They say it is easy to parent someone else’s kids. It’s not so easy to parent your own.

It’s a great privilege for me to be inside many of the most successful stations in the country throughout the year. One of my favorite sessions to do is what I call “Bring your Best” where we order Whataburgers and Yoo-hoos for the entire air staff and bring them together for one huge coaching session.

Sure, it’s a little awkward at first, (after all, no songwriter wants to hear you didn’t like his new song), but I’ve found it quickly transforms into a team of like-minded people working together on their craft. Frankly, some of the best times of our lives have been when we’re a part of a team effort for a singular purpose.

I don’t mean to brag but… I once had a 64 share. I was the young, long-haired afternoon disc jockey on the Big Station in West Texas that had about 2/3 of all cows, chickens, and tumbleweeds listening.

To be honest, we didn’t have a lot of competition and we had the franchise elements – a huge 5,000 watt signal, Paul Harvey news, the farm report, and, e-gad, high school football.

In Florida where I live everyone is watching the Weather Channel. In bars, restaurants, in the next-door neighbors’ sun porch, Jim Cantore and Stephanie Abrams are more recognizable than the governor. (Is it still Jeb Bush?)

There is a lesson here.

It’s our biggest mistake. It is also our greatest opportunity.

“We’re attracted to art when it stands for something we believe in, shows us a reflection of our own values, gives us a glimpse of our own inner face.”

Roy Williams

We have unwittingly created a format that is disconnected from the world outside the radio station’s windows. We are a sports station that doesn’t root with the fans going to the game. We are an alternative rock station that doesn’t reflect the latest craze, the clubs and the crazies. We’re a country station that doesn’t sing about girls and guys and guitars.

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.

“Your July memories” pops up on my Facebook timeline.

“One year ago” pops up. Then “5 years ago.” Then “two months ago last Thursday.”

In radio we call this “recycling.” In social media vernacular it’s about keeping the conversation going. Facebook is all about engagement, so they create prefabricated milestones designed to prompt you to engage.

What do we want them to say?