I couldn’t believe my eyes. The sign on the door said CLOSED. Our favorite Mexican food restaurant back home has closed its doors.

It would be easy to assume that the food went downhill, the service got worse, and the mariachis started singing “La Bamba” off key. But none of those things happened.

The restaurant stayed the same, but everything around them changed. Ironically, it was a victim of being in a neighborhood that was booming. Apartments and office buildings sprouted up all around hiding the restaurant from ravenous fajita-hunting motorists. Trendy new restaurants made what was hidden easily forgettable.

The same thing can happen to your radio station.

“We haven’t changed a thing” may not a good alibi if things have changed around you.

It’s easy to think that our relationship with listeners and donors is the same from one day to the next. From the world of electronic measurement (PPM) we’ve learned there is no guarantee that a P1 (fan) this week will be a P1 next week.

In a world of choice people choose, and those choices are affected by any number of factors including mood, summer vacation, world cup soccer, traffic on the way to work, or the 4th of July white sale at Sears.

“People don’t trade money for things when they value their money more highly than they value the things.” Roy Williams

And they only value what is top of mind and relevant to their lives.
The top performing stations know they have to create awareness every day. They have to cut through the clutter every day. They have to earn listeners’ loyalty every day. They have to tell their story every day.

Having the best Mexican food in town doesn’t guarantee success if people have forgotten that you’re even there.