There are only two reasons they call.  Either something is not working the way it should, or the organization has a vision to go beyond where their own experience and expertise can take them.

It’s more fun if it’s the latter.  When it’s the former I often find it is self-imposed limitations that are holding people back.  Fear of change.  Self-doubt.  That kind of stuff.

It’s time for my first clever circus elephant parable of the year.  You know the one.  As a young ‘un the elephant is tied to a small stake and isn’t strong enough to break away.  As he grows up he never tries to free himself because he doesn’t think he can, even though that was a long, long time ago and now he is now as strong as… well… an elephant.

In my big time disc jockey days I once had a program director get me out of an on-air slump by having me listen to a “best of” tape every day on my way to work.  He knew that if my “best” was the my own reference point it would build my confidence.  After all, it’s difficult to doubt your abilities when you actually hear yourself doing it right. (My golf coach tried doing the same but couldn’t find any “best of”!)

“People always say their newest album is the best they’ve ever made.  That should be the case.  You should get better at this.”
~Vince Gill

Consider ordering a couple of anchovy and kumquat pizzas and inviting your on-air team to play their best break of the week.  It may feel a little creepy at first but it will quickly become an exercise in craftsmanship and team-building, particularly if you make it a regular monthly thing.  Who knows, they might even start cheering each other on!

Vince Gill is right.  We should get better at this.

The “leaky bucket.”

That’s PPM-talk for stations losing listeners by tuning away or turning the radio off.  The traditional thought is that it is easier to keep listeners than to get them back.  And darn logical that is, no doubt!

But that’s only half the story.  Or, should I say, one third.

A recent study of 37 million listening occasions conducted by Coleman Insights and Media Monitors found that

“nearly two-thirds of radio listening occasions are the result of turning on the radio, listening to a station and turning the radio off.”

That means we as managers, programmers, and talent need to focus not only on minimizing tune-outs, but in creating TUNE INs, or what Mark Ramsey refers to as “winning moments”!

“A great morning show isn’t the show that holds listeners longer, it’s the show that has the winning moments that compel listeners to come back later or tomorrow.

A great radio station isn’t simply the one with the fewest tune-outs, it’s the one with the turn-ons listeners want to experience again and again – the moments that remind you to come back and listen again for more moments just like them.”
-Mark Ramsey

Perhaps the best example is the Super Bowl, or should I say the Super Bowl commercials!

Just for the heck of it I googled “best Super Bowl commercials” and got 50,900,000 results.  That’s over 50 million web hits for reasons to TUNE IN!

The very thing that most consider a tune out – commercials – has been transformed into a huge TUNE IN because of creativity, investment, and talent.

Here’s another way to look at it:

Consider a highlight reel of the listening occasions on your radio station in which people simply didn’t tune away.  It wouldn’t be a highlight reel at all.  It would be a compilation of the bare minimum necessary to keep people from tuning out.  You and I both know of stations designed with nothing more in mind.

But programming that simply avoids the “leaky bucket” doesn’t drive emotions, build relationships, inspire loyalty, or add value to someone’s life.  That’s why superb talents like Wally, Brant Hansen, Lisa Williams, Keith Stevens, Beth Bacall, Frank Reed, Rachelle Renee, Steve and Amy, Kevin and Taylor, and the remarkable storytelling of Keep The Faith are game-changers by creating TUNE IN, the very thing we appreciate about Super Bowl commercials.

50 years ago no one even thought of tuning to the Super Bowl for the commercials.  But that all changed when some talented someones created something worth tuning in for.

Watching the last few presidential debates reminds me of being in Mrs. Lay’s 5th grade class.  We had that know-it-all that nobody liked, that smart science-brain kid that was painfully shy, and that loud-mouthed bully that picked fights on the playground with a girl named Megan.  Or was it Kelly?  (I don’t think I was considered one of those three, but I did achieve the distinction of being the first to get zits.  And the last to get rid of them!)

“Nobody will listen to you unless they sense that you like them.  If a person senses that you do not like them, that you do not approve of their existence, then your religion and your political ideas will all seem wrong to them.  If they sense that you like them, then they are open to what you have to say.”  Donald Miller

They say that Ted Cruz has a 43 percent unfavorable rating, and that’s even after adding a few jokes in the last debate to improve his likability.  43 percent!  Jeepers, that’s higher than Larry Musselwhite in my fifth grade class!  And Larry didn’t smell very good.

By the way, Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, Rand Paul, and Donald Trump all have a similar favorability gap, according to www.areyoumorepopularthanlarrymusselwhite.com.

Think of the last few presidents.  Obama (when elected).  Clinton (even after you know what).  Reagan!  Jeepers, he was like a movie star.  They were all likable, at least to enough someones.

“We resist being influenced by people we don’t know or don’t trust.  We are open to the influence of those whom we trust or whom we perceive have our best interests at heart.  Trust requires common ground.  Trust requires empathy.”  Andy Stanley

If being likable and sounding friendly are the starting points for being effective, shouldn’t we in Christian radio pay more attention to connecting emotionally and relating to people’s lives?

I recently heard a promo for a daddy/daughter dance that shared the date, time, and location, but little else.  Nothing about the impact of a dad on a daughter’s life, the importance of spending one-on-one time with your kids, and the power of a role model.  Downright unfriendly, you could say.

Consider this:

Buy some pizza and gather your teammates to build a “friendly” vernacular for your station’s brand.  Then make sure every recorded promo, every live mention, and every digital thingamajig on your website utilizes those words to help make your station friendly and more effective.

After all, not everyone can be as funny as Ted Cruz!

To tease, or not to tease. That may not be the question.

Most teases I hear are self-indulgent attempts to manipulate un-seen passive consumers to do what you want them to do.  That, my friends, is a waste of time.  Your listeners are not simply consumers, but people with real life and real hopes and dreams.  We would do well to consider their lives as our frame of reference.

Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”, the best selling non-fiction book of all time other than the Bible, begins with these four words:

It’s not about you.

Offering your listeners something relevant and compelling for which to stay tuned is a noble quest.  Trying to manipulate listeners for an additional PPM meter-minute is a waste of time.

“More Neil Diamond facts coming up next hour.”  I actually heard this on the radio. I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP, as Dave Barry would say.

We in radio have a lot to learn from social media, which has the algorithms and nifty-difty cyber brain power to monitor what entices people to “click through”.

Just in the last hour on social media I’ve seen:

“We’ve selected a group of people for a brief survey.”  Nope.

“Your marriage is doomed without this three minute conversation.”  Yep.

“Three easy ways to help keep your kids from getting sick this winter.”  Certainly.

Here is a practical idea:

Consider having your air personalities keep track of the social media posts that entice them enough to “click through.”  Then discuss why and how they can emulate that on the air.  Bonus tip: It’s easier to get people to do something again than it is to get them to do it the first time.  That’s why tuning in for “the next time to win” in a contest, or tuning back tomorrow at this same time for more ways to keep your family healthy can be effective ways to create additional listening occasions.

As my brilliant friend Tommy Kramer says, “Radio stations keep trying to manipulate or monopolize the listener’s time against his/her will.  But the listener is in charge, and growing more used to the ‘on demand’ part of life every day. When you only promote things that actually matter to the listener, believe me, you’ll stand out in the crowd.”

The scoreboard can tell us a lot.  We look to see the inning or the quarter.  Perhaps to see who’s at bat or who’s ahead.  Sometimes the errors or the fouls.  But no one considers the scoreboard important enough to take its picture.

Unless of course…

…you see yourself on it!

Your station is like that.

The music is nice, but Spotify and Mortify have it in major doses.  Traffic reports?  It’s on the 4’s, the 10’s and the 12’s up and down the dial.  Weather?  I have an app for that.

No, your radio station has to offer something else.  Something unique.  Something your listeners value.  Something that screams, “That’s me!”

Listeners may push the button because of a song they don’t like or irrelevant chit chat…

But people don’t push the button on their values.

*Inspired by my talented friends Kevin Isaacs and Dave Arthur.

Odd, isn’t it?  In a format that MATTERS more than any other, we spend so much of our time talking about stuff that doesn’t.

Recently I’ve heard…

The tour dates and future music projects of an artist I’ve never heard of.

The details of a traffic problem that I wasn’t in.

A contest where if I text them the thing (twenty words or less) and I’ll be put in a drawing with all the other people that have texted them the thing (twenty words or less) and they’ll do a random drawing at 7:20 in a few weeks with Flip and Flap of the Flip and Flap Morning Show to determine the finalist that will be in the subsequent drawing for the thing.  Jeepers!  Who wrote your promo?  The IRS?

A company’s sales accomplishments with no connection of how it mattered to their customers.

Deejays that talk incessantly about things that happened in their lives that listeners can’t relate to.  Newscasts with stories that sound newsy but aren’t relevant.  Stations that position themselves with mindless slogans that are all about the station, not about what is meaningful to the listener.

Here is a challenge for the new year:

Listen to another radio station in the format for one hour and write down the things you hear that don’t matter.  You’ll be amazed!  (This exercise is impossible to do with your own radio station because it’s too familiar to you.)

When Michelangelo was asked how he created the statue of David, he supposedly responded, “I just took away everything that didn’t look like David.”

So, if you want your radio station to matter… you can start by simply taking away everything that doesn’t.

As the new year begins it’s easy to get bogged down in the multitude of details of programming a radio station; the politics, the personalities, and the to-do list that never seems to get to-done.  And yet, there are the more advanced concepts of focus and targeting, serving your core listener, developing the talent, connecting emotionally, and developing a meaningful brand.

But at its core good programming is relatively simple.
Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi began every training camp with these words, “Gentlemen, this is a football!”, which underscores the importance of knowing the basics.

Here are the programming basics:

• Play the music your listeners love.
• Talk about things they are interested in.
• Don’t waste their time.

If you’re a GM make sure your PD is accountable in these areas.   If you’re a PD, use this to prioritize.

If you kick off 2016 by getting these things right, then you’re in a better position to begin working on the other stuff that can make your station remarkable!

Happy New Year!

I reckon’ the Christmas season brings out the best in our format.  More people tune in than at any other time of the year.  When done well, this can be a station’s much-discussed “next level”.

Over the last several weeks I have heard some amazing stories and songs.

I heard the story of a single mom of three kids who had work two jobs and clean houses at night to make ends meet.  Listeners generously gave her kids a Christmas they couldn’t afford for themselves and pulled together to have HER house cleaned, as well.  (A big deal.  Ask any female listener.)

Stories and songs.

I heard the story of a family on the verge of being evicted from their home due to the dad losing his job and mounting medical bills from one child’s injury from a car accident and another child’s epilepsy.  The station, its listeners and clients stepped in to make up the difference on their overdue bills so they wouldn’t lose their home, and blessed them with a Christmas tree and gifts for all the kids.

Stories and songs.

Perhaps most the most amazing I heard was told by the daughter of a Vietnam vet that had a leg amputation.  Wayne pitched in with a wheel chair.  Sheri offered up a wheel chair ramp, and another donated a motorized scooter.  But the most amazing thing to hear was the generosity of a company that made prosthetics offering this Vietnam vet the ability to walk again.

Stories and songs.

Our format can be so much more than the ubiquitous 52 minute music sweeps, the best mix of this and that, and traffic and weather together on the 10s.

So, for the coming New Year, it is my hope that those in our format adopt this New Year’s Resolution:  To create radio stations that matter.

After all…

It doesn’t matter what we say if what we say doesn’t matter.

So, what do you think about Donald Trump?

My guess is your response is something other than tepid.  Love him or hate him but you can’t ignore him.

“He identifies what the base feels and thinks, and then gives it expression.” Kathleen Parker.

This particular political writer’s comment was in the context of a criticism, but there is something to be said for giving expression to what your base feels and thinks.

When was the last time your station got the kind of response Donald Trump is getting?  In other words, when was the last time your station gave expression to what your listeners feel and think that it resulted in a standing ovation?

My talented friends at The Fish in Atlanta recently granted a Christmas Wish to Dee, “a victim of a marriage gone wrong.  She escaped with three kids and nothing more than the clothes on her back” read my friend Taylor Scott.  The station had over a hundred thousand views within the first few hours on Facebook and YouTube.  That, my friends, is a social media standing ovation!

Why?  Because it tapped into what their audience feels and thinks.  Compassion and lending a helping hand are core values reflected by the station.

Who’d da thunk it?  Maybe Christian radio can learn a thing or two from Donald Trump.

Dentists have the highest suicide rate of any in the medical profession, I’m told.  Reckon’ it’s because they seldom get to see a patient leave feeling better than when they came in.  In other words, the dentist doesn’t get to directly witness the benefit of his work.

My friend Chris has been in the concert production business a long, long time.  Recently he told me that those in his crew that are most likely to become dissatisfied with their work are those that never get to see the show.

Then he told me about the trouble seats; the ones held back in case someone has a problem.  Maybe there is an obstructed view.  Maybe there is a loud, obnoxious smoker (not that that would ever happen at a Christian music concert).  These seats are deliberately left open so they can move people in case of trouble.  When the time is right my friend Chris gives those unused trouble seats to his crew so they get to see the show.

When you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, or… you never get to see the results of what you’re doing… you can lose perspective about your value to the overall mission.

If you have people on your team that never “get to see the show”, here are some ideas:

1. Ask them to answer the phones during a pledge drive.  They’ll hear stories of the impact of your station directly from your listeners.
2. Reserve some “trouble seats” at your next concert and let your people experience the impact of the music that your listeners feel every day.
3. Have them call listeners and ask how the station can help or pray for them.  They’ll be astounded by what they hear.
4. Suggest they spend an hour in the on-air studio so they can witness first hand the impact of your station’s programming.

*Inspired by a conversation with my friend Chris Farnsworth at KSBJ in Houston.