Christmas music programming. Is it good or bad? Right or wrong? Hip or stale?

Viewed simply as a programming tactic, programming all Christmas music is about as crazy as it gets. Let’s see, your listeners come to you because you play the music they love – Chris Tomlin, Big Daddy Weave, Hercules and the Chicken Fat People.

Now you’ve decided to stop playing all the music that they love. That’s like ESPN deciding to stop carrying sports. How in the name of Bill Gaither is THAT supposed to be a good idea?

However, viewed as a programming strategy it’s a different thing altogether.

In our format the biggest barrier for growth is that new listeners don’t know the music. Since everyone’s favorite station is the station that plays their favorite music, it’s virtually impossible for someone to become a fan of your station if they don’t know the music. RISK impedes adoption.

RISK is something every business, every product, and every radio station must overcome in the Adoption process.

No one you’ve ever met has said that their favorite hamburger is from McDonalds. And yet McDonalds is the 6th most valuable brand in the world according to Forbes.

How’d that happen? It’s not because they have the best burger, but because they flawlessly deliver a consistent experience whether in Dallas, Dublin, or Dubai. (And their bathrooms are clean, thankyouverymuch!)

In other words, McDonalds has virtually eliminated RISK.

When done well Christmas music programming totally eliminates RISK for a new listener.

I’ll never forget the story told to me by my talented friend Tom Fridley. He spent a season working in the post office, where the dozens of employees went about their business of sorting the mail isolated in their cubicles listening on the headphones to their individual pop, country, rock, or AC station.

But something interesting happened when the Christmas music started. The headphones came off, and everyone in the office listened to one station – the station that played Christmas music.

“There was a time when our community was defined by our neighbors in a geographic sense. Today, our communities are based on shared interests, not shared sidewalks.” Mark Ramsey

Christmas is the largest possible “shared interest” for our format, allowing our stations to become instantly familiar as we connect to Christmas memories, shopping, decorating the tree, the local parade, the neighborhoods with the best Christmas lights, the dynamics of family get togethers, and the church Christmas pageant.

Tactically, programming all Christmas music makes no sense at all.

Strategically, it may the be the most important decision for growth that you’ll ever make.

“Thank you mighty much” were the words Ed shouted as folks left his tiny country grocery store.  Ed appreciated his customers, and everyone walked away with something free.

For the grown ups, it was the Coke machine that wouldn’t take their money.  For the kiddos it was “don’t forget your surprise” as they reached their tiny arms into the large jar of bubble gum.

Every Christmas for the last several years I’ve thrown a few coins into the Salvation Army bucket down the street at the Piggly Wiggly. But not this year. Nope. They’ve changed their bell ringer. The guy standing outside the store ringing the bell is going to be different this season, so I’ve decided not to give.

Ludicrous, isn’t it? Obviously no one would stop donating to the Salvation Army because Bernie replaced Barry at the bucket.

Then why is it that our radio stations hear this type of complaint fairly regularly?

You’ve change programs!

You’ve changed the disc jockeys!

You cancelled Adventures in Odyssey!

You did this ONE thing that I don’t like… so I’m not going to donate to your station anymore!

They are basically saying “you’ve change the bell ringer.”

I know what the Salvation Army stands for. I believe in their cause of helping those who can’t help themselves. My understanding of the vision and purpose of their ministry is far more important to me than who stands outside Winn-Dixie ringing a bell.

Just this week I overheard a listener tell my friend Tyler McKenzie , “I got a mammogram because of you.” Tyler and her friend Ellis are the #1 morning show in their town, and not because they play 5 in a row or they hit the spotsets at the quarter hours.* It’s because they are meaningful, and may have even saved someone’s life.

No one will refuse to go to New York Yankees’ games because Derek Jeter has retired. I reckon no one stopped going to Starbucks because they quit serving the Captain Crunch Frappuccino.

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, you’ll likely hear complaints about the bell ringer because the bigger story isn’t being told.

*There is nothing wrong with tactics that potentially minimize tune out or aid additional listening occasions, but they should not be confused with creating compelling reasons to love your station.

We don’t have enough money! We don’t have enough marketing and research! We don’t have enough people!

Surprise! In more than forty years of being inside tall stations and short stations, successful stations and gonna-be successful stations, I’ve never heard anyone say they had enough stuff!

Every station needs more something! But every station has the same amount of something, too!

Time.

Rather than focusing on what we don’t have perhaps we should consider focusing on making the most of what we do have.

I’ve seen some program directors spend so much time on the on-line forums and Facebook during their workday that I wonder when they have time to actually program their stations. (Answer: They don’t). I’ve seen organizations spend so much time in meetings that they no longer have time to get anything done.

While obviously some meetings are important, Robert Pozen, productivity expert and contributor to the Wall Street Journal, recently wrote that meetings are “the bane of corporate life.” He insists that companies are scheduling far too many of them, failing to maximize that wasted time and – in effect – ignoring the “real” work of getting things done.

In short, meetings are an excellent way to showcase how busy you are, but are a horrific way to let actual productivity slide.

My talented friends at NGEN share their creativity on wasting time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8uqqmJKLv0&list=UUj2caSdz7Y2QW4iIq9gtNyw

Here’s a suggestion on how to make better use of your time, from Jack Kinder in “Breakfast with Ted”:

“At the end of each day, …sit down and identify the many things to be done the following day. On a second piece of paper, …list in the order of their priority.”

The next day start at the top of your list and scratch out tasks completed. Moving from top to bottom, you’ll seldom mark out all of them. However, you will form the habit of focusing on the highest priorities!

“Don’t get so busy dribbling that you forget we’re supposed to score.” Phil Jackson

My 5:25 flight out of Nashville was delayed until 6:30, according to the e-mail. Okay, I have more time for my meetings and can head out later than expected.

When I arrived at the airport the enormous departure sign in the concourse indicated that my flight was still scheduled for 5:25.

Ouch! I hadn’t planned for that! I had only twenty minutes to make it through security and get to gate C19, the farthest away!

I ran up to the gate only to see the sign “DELAYED”. Bemused by the contradiction and frustrated by the awkward cowboy boot run through the airport, the smiling lady at the Southwest counter responded, “Those signs are run by the airport. They are not coordinated with the gate.”

“But that is the purpose of the signs,” I responded, “to let people know the latest on when their flight departs.”

Ridiculous, I know! The sign didn’t do the very thing it was designed to do, and no one seemed to even mind. But how often does this happen at our radio stations?

I know of a station that wanted to do a daily fishing report, despite the fact that no one tuned to their station for that. The programming element was disconnected from the very purpose of the radio station.

Likely you’ve run across that with the Saturday night teen show, obituaries, radio dramas for children, or just songs that your listeners don’t like all that much.

What is your station designed to do? How is each feature on your station designed to enhance that experience and add value to your brand?

Successful radio stations are built through listener loyalty as demonstrated by more frequent listening occasions*. That happens only when a station consistently fulfills the listeners’ expectations.

Written from seat 26C. With my boots off!