This Frost Advisory is the first of two parts. Just trying to change things up.

There are two kinds of people in radio stations. Those that fear change, and those that thrive on it.

In my 40+ years in radio, no one has ever invited me in and said, “…but don’t change anything.” No air talent has ever been hired and told, “but don’t change anything the previous jock did.” Not changing is never the goal. But it’s often the outcome.

Those that fear change don’t realize a truth – that things are changing all the time, regardless of our efforts to not change.

My cousin Dan once told me, “If you want a white post to remain white, you have to paint it white again and again.” My cousin Dan says nifty stuff like that all the time, don’tcha know.

To keep your hair the same length you have to cut it.

To keep your kitchen the same, you have to wash the dishes and put them away.

To keep a calendar current, you have to tear off pages.

Every day the sun rises. Every evening the sun sets. And where I live on the globe that’s about four minutes different from the day before.

Lack of change is an illusion. Once you understand that even to stay the same you have to change, change changes from a threat to an opportunity.

On next week’s show I’ll delve into why change can seem so daunting and what we can do about it. And if you’ve already guessed that it has something to do with “National Cat Hair Day”, you may be right.

“You saved my life,” she said. I moved a little closer to hear.

I was eavesdropping on a conversation between my friend Tyler and a listener (hereafter referred to as a P1) who had heard Tyler share on the air about getting a mammogram. The listener, er-P1, was prompted to do likewise and discovered the early stage of breast cancer. Tyler had, in fact, played a role in saving her life.

That listener, er- P1, could have told Tyler that she really loved “This Day in History” at 7:35 every morning (“National Belly Button Lent Day”, dontcha know), or that she enjoyed the no-repeat workday marathon with no talk, or that she really enjoyed the talk over bed on the new weather jingle. But what this listener, er-P1, was reacting to was not some programming tactic (although there is nothing wrong with that to quote the great philosopher Seinfeld), but rather to Tyler sharing something meaningful and relevant to that listener’s life.

In our PPM navel-gazing we allow ourselves to be lured into assuming our listeners’ life choices are driven almost exclusively by what we do in our tiny 12 x 12 studio. We lose our perspective of listeners as real people, their humanness diminished to nothing more than a statistic. They become a P1; nothing more. Which reminds me of a recent grocery store run where I saw the stock boy so focused on loading shelves that he didn’t notice he was blocking people’s way. In other words, he was so busy with the task at hand that he lost perspective of why the customers were there in the first place.

How’s this for a humbling statistic?

Nielsen data indicates heavy radio listeners, er-P1s, only spend 6% of their waking time with their favorite station. Six percent, gulp. And those are the heavy listeners.

It is impossible to finagle your way into that 6% of waking hours by becoming less meaningful. The hand-wringing effort we make to strip down our radio stations in an effort to imprint one additional data point can only result in becoming what my friend Mark Ramsey refers to as “no one’s favorite I-Pod”.

Play lots of music? Of course! Be efficient with talk? Certainly! Discipline is imperative.

But consider this:

The impact of our format could be transformed if we paid more attention to being a part of saving lives than saving quarter hours.

I’ve met people who know how to do both!

Remember becoming a parent for the first time?  You likely reacted to everything your child did.  I remember standing over my daughter’s crib to make sure she was breathing.  Her baby book included the first everything, from baby shower to bath tub to bicycle.  By the time the second child comes along we’ve figured some things out.  We didn’t wake up at every sound. Some of the little things we fretted over with the first child didn’t seem quite as big a deal.

I’m the youngest of four kids.  By the time I came along my mom and dad had seen it all.  I don’t even have a baby book!

My travels take me into a variety of situations and personalities.  I work with some of the best of the best, and I’m also invited in to mentor those who are just beginning their journey.  I see the behavior of those who’ve been through it before and those who are facing a situation for the first time.

Experience gives us maturity.  Maturity develops perspective.  Perspective leads to wise decisions. 

A recent plane ride was unusually turbulent.  After several nasty bumps I turned to the young lady sitting next to me and asked if she was scared.  She just smiled at me and said,

“My dad is the pilot.  He does this all the time.”

What signals are we sending as leaders?   Do we react to every challenge as though it’s an unforeseen emergency, a time to panic, and a reason to “do SOMETHING” with READY-FIRE-AIM?  Or we do we respond with the experience and calm of a pilot who is trained at navigating the inevitable turbulence, who has been through it before, and who instills confidence to those entrusted to him?

Now don’t take this the wrong way.  I’m not against strong leadership.  I worked for Bud Paxson for many years, one of the most aggressive leaders I’ve ever seen.  But his actions were not RE-actions that sent the troops on an unpredictable tangent, they were pro-actions that motivated the team in a direction the team already understood.

Turbulence will come.  Your team is watching how you will lead.

Jose’s portable beachside mercado in the Dominican Republic was overflowing with one-legged pink flamingos, hand painted maracas (“you no buy, you no shake”), and a framed velvet Elvis or two; just the kind of high quality merchandise to tempt even the choosiest vacationing American. Jose was nice enough to stop me and point out his selection of genuine Cuban cigars. “You pay three hundred,” he says, “but I give you at one twenty five.” A steal of a deal, I thought, after using my high school Spanish to wrestle him down to only $50 per box.

Back in the good ole USA my friend Mike opened his new box of cigars and immediately sensed something was wrong. The cigar paper was wrapped haphazardly. The aroma was dull. A strand of straw was sticking out the end of one.

I had been had. Como se dice “ripped off”?

Had I sought counsel from someone experienced in buying cigars I would have been saved from making a rather simple mistake. But because I don’t smoke and had never purchased cigars before I lacked basic understanding of what to look for, or even what questions to ask. My inexperience led me to make assumptions, and those assumptions left me vulnerable to Jose’s beachside salesmanship.

What assumptions do you make about your listeners? If you want your station to grow what assumptions do you make of those tuning in for the first time?

Do you assume they know the music and have a favorite artist? Do you assume that they know the secret handshake, understand the lingo, and want a four-pack of tickets to the show?

“To move and audience, especially a diverse audience, from where they are to where you want them to be requires common ground. If you want me to follow you on a journey, you have to come get me. The journey must begin where I am, not where you are or where you think I should be.

…If the journey begins with the assumption that everybody here knows what we are doing, you will eventually have an audience of people who already know what you are doing. If your journey begins with the assumption that everybody in the audience is a believer, then eventually your audience will be full of believers. Who shows up for Third Day concerts? Primarily people who know and are expecting Third Day music.

Where you consistently begin and what you consistently assume determine who consistently shows up. Why? Because your assumptions create the common ground for the journey.” Andy Stanley, “Deep and Wide”

Now, about that velvet Elvis…

I hadn’t brushed my teeth with tap water in a week.  There’s nothing like being in a third world country to make one aware of the blessings we have in the good ole’ U.S.A.

I was one of 50 to recently travel to the Dominican Republic to lift shovel and rock to build a community center, to tend to 308 Dominicans and Haitians in a make-shift medical clinic, and to use the common language of sports to build bridges to hundreds of kids that couldn’t speak English.

My friend Christian Santiago is El Hombre in an organization God is using to transform a poverty-stricken Dominican community.  That organization’s focus to their vision – to educate and develop leaders in their own community to share the Gospel – has allowed them to avoid the pitfalls of trying to do too many things that take away time and resources from the main thing.  The result?  A thriving ministry!

As you can imagine, a benevolent organization like theirs, and maybe a radio station like yours, is bombarded with random, sometimes cock-eyed ideas from well-intended bystanders.  A Saturday night rock show for the teens? A Sunday night Southern Gospel show?  How ’bout some children’s programming?

Christian has a very simple way of filtering out the clutter.   Every suggestion comes with a donation.  He’s learned it’s easy for someone to throw out a random idea, but the meaningful ones come from those who are willing to back it up.

I’m not suggesting that your station’s strategy should be dictated by those on the sidelines with deep pockets.   But it is helpful to have an objective filter to help discern the good ideas from ones that will simply eat up your time and resources.

It’s been said that if you can’t say ‘no’ to the things that don’t matter then you won’t have room to say ‘yes’ to the things that do.

I couldn’t believe what I heard the public address announcer say.

The game was still going on, there were fans still in the ballpark, but they were closing the concession stands!

What’s next, I thought? The restrooms will close in the 8th?

It begins ever so subtly. First, the restaurant limits its hours. Then it’s closed for lunch. Then it’s only open four days a week.

It’s a slippery slope when you start treating your customers like they are not important enough for you to stay open.

Which daypart do you treat like “no one is listening”? Overnights?

I know stations that have more listeners overnights than others have during the entire week.

Sunday morning?

That may be your greatest opportunity to connect with someone listening for the first time on the way to church.

Saturday night?

Andy Stanley’s ministry strategically buys television time immediately following Saturday Night Live because they want to reach people on the way home from the bars. At last check Your Move is viewed by over 700,000 people, more than but two Christian radio stations in America.

Legendary New York Yankee outfielder Joe DiMaggio was once asked why he hustled on plays that had little effect on a game’s outcome or on his team’s standing. Joe replied,

Because there’s always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.

Once you stop caring whether anyone is listening, don’t be surprised if others do, too.

239 years ago our country was born with a Declaration of Independence, and a subsequent Bill of Rights for all citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But as Believers, we know that with rights comes responsibility.

Your radio station has the right to do anything you want within the parameters of certain legal, broadcasting, and financial regulations. You even have the right to be mediocre. Most Christian stations are just that.

But with every right comes a responsibility.

Yes, your station has the right to be just barely good enough to stay on the air, be just solvent enough to keep the lights on, and just legal enough to keep from having your license taken away. Yes, those are your rights. I challenge you, what are your responsibilities!

What if your station, instead of embracing the minimum, embraced the responsibility of setting the standard of excellence?

What if your station, instead of embracing the minimum, accepted the responsibility of unifying a community of believers?

What if your station, instead of embracing the minimum, accepted the responsibility of reaching out and meeting the needs of your listeners, and their neighbors, and their neighbors?

No church, no civic organization, no governmental agency in your city has the bullhorn to impact your community the way that your station does.

On this 4th of July weekend, let’s wave our flags, shoot off our fireworks, and sing our patriotic songs.

But let us not forget our responsibilities.

Inspired by Andy Stanley’s message “Younited States of America”, one of the most amazing talks I’ve ever heard.

Sitting in a drive through will never feel the same to me again.

My new friend David Salyers showed us around The Hatch, an entire building devoted to hatching innovation. The walls were covered with photos of some of Chick-fil-A‘s best customers. (Yes! They had invited them in and actually talked to them!) What a contrast to a radio station’s walls adorned with gold records and photos of artists.

At The Hatch they study the “Points of Pain”: those points that get in the way of a great customer experience. It could be waiting in line, a menu that is difficult to read, or waiting for an order. Anything that detracts from the Chick-fil-A experience they study, and work to diminish or illuminate.

Seems like we can learn some things from Chick-fil-A. What are the points of pain for your listeners?

Is it the songs you play that your listeners don’t love or don’t know? Is it a dee jay that blabbers on about things your listener isn’t interested in? It is lengthly spot breaks, endorsements, or fundraisers that irritate? Is it promotions that are boring and conveyed with all the emotion of a legal disclaimer?

If we took a lesson from Chick-fil-A, perhaps we’d not only eat mor chikin, we’d have more listeners.

We spent all day in a room together. There were four of us with little in common except for the reason we were there.

One a Cincinnati Reds’ fan, one from Kansas City where I once lived, and one who worked with a buddy of mine named Jeff. Within a few minutes we had common ground and we were new friends.

Interesting, isn’t it? In relationships we build on ramps instinctively, but in our programming we assume that everyone speaks our language.

We assume they know Tobias McKeehan and would really dig two pieces of cardboard to his gig. We assume they know Jeremy Camp as much as summer camp. We assume they use ‘praise’ as a noun and ‘worship’ as a verb.

“The Curse of Knowledge”* is when those with knowledge find it impossible to even imagine what it’s like without that knowledge. Smart companies understand that blind spot so they design common ground in.

There is a reason cast members at Disney wear name tags with their home town. “You’re from Transylvania? We went there on our honeymoon!” A conversation is designed in.

You can build on ramps into the design or you can be like the church that greets its visitors in the parking lot with suspicion:

Everything we do sends a message.

“Where you consistently begin and what you consistently assume determine who consistently shows up. Why? Because your assumptions create the common ground for the journey.” Andy Stanley, Deep and Wide

On last week’s show I reached the Casey Kasem apex counting down the top ten reasons stations aren’t successful. I slaughtered a few sacred cows and received numerous digital high-fives when I revealed what I’ve observed as the top reason:

“When I find the ego in the organization, I’ve found the problem.” Fred Smith

Ego is a result of insecurity. Insecurity ultimately comes from a lack of trust. Trust in one’s self and trust in others.

A general manager doesn’t trust his program director so he dictates music decisions, major promotions, even (e-gad) where jingles play.

A program director doesn’t trust the air talent so he implements talk limits, gives them a list of slogans to read, and burns up the studio hot line.

An air talent doesn’t trust the program director so he tries to sneak in his favorite songs, and clings to the same ole bits from a previous station.

Bud Paxson remains one of the greatest influences in my broadcast carer. You likely remember him as the founder of Home Shopping Network and PAX-TV. One of Bud’s greatest leadership traits was summed up in the words “Bring me the bad news!” He believed in dealing with problems head on. He believed he couldn’t do anything about a problem if he didn’t know about it. His attitude set the tone for a culture of candor among his closest advisors. The truth would often tramped on sensitive areas, but the organization thrived!

Program directors, do you trust your GM enough to tell him the truth, without fear of retribution?

Managers, do you trust your program director enough to let him make the programming decisions, and support him publicly even when you disagree?

Air talent, do you trust your program director enough to be open to their coaching even if it means using new muscles and thinking new thoughts?

Trust doesn’t just happen. Trust is a result of true leadership.

“Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank. I know many people at the seniormost levels of organizations who are absolutely not leaders. They are authorities, and we do what they say because they have authority over us, but we would not follow them.

You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.” Simon Sinek

See How Does Trust Happen in Music?