Monthly Archives: November 2014

Motivation

High achievers are motivated by more than just financial compensation. Sure, a good sized paycheck is a motivator, but there are many people in this industry that are well paid and still miserable. Author Daniel Pink wrote a great book on this very subject called “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.” In it, […]

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Hot and Cold Radio Stations

There’s nothing worse than a “cold” radio station. You know the kind I’m talking about. Sure, the imaging is super-clean. The music may be good. The jocks are probably tight and do a great job promoting the upcoming contest. The promos are well produced and slick. But the station has no soul. It’s just an […]

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Finding Radio’s “Why?”

I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek. In his book “Start With Why,” Sinek proposes that the best and most innovative companies and leaders have a strong sense of purpose, or “why”. And much of the success of the most innovative companies is due to their leaders abilities to inspire through clearly communicating the “why” […]

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Your Own Transmitter

According to his employer’s website, Dan Thorn took the path that many others do who want to be on TV. He earned his degree in Broadcast Journalism from Brooklyn College. He interned at a couple of New York City TV stations before landing a starter job in production in upstate New York. Eventually he was […]

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Your True Calling

I admit it. I’m a sucker for those YouTube clips from shows like America’s Got Talent, X-Factor, etc, where you see an awkward looking misfit who  works the fast-food window as their day job get up on stage and the judges all roll their eyes as if they just KNOW it’s going to suck – […]

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If Steve Jobs were a Program Director

If Steve Jobs were a Program Director, you can bet that he would pay attention to every detail of his radio station. Every sweeper, every segue, every break would be meticulously designed. He would hire interesting and unusual people that actually had something to say. Not mindless drones that recite contest times and bark for […]

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Announcers versus Personalities

In all the years I’ve programmed radio, I’m not sure that I ever hired an on-air “announcer” – I’m not even sure what that title means or why ANYBODY would have the need for one. I’ve always searched for personalities. Even when I’ve hired a station imaging voice, I never wanted a professional “announcer” to […]

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Budget Season

I used to dread budget season when I was a RVP of Programming at one of the big companies… mostly because it never made sense to me. The process would usually start with corporate sending out a spreadsheet asking me to outline the on-air lineup station-by-station, and whether or not the shift was “live” or […]

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True Listener Control

There have been several attempts to do “listener controlled radio” over the past few years. Most have involved using some type of app to vote on what song should be next, and allowing listeners to somewhat program the radio station. Of course, there were always controls put on to prevent too much listener manipulation of […]

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Quality versus Quantity

Money shouldn’t be the goal – money is the reward you get for ACHIEVEMENT OF the goal. When you stop to think about how many successful companies understand this – big brands like Apple,  Google, Jet Blue, etc, you also quickly recognize how few radio companies understand this principle.  It’s a rare owner that will […]

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