There are sights and smells from our childhood we never forget. I grew up in the home my grandfather built.

I can still remember the sound of the grow ups talking downstairs while I was upstairs pretending to go to sleep. I remember the sound of the grandfather clock at the bottom of the staircase chiming every fifteen minutes and chiming the specific number of times on the hour.

My grandmother also lived in our hometown. The sights and smells of her home are just as vivid.

Writing every week for 648 weeks is not for the faint of heart. That’s every week for 12-½ years for those scoring at home.

I’m often asked, “Where do you get your ideas?”

Fortunately, that’s the easy part. My answer is, “Everywhere.”

In those 648 weeks I’ve also learned where ideas DON’T COME FROM.

I reckon’ the beginning of a new year is a good time to consider how we internalize the values in our organizations.

Andy Stanley suggests, “Just start celebrating what you value. People will value what you celebrate, and they will celebrate what you value.”

I’ve recently been reading “Breakfast with Fred,” the conversations and ideas of Fred Smith, Sr., a mentor for many leaders such as Zig Ziglar, Philip Yancey, John Maxwell and my friend Steve Brown.

If you’ve been reading my Frost Advisories these last 646 weeks you probably know that I believe it is important that a station demonstrate its “Beliefs and Values” position in a meaningful way. It is what I call “putting your flag in the ground.” Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did that to symbolize that America was first on the moon. And we’ve never forgotten it.

The first Christian music station I ever launched over 20 years ago was in Jacksonville, Florida. It was called “The Promise.” Now in its third incarnation that station still regularly recites its flag in the ground: “The Promise promise.”

You may think that what I share next is about “The Free Press.” Well, it’s not. But it is.

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.