“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?

There will be those in our format that will push back from my observations that follow because Eric Church is not specifically a Christian music artist. I get that. (Oh, the irony that Church is his name).

That friction is likely from a perspective that our format is fundamentally about the Christian music industry, not that that our format is about the message, articulated by numerous talented musicians, songwriters, and on air personalities. (One tends to attract a smaller audience while the other has the potential to attract a much larger audience).

If you’ve yet to see his remarkable commencement speech at UNC Chapel Hill this might be a good time to do so. I’ll wait.

I saw an amazing thing on Sunday.

Hundreds of millionaire professionals willingly gave up a tool of their trade and replaced it with something that on any other day, in any other circumstance, would subject them to ridicule and harassment from their co-workers.

They wore pink.

“Everyone’s favorite radio station is the station that plays their favorite music.”

I cleverly put this sentence in quotes because it is the first thing I say when talking to a station. After more than two decades in our format I can honestly say that NO ONE understands this fully at the beginning of the journey. However, all understand it later. If they are successful.

Why does this matter?

Last week I had the unique opportunity to share success principles of our format with some media executives whose background is exclusively mainstream radio. It was a “Dear younger me” moment as I reflected on my now-27 years in our format.

If I only knew then what I know now.

The launch of Artemis II was a really big deal in Florida where I live. After all, it was the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo program before most of us were even in high school.

They estimate that almost half a million folks watched in person from the Space Coast. The launch could be seen in backyards and roadways all the way from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach and throughout Central Florida.

Everyone was talking about it. (The photo is of a rocket launch seen from my front yard).

Rarely do you hear guys brag about their urologist. Based upon the bumpy road I’ve had the last several years in that medical department I’m eager to brag on mine. (I’m fine now. Thanks for asking).

My recent annual exam went swimmingly wrapping up with “the glove.” In the man-to-man chit chat that ensued I awkwardly asked, “How can you do this procedure every day of your life?”

Rumor has it that there are more “religious” radio stations than any other format category. Rumor also whispers that those religious stations have fewer listeners than any other. I don’t like those rumors.

But having been involved in the CCM format for more than 25 years I suggest that there is something we might learn from Easter.

What do you see in this picture?

Some will just see four guys and a lady standing on the curb. Not a very compelling picture, either, with the faces of the lady and the guy in the blue jean jacket not even visible.

Others will recognize those four lads as the Beatles, but don’t realize the photo’s significance without the context of when it was taken.