If you and I made a list of things that make a radio station ordinary we’d likely come up with the same list.
That’s the thing about ordinary. There is no surprise. There is no delight.
Consistency is good.
Predict abil ity is not.
Consistency allows fulfilling expectations, delivering on promises, being dependable.
Predictability does things the same way, defaults to monotonous patterns, and ignores the transformative power of creativity.
“While a speaker… arranges his words into understandable sentences, the listener … anticipates and discounts the predictable.”
Roy Williams
Predictable is why we no longer see a billboard we’ve passed for weeks. It’s the reason our mind starts to wander when Uncle Virgil tells the same story over and over. It’s the reason ordinary radio stations can’t capture our attention, much less our hearts.
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