When we radio people talk about programming do you know what tends to come up? It’s the stuff. Clocks. New music. Rotations. Liners. Commercial breaks. Traffic reports. Stuff that fits ever so nicely on a spread sheet.

Well, I have news for you. Good news, in fact. Your station has a secret weapon. And it’s not any of that stuff.

It’s people.

It’s simple, really.*

In a short burst of clarity and creativity, I’ve come up with The World’s Simplest Checklist for a really swell radio station. (Believe me they only come to me in short bursts).

Grab your #2 pencil and count up your points!

Unfortunately, ours is a format where most people in our town don’t know the music nor have a favorite song. That’s a real dilemma since the foundation of every successful music format is hits and stars.

Fortunately, the music in our format can be life transforming. Every listener has a story. Every person at your radio station has a story. And there is no such thing as an unfamiliar story if it gives perspective that God is in our story.

I’m told that the United States of America was born 250 years ago with a Declaration of Independence, and a subsequent Bill of Rights for all citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But as Americans we know that with rights comes responsibility.

So it is for your radio station.

The celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday is a powerful lesson of focus, shared values, and emotional connection.

Over the last three plus decades, I’ve served as a semi-professional public address announcer for major league spring training and minor league baseball. That’s lots and lots and lots of dizzy bat races, dirtiest cars in the parking lot, and “Take Me out to the Ballgames”!

Do you know what I enjoy most?

What can we learn from Father’s Day?

While Father’s Day may not be as dominant a topic on your radio station as Global Belly Button Day, which falls later this week (“I’m not making this up,” as Dave Barry would say), when we share stories of those whose actions and attitudes we aspire to be, we communicate a core value of our brand.

“People like us do things like this.”

Seth Godin

It’s the essence of programming. Every 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.

But here is the 800-pound programming paradox:

This may be the simplest Frost Advisory you’ve ever read. But simplest doesn’t mean easiest.

I’ve learned that every bad radio station has three things in common:

1. They take too long to do stuff
2. The stuff they do isn’t very interesting or meaningful
3. They take too long to do stuff

I reckon’ you see this played out in your radio station every day.

“Off air,” the TV schedule indicated. “No programming scheduled at this time,” the box on the lower left read. It was 7:30pm. Prime time, I think they call it.

I recently attended a major league baseball game where the concession stands on the third base side were all closed. If you wanted to give them your money there was no one there to take it, presumably the very reason they were there in the first place.

Memorial Day weekend is a time to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Maybe, just maybe, there is a lesson that can apply to the legacy of your radio station.

How will your radio station be remembered?