I was channel surfing the other day and I stopped on the movie “Steel Magnolias”.

There’s the river!

“Steel Magnolias” is the story of a close-knit circle of friends who lives come together at Truvy’s Beauty Parlor in a small town in Louisiana.

I used to ride my bicycle down that street!

The movie stars Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah and Olympia Dukakis.

That’s the old McLung’s Drugstore!

It’s a clever movie and won some awards, but that’s not why it caught my eye.

You see, Steel Magnolias was actually filmed in the town where I lived during six of my Wonder Years. The man who wrote the original play went to high school with my brothers and lived one street over.

Advertising guru Roy Williams says, “People will be more interested in your home movies if they are in them.”

You watch a movie differently when it is based in a place you’ve lived a part of your life.

You listen to a radio station differently when its based on the things your life is about.

Last week we chatted about the power of Christmas programming. This week I’m going to dig a little deeper.

One air talent responded, “Thank you… this helps me as Christmas music is driving me crazy.”

Another said, “I’m scared we’re going to lose more fans than we attract new listeners.”

Still another said, “I know we’re known for Christmas music but let’s just try something new.”

“Each person has a different set of biases and values and assumptions, and those world views are influenced by their parents, their schools, the places they live and the experiences they’ve had to date.

Their worldview is the lens they use to determine whether or not they’re going to believe a story. The lens your consumers use shows them a different version of reality than it shows you or your colleagues or your others customers.” Seth Godin

Back in my deejay days I worked for a station that played the #1 song every hour. Every hour, I said. No one inside the radio station would have suggested it, and those of us on the air were ready to pull our hair out. But the listeners loved it. I mean, LOVED IT. The radio station was a huge success and became the prototype for dozens of successful stations across the country.

What you see depends upon where you stand.

If one is standing still, one sees AHEAD STOP.

If one is speeding down a bicycle path one sees STOP AHEAD.

Are these spray painted letters intended for someone standing still or someone speeding down a bicycle path? It makes all the difference.

If you want to do the right thing for your listeners do your best to understand their perspective.

Hint: I guarantee it is NOT the same as yours.

Christmas music programming. Is it good or bad? Right or wrong? Hip or stale?

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 in 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.

In our format the biggest barrier for growth is that new listeners don’t know the music. Since everyone’s favorite station is the station that plays their favorite music, it’s virtually impossible for someone to become a fan of your station if they don’t know the music. RISK impedes adoption.

RISK is something every business, every product, and every radio station must overcome in the Adoption process.

No one you’ve ever met has said that their favorite hamburger is from McDonalds. And yet McDonalds is the 6th most valuable brand in the world according to Forbes.

How’d that happen? It’s not because they have the best burger, but because they flawlessly deliver a consistent experience whether in Dallas, Dublin, or Dubai. (And their bathrooms are clean, thankyouverymuch!)

In other words, McDonalds has virtually eliminated RISK.

When done well Christmas music programming totally eliminates RISK for a new listener.

I’ll never forget the story told to me by my talented friend Tom Fridley. He spent a season working in the post office, where the dozens of employees went about their business of sorting the mail isolated in their cubicles listening on the headphones to their individual pop, country, rock, or AC station.

But something interesting happened when the Christmas music started. The headphones came off, and everyone in the office listened to one station – the station that played Christmas music.

“There was a time when our community was defined by our neighbors in a geographic sense. Today, our communities are based on shared interests, not shared sidewalks.” Mark Ramsey

Christmas is the largest possible “shared interest” for our format, allowing our stations to become instantly familiar as we connect to Christmas memories, shopping, decorating the tree, the local parade, the neighborhoods with the best Christmas lights, the dynamics of family get togethers, and the church Christmas pageant.

Tactically, programming all Christmas music makes no sense at all.

Strategically, it may the be the most important decision for growth that you’ll ever make.

“Thank you mighty much” were the words Ed shouted as folks left his tiny country grocery store.  Ed appreciated his customers, and everyone walked away with something free.

For the grown ups, it was the Coke machine that wouldn’t take their money.  For the kiddos it was “don’t forget your surprise” as they reached their tiny arms into the large jar of bubble gum.

Every Christmas for the last several years I’ve thrown a few coins into the Salvation Army bucket down the street at the Piggly Wiggly. But not this year. Nope. They’ve changed their bell ringer. The guy standing outside the store ringing the bell is going to be different this season, so I’ve decided not to give.

Ludicrous, isn’t it? Obviously no one would stop donating to the Salvation Army because Bernie replaced Barry at the bucket.

Then why is it that our radio stations hear this type of complaint fairly regularly?

You’ve change programs!

You’ve changed the disc jockeys!

You cancelled Adventures in Odyssey!

You did this ONE thing that I don’t like… so I’m not going to donate to your station anymore!

They are basically saying “you’ve change the bell ringer.”

I know what the Salvation Army stands for. I believe in their cause of helping those who can’t help themselves. My understanding of the vision and purpose of their ministry is far more important to me than who stands outside Winn-Dixie ringing a bell.

Just this week I overheard a listener tell my friend Tyler McKenzie , “I got a mammogram because of you.” Tyler and her friend Ellis are the #1 morning show in their town, and not because they play 5 in a row or they hit the spotsets at the quarter hours.* It’s because they are meaningful, and may have even saved someone’s life.

No one will refuse to go to New York Yankees’ games because Derek Jeter has retired. I reckon no one stopped going to Starbucks because they quit serving the Captain Crunch Frappuccino.

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, you’ll likely hear complaints about the bell ringer because the bigger story isn’t being told.

*There is nothing wrong with tactics that potentially minimize tune out or aid additional listening occasions, but they should not be confused with creating compelling reasons to love your station.

We don’t have enough money! We don’t have enough marketing and research! We don’t have enough people!

Surprise! In more than forty years of being inside tall stations and short stations, successful stations and gonna-be successful stations, I’ve never heard anyone say they had enough stuff!

Every station needs more something! But every station has the same amount of something, too!

Time.

Rather than focusing on what we don’t have perhaps we should consider focusing on making the most of what we do have.

I’ve seen some program directors spend so much time on the on-line forums and Facebook during their workday that I wonder when they have time to actually program their stations. (Answer: They don’t). I’ve seen organizations spend so much time in meetings that they no longer have time to get anything done.

While obviously some meetings are important, Robert Pozen, productivity expert and contributor to the Wall Street Journal, recently wrote that meetings are “the bane of corporate life.” He insists that companies are scheduling far too many of them, failing to maximize that wasted time and – in effect – ignoring the “real” work of getting things done.

In short, meetings are an excellent way to showcase how busy you are, but are a horrific way to let actual productivity slide.

My talented friends at NGEN share their creativity on wasting time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8uqqmJKLv0&list=UUj2caSdz7Y2QW4iIq9gtNyw

Here’s a suggestion on how to make better use of your time, from Jack Kinder in “Breakfast with Ted”:

“At the end of each day, …sit down and identify the many things to be done the following day. On a second piece of paper, …list in the order of their priority.”

The next day start at the top of your list and scratch out tasks completed. Moving from top to bottom, you’ll seldom mark out all of them. However, you will form the habit of focusing on the highest priorities!

“Don’t get so busy dribbling that you forget we’re supposed to score.” Phil Jackson

My 5:25 flight out of Nashville was delayed until 6:30, according to the e-mail. Okay, I have more time for my meetings and can head out later than expected.

When I arrived at the airport the enormous departure sign in the concourse indicated that my flight was still scheduled for 5:25.

Ouch! I hadn’t planned for that! I had only twenty minutes to make it through security and get to gate C19, the farthest away!

I ran up to the gate only to see the sign “DELAYED”. Bemused by the contradiction and frustrated by the awkward cowboy boot run through the airport, the smiling lady at the Southwest counter responded, “Those signs are run by the airport. They are not coordinated with the gate.”

“But that is the purpose of the signs,” I responded, “to let people know the latest on when their flight departs.”

Ridiculous, I know! The sign didn’t do the very thing it was designed to do, and no one seemed to even mind. But how often does this happen at our radio stations?

I know of a station that wanted to do a daily fishing report, despite the fact that no one tuned to their station for that. The programming element was disconnected from the very purpose of the radio station.

Likely you’ve run across that with the Saturday night teen show, obituaries, radio dramas for children, or just songs that your listeners don’t like all that much.

What is your station designed to do? How is each feature on your station designed to enhance that experience and add value to your brand?

Successful radio stations are built through listener loyalty as demonstrated by more frequent listening occasions*. That happens only when a station consistently fulfills the listeners’ expectations.

Written from seat 26C. With my boots off!

“Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself.” Donald Miller, “Blue Like Jazz”

Think about the things you love.

I first loved the guitar because my high school buddies Kenny and Wally loved the guitar.

I first loved baseball because my dad loved baseball. In fact, when you ask someone how they became a baseball fan they usually respond by talking about someone else.

I love Mexican food because I’m a Texan. It’s the law.

I first came to faith because it was lived out for me by two people I admired most – my mom and dad. I wanted to be like them. In fact, I still do.

Everyone that listens to your station does so because they love something else. So every effort we make to make them love our radio “stuff” misses the point. It’s like trying to convince a baseball fan to love a team because the bases are 90 feet apart.

It’s not about Hercules and the Chicken Fat People’s new CD or concert tour. It’s not about which artist won what award. It’s not about 52 minutes of continuous music, 5 in a row, fewer interruptions, or more this or less that.

Take a walk through ‪#‎Mypostseason‬ on Instagram. You’ll see very few pictures of baseball players, and even fewer of runs, hits, and errors. What you will see are lots of happy people with their friends celebrating and having a splendid ole time at the ballpark, proudly wearing their team’s gear.

People love your radio station because they love something else. When you figure that out, just stand back and watch people begin to love your station.

“We buy what we buy to remind ourselves – and tell the world around us – who we are. We even choose our service providers based on how closely they mirror the way we would run their company. We’re attracted to reflections of ourselves. A salesperson points out this reflection, “That’s you, isn’t it?” and then gives the intellect the facts it needs to justify the purchase. Win the heart and the mind will follow.” Roy Williams

Pastor Appreciation Month is almost over. Mercifully. Is this really how we describe a once in a lifetime opportunity to love on people who devote their lives to loving on people? Who named it? Ace Hardware?

No other format can touch such a deep place in the heart as ours, and yet we often sound like an IRS manual as we convey data, data, data, about this and that.

I recently heard two consecutive features on one station begin with the giving of the date, “Today is October 26, 2014.” Well, thank you very much. That will be very helpful to me if my desk calendar catches on fire.

There is no promotion so brilliant that it can’t be made utterly ineffective through the presentation of data.

This isn’t just about an esoteric interpretation of messaging. This is about what is effective.

Here’s the deal.

“Research shows when people think analytically they are less likely to think emotionally. The mere act of calculation reduces people’s charity. Once we put on our analytical hats, we react to emotional appeals differently. We hinder our ability to feel.”

In “Made to Stick” Chip and Dan Heath share that the goal of the message is to make people care.

“Feelings inspire people to act. For people to take action, they have to care. To make people care about ideas we get them to take off their Analytical Hats.”

That means we have to move beyond Pastor Appreciation Month and into something that stirs the heart.

Here’s an idea! Let’s turn our current analytical checklist of who, what, where, and why into the beginning of an emotional connection.

‘Who’ becomes “who would enjoy this, too?”

‘What’ becomes “what can I do to help?”

‘Where’ becomes “where else would I rather be?”

And ‘why’ becomes the all important “Why do I care?”

Don’t tell me today’s date and give me more data. Paint me a picture of why I should care.

My recent travels transported me into the middle of a meeting about how to stay competitive in a marketplace of Christian music formats beamed in from, say, Rocklin, California.

Inevitably the phrase “live and local” landed on the conference table like a rock through the window. After several minutes of “we’re better because we live here” navel-gazing, I broke up the ego-fest with questions like, “Does anyone care?” “How does this add value to the listener’s experience?”, and the notorious, “What are you trying to accomplish?”

I hate it when I do that.

The not-thought-out-too-much assumption is that a $7.93 an hour deejay sitting in a chair in zip code 32766 will add value beyond that of Jimmy Fallon. This kind of logic is epidemic in Christian radio and, frankly, gives me the heebeegeebees.

Live and local isn’t a real goal any more than having a red sports car is a goal. It’s merely a means to a goal. (A red sports car really means “I’m not old yet”).

Now don’t take this the wrong way. There’s nothing wrong with being live and local. Some of the snazziest stations I work with embrace this idea. But those stations understand that L&L is simply a means to a goal: to be RELEVANT in a way that is preferable and more meaningful to their listeners. Whether it’s traffic information to help me get my kids to school on time, severe weather coverage to help keep my family safe, or stories about neighbor helping neighbor that reinforces the values of your listeners, live and local is merely a means.

But there is a bigger idea. What we’re really talking about is whether L&L helps your station embrace a frame of reference that connects with your listeners.

For Christian music stations the frame of reference can be described as:

1. We seek a relationship with our Creator, and desire to understand the purpose in our life
2. We understand that our lives are connected to others, and that we will have an impact on our families and communities, and they on us (for better or worse)
3. It is a precious thing to offer hope and inspiration

But that opens a can of worms called STRATEGY best saved for a future Frost Advisory.

So if your station is trying to compete with a format beamed in from, say, Rocklin, California, go ahead: be a good live and local neighbor. Just make sure the things you’re doing are things your listeners actually care about.