army bucket at the neighborhood Piggly Wiggly. But not this year. Nope. You see they’ve changed their bell ringer. The guy standing outside the store ringing the bell was different this season, so I decided not to give.

Ludicrous, isn’t it? Obviously, no one would stop donating to the Salvation Army because Bert replaced Ernie ringing the bell.

Then why do we hear these kinds of complaints?

A successful radio station is built on a foundation of consensus. Listeners that have a common sense of worldview, of the purpose of life, of how to treat others. If there is no consensus there is no tribe.

Interestingly, a format is less about a station’s tactics and more about how effectively it reflects the common ground of the tribe.

This is even more crucial in the CCM format. And Christmas is that opportunity!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And sound like it, too.

Hundreds of radio stations around the country are now playing all Christmas music. In the town where I live I counted a dozen or so, many different formats from Christian to rock to country to AC. Even Oldies! (I reckon’ they play Christmas songs that are OLD!)

While stations chase the success of significant audience growth during the holidays, many stations seem to have forgotten why people seek out Christmas music in the first place.

Playing Christmas music on a CCM station. Is it good or bad? Right or wrong? Clearly, it is not why our existing listeners tune to us.

Viewed simply as a programming tactic, programming all Christmas music is about as crazy as it gets. Let’s see, your listeners come to you because you play the music they love – Chris Tomlin, Big Daddy Weave, Hercules and the Chicken Fat People. Now you’ve decided to stop playing all the music that they love. That’s like ESPN deciding to stop carrying sports. How is the name of Bill Gaither is THAT supposed to be a good idea?

However, viewed as a programming strategy, it’s a different thing altogether.

Givers and takers.

When you think about the people that have had the greatest influence on your life I reckon’ you’d say they were GIVERS. I think of my mom and dad, many of my bosses in radio, and my friends and mentors along the journey.

“The human spirit senses and feeds on a giving spirit… Think about what Jesus taught – half the time people didn’t know what he was talking about, but they listened attentively. Jesus was giving – feeding them. Not taking. It is at a spirit (heart) level. He wasn’t just giving information.”

John Maxwell

Is there a connection between Christmas and your station’s strategy? No, I didn’t say Christmas MUSIC. I said Christmas.

They say there are more “religious” radio stations in the United States than any other format category. They also say that those religious stations have fewer listeners than any other. Ouch!

Many Christian radio stations could best be described as “A bunch of stuff all on one station,” consisting of a little of this and a little of that with little connection to their WHY.

“Your format sounds small,” an industry friend recently told me.

I reckon’ he knew how to get my attention.

“If your station can be transformative in someone’s life as you claim, then why do you spend 99% of your time focusing on the nuts and bolts, the songs, the artists, the deejays, the features – the stuff any radio station in any format can do.

Why don’t you focus on what matters most?,” he says from an outsider’s perspective.

Coming out of the pandemic and through a turbulent election season people are looking for answers. People are looking for hope.

Hyundai’s recent campaign “Hope is our greatest feature” offers us a perspective.

It’s baseball’s biggest stage. These games mean it all. It’s the dream of every kid who’s ever swung at a baseball in his back yard. And yet, at this pinnacle moment in a millionaire player’s career they are willing to stop the game in order to hold a cheap handwritten cardboard sign.

What in the name of Abner Doubleday is going on here?

“Major League Baseball, Stand Up To Cancer and MasterCard conducted a special in-game moment, with players, umpires, coaches and fans all pausing to hold up placards with the names of loved ones affected by cancer.”

MLB.com

Ironic, isn’t it?

In a format that is all about belief, few stations ever share what they believe. Not a doctrinal statement, but a brand position. A flag in ground. Their vision and purpose for being on the air.

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy WHY you do it. If you don’t know why you do what you do, and people respond to why you do what you do, then how will you ever get people to vote for you, or buy something from you, or, more importantly, be loyal and want to be a part of what it is that you do?”

Simon Sinek – “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”

Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter? We didn’t have to wait long to hear his WHY.

It’s something we rarely consider. And because we rarely consider it we rarely consider its importance. (How’s THAT for a Tweet!)

We rarely consider it when planning our shows. Based upon listening I’m certain that no voice-tracker considers it before recording their next 20 tracks.

One of the things radio has lost in the last generation is the power of NOW, that magical connection between performance and experience. We’ve felt it at the concert, at the ballpark, at the movie theatre, and maybe even in church.