I met a new friend during the pandemic. His name is Marvin. He’s a very skilled general contractor who helped us remodel during COVID, a time that was a challenge for hiring folks if you remember.

We learned a lot from Marvin. As the homeowner I had a sense of things I would enjoy. But Marvin, being the professional with far more experience, was able to connect the dots and see beyond the emotion of the idea that we thought was neato.

He was able to guide us on those things that added value to our enjoyment and the longer term value of our property.

Thanks to Marvin I was reminded of the core essence of the programming of a radio station. Each element needs to ADD value.

For a music station it begins with the music. That means that every song you play has to ADD value. The songs that add the greatest value are the songs that have the most value; the ones that are most loved.

For everything else it is about the value of that which interrupts the music. On one hand we can argue that if people come to us for music we should never interrupt it. On the other hand, if we don’t add value beyond the music there is no reason to choose our station over Pandora and Spotify.

It’s the difference between a commodity and a brand.

Successful radio is, and always has been, about a shared experience with those with common values.

“Success is a by-product of creating value. Happiness is a by-product of creating value. Significance is a by-product of creating value. Fulfillment is a by-product of creating value.”