This Sunday my church paused to share why the church exists. What we believe. Its vision and purpose.

My church deliberately does this twice a year; once at the start of the year and once when the fall season begins.

“People don’t buy WHAT you do they buy WHY you do it.”

Simon Sinek

The school buses are being gassed up! School crossing guards are dusting off their guard garb. School zone speed limits will be in effect. It’s back to school time for many this week.

And a good time for PDs and air talent to be reminded of some programming basics. Many we learned in kindergarten.

It’s easy.

It’s easy to let grass grow and have weeds in your yard. It’s easy to go to the driving range and be a bad golfer. It’s easy to not exercise and get flabby.

It’s easy to have a bad radio station.

We would all be flying Wells Fargo Airlines if they had thought they were in transportation instead of the stage coach business. The same could be said of many once great companies like Polaroid and Blockbuster. Netflix started by mailing DVDs.

“What product category are you in? It’s bigger than you think.”

Seth Godin

Say it isn’t so!

My cousin, the brilliant surgeon, told me of the time that a hospital board member barged into the operating room during a gall bladder surgery and told him they should remove the patient’s kidney. After all he had done the Google search, you see.

It’s a joke, of course, but…

When I was a kid I can remember staring at the bulletin board in the hallway eager to see what the next few months would be like. Each teacher posted a list of the kids that would be in her class the upcoming year. Frankly, I wasn’t that concerned about which teacher I was assigned. No, I was more concerned with whether I’d be with my friends; Rodney, David, Buddy, and Julian. And maybe even that I’d have a chance to be around that pretty girl Marlene.

As I write this 850 people have been rescued in the Central Texas floods. This isn’t just a random news story to me. It’s personal.

My sister and cousins went to summer camp there, and I have been there numerous times as the little brother. We have home movies from there. It’s a real place with real people with real lives.

We forget, don’t we?

It’s a funny thing. With these weekly Frost Advisories, I try to share insights about programming basics (how the sausage is made stuff, don’tcha know), while also challenging the more seasoned to strive for The Big Idea to transform a station and a listener’s mood, perspective, and life. Some get this while many have never thought about it. In my career, I’ve been at either place in different seasons.

Just this week I was evaluating a station that sounded like it was nothing more than a sequencing of elements. Like the automation system was programming the station. One element played, then another. Then something else came on and another element played. No design. No emotional spectrum. No meaningful content.

It was like an audio version of Whack-a-mole. Hit it and move on.

Wow!

That’s how many people react to this photo. Particularly women.

Quick! Name a TV dad that is portrayed as a positive role model! How ’bout in movies?

They say that 85% of men in prison grew up in fatherless homes. Role models can change the trajectory of a life. My dad certainly did for me. “Remember who you are and what you represent” from his beautiful baritone voice still echoes in my soul.