Wow!  What a week for our friends along the Texas Gulf Coast in the path of Hurricane Harvey.  I personally have friends, co-workers, and family with flooded homes and disrupted lives.

As the Christian radio and music industry heads to Universal Orlando for CMB’s Momentum the Weather Channel beacons out the cone of uncertainty for Hurricane Irma.   It’s never a good thing when you see Jim Cantore standing in your front yard.

In times like these there are lessons to be learned, even about our programming.
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On last week’s show I shared that the recent solar eclipse is a valuable lesson in perspective.  The moon’s path is always between the earth and the sun SOMEWHERE, but it becomes meaningful to us only when it happens to us.

Ty McFarland of KSBJ in Houston reacted this way:
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Have you heard?  It’s been in all the papers.  There is a total solar eclipse on Monday.  It’s the first one since I was in college.

It begins in Oregon at 9:06 AM Pacific and ends in South Carolina at 4:06 PM Eastern.

Well, that’s one point of view.
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Back to school time is everywhere.  In the stores with sales.  On the highways with school buses.  There are even tax free days for Back to School.

It’s not an official holiday like Christmas, Ground Hog Day, or Millard Fillmore’s birthday, but it is just as evident.  Back to school affects everyone’s schedule, even those that don’t go to school.  (Can’t say that about ole Millard’s birthday.)

“The difference between school and life?  In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test.  In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
~Tom Bodett

My friend Tim McDermott of KSBJ recently introduced me to the book, “The One Thing” by Gary Keller, where he shares “the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you and your goals.”

So, let’s go back to school and discuss the one thing that can transform programming.
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…to make a first impression,” so goes the famous quote from Will Rogers.

When we radio folk talk about increasing the station’s listenership, or  ‘building cume’ in PPM lingo, we’re really talking about making good first impressions.

“So how important are first impressions?  Well it determines if you get the second interview for your dream job or acceptance in the college or university of your choice.  A good first impression can mean a second date and who know what happens after that.  Making a good first impression gets you a meeting with the senior partners in the private equity firm evaluating your business proposal.  No doubt first impressions matter.”
~John Maxwell

There is an Outback Steakhouse near our place already adorned with custom signage with brand logo.  And it’s still under construction.  Their first impression is “coming soon,” signaling the arrival to your neighbor that their distinctive Bloomin’ Onion and Aussie Cheese Fries are only weeks away.  Folks will be waiting in line at their grand opening.  You can bank on it.

All too common in our format first impressions are unfamiliar music, unwelcoming voices, and conversations that make people feel like outsiders.

So it bears the question… which gives a better first impression; your radio station or this restaurant?  And Outback isn’t even open yet.

So here we are.  Nine months after the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, Chicagoland has a baby boom.

The Chicago Cubs did exactly what our stations should do… they descended on families of newborns to ensure Fans for Life.  The Cubs showed up in Chicagoland hospitals with the World Series trophy, the team mascot, and beloved players surprising unexpected new parents.

“The team honored this boon of championship babies… by awarding them special Fan Club memberships (containing a “Rookie of the Year” onesie, a beanie, a special birth certificate and a personalized Wrigley Field photo marquee)… the team’s mascot, Clark, was on hand as well for a great group photo.” MLB.com

The result?  Cubs fans for life.

As we arm wrestle with PPM for one additional listening occasion per week perhaps our time would be better spent by creating a radio station worthy of having fans for life.

You know, it doesn’t matter what we do if what we do doesn’t matter.

We’ve all done it.

Waiting through the first part of a boring movie.   You hope it will get better.

Sitting down at a restaurant.   The waiter is slow to come over.  Minutes tick by without giving your drink order.  You hope it will get better.

In a world of instant gratification, a better choice is only a push of a button or a click of a mouse away

Don’t make your listeners wait for your station to be good.

Be good now.

It’s not just an idea.  It’s the way all great program directors think.

*After reading this Frost Advisory, tune to your station and evaluate the very next thing you hear.   Are your listeners having to wait for your station to be good?

Problem… solution.

It’s the very first lesson in the very first class in very first college marketing course.  It should also be at the heart of every station’s design.

What problem are we solving?  

Oh, the irony!  In the one format that addresses life’s biggest questions the day-to-day programming decisions we make often result in our stations becoming less familiar and less intertwined in our listeners’ lives.   When we play that song they’ve never heard, when we talk about that thing that isn’t relevant, when we put our own agenda ahead of theirs…

“Behavior beats to the drum of habit.  And the ritual of habit orbits around the principles of familiarity and simplicity…

Familiarity doesn’t just breed preference, familiarity IS preference.”
~Mark Ramsey

Everyone’s favorite radio station is the station that plays their favorite music.  In a format where the biggest barrier for growth is that most didn’t grow up listening to it,  I wonder how our stations could be transformed if, with every decision, we simply asked, “How will this make our station more familiar to the very people we’re trying to connect with?”

When we play an unfamiliar song, how can we put it in a context that relates to their lives?

When we talk about something they don’t know, how do we frame it from a “Me, too” perspective?

When we do ‘our agenda,’ how do we share in a way that connects to their hopes and dreams?

“If you define the problem correctly you almost have the solution.”
~Steve Jobs

So, who’s your favorite player on the Washington Generals?

That, my friends, is a question that has never been asked.

The Washington Generals were created so that the Harlem Globetrotters would have someone to play.  And beat.  In fact, as of this morning’s sports page the Generals have lost more than 16,000 games to the Globetrotters.  So much for the half-time pep talk.

What does this have to do with your radio station?

The Generals were designed to lose.  To have no recognizable stars.  To be generic.  The Generals are known for nothing other than what is inherent in simply taking to the court; that they play basketball.  The Globetrotters, on the other hand, have performed with amazing tricks and antics from stars and zany personalities like Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon, “the clown prince of basketball.”  And they have even had their own Saturday morning cartoon show!

I’ve been inside a few radio stations recently that are known for nothing other than what is inherent in the format – that they play Christian music.  No distinctions.  No unique personalities.  No meaningful connection to their community.  No shared sense of ‘today.’

Things bounced along okay for a while.   And then a competitor came to town.

So, why would your listeners prefer to spend time with your station over another?

“The value of choice depends upon our ability to perceive differences in the options.”
~Mark Ramsey

I can promise you a couple of things.  If your station is known only for the music you play, you’ll soon have fewer listeners than your competition.  And you’ll never have your own Saturday morning cartoon show.

The celebration of our nation’s 241st birthday is a powerful lesson of focus, common ground, and emotion.

Over the last three decades in my other life, I’ve served as a semi-professional public address announcer for major league spring training and minor league baseball.  That’s lots and lots and lots of dizzy bat races, National Anthems, and seventh inning stretches.

Do you know what I enjoy most?  It’s when my voice is the cue for veterans to rise and be acknowledged for their service and sacrifice for our country.  And there is no applause that is louder.

What does that mean for your radio station?

My friend Bryan O’Neal discovered that on your birthday you can take the ferry for free from Long Beach to Catalina Island.  When you get there they give you a special birthday ribbon to wear.  The moment you put on the ribbon you become special.  Total strangers are immediately greet to you with a “Happy Birthday!” everywhere you turn.

But that’s not all.  You see, Bryan isn’t the only one who knows about Catalina Island’s birthday promotion.  So every day of the year dozens and dozens of birthday boys and girls share Catalina Island with total strangers that just so happen to share the very same birthday.  Of course they don’t come alone.  Each has brought along family and friends to celebrate their big day.  So, not only did Bryan become special, his family and friends became special, and the other people with the same birthday became special, along with all of their family and friends.  Instant community! … formed out of what could have been simply a bunch of strangers walking around an island.

My friend Pyromarketing friend Greg Stielstra puts it this way,

“If you help your customers feel special, they won’t be able to resist telling their friends.”

We have hundreds of thousands of people that listen to our stations that have important things in common.  Focus on those things.  Celebrate those things.  Invite them to stand and be applauded for those things.

It’s the reason that the cheer for the veterans is loudest.

Happy birthday, USA!