We’re living in unprecedented times. COVID-19. Lockdowns. Racial unrest. Will our kids be going back to school?

If you simply look at each isolated event you could reason that your station isn’t about those things. Not if you think of your station as just unfamiliar music by artists people don’t know.

It depends on your perspective.

Simply stated, strategy is about the big idea: why do we exist? What do we stand for? What difference are we making? It is our format’s greatest strength, but often what is done least effectively.

Tactics are about the stuff that gets you there. Too many stations evaluate tactics by looking in the rear view mirror: we’ve never done this before.

If your station’s best days are ahead of you, it will likely result from the things you’ve never done before.

“Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”

Miyamoto Musashi, legendary Japanese swordsman

Understanding strategy versus tactics is like understanding the forest from the trees. When we think of others we see the forest. When we think of ourselves we get lost in the trees.