I have a friend named Andy. (Not his real name). He is a disc jockey.

He does disc jockey things. You know, “This Day in History.” Trivia. Shows about favorite pizza. Where the sports teams are playing tonight.

Basically, Andy does the bag of tricks from his previous station. And the one before that. Because of that Andy doesn’t have to work very hard on his show. It sort of does itself.

The problem is our listeners don’t listen to us for that. His content not only DOESN’T add value (the very purpose of content), it is actually an interruption in meeting the expectation of the listeners.

We had to help Andy change the way he thought about his show.

“Andy, your show should be designed to encourage people, to give them a sense of community and shared experience. Your show is about right here, right now. Your show should feel like eavesdropping on a conversation with friends. Your show is about escaping the negativity and celebrating the best of who we can be.

So, Andy, go do THAT show.”

“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”

Buckminster Fuller

BTW, Mr. and Ms. program director, your station needs to be THAT, too!