When I checked out of my hotel I told the desk clerk, “You may want to have someone check the thermostat in my room. I never could get the room to warm up on the chilly night.”

I shared that the thermostat had numerous functions that made the simple process of making the room warmer almost impossible to figure out.

The desk clerk replied, “Yeah, that remote is pretty complicated.”

Is your radio station complicated? Is it NOT easy to listen to?

Research has shown that the brain actually burns additional calories when it has to concentrate or try to filter out extraneous noise. So this idea that your listeners have to literally work harder to listen to your station when it is noisy and cluttered isn’t just conceptual.

It’s biological.

So what makes a radio station easy to listen to?

The music is familiar, melodic, and emotional.

The content is relevant, interesting, and adds value to the listener’s life. It doesn’t waste your listeners’ time. At radio stations that operate at a higher level the content is often transformative; with the potential to transform someone’s mood, attitude, or perspective. (Stand by for a future Frost Advisory on this topic alone).

Amazon’s revenues skyrocketed when they implemented their One Click functionality. Simply by making the process simple they have transformed their business.

It may be time to de-clutter your station. Take away everything that doesn’t illuminate your station’s purpose and connect with your listener’s life.

If you want to make your station more effective, make it simpler.