Frost Advisory #186 – Stick Out Your Tongue and Say ‘Aahhh’

The beginning of a new calendar is traditionally a time to reflect on the previous year and make some decisions on what you’ll change so that you’ll have different and, hopefully, better results.

Losing weight, stopping smoking, and equipping your skills for a better job are fairly common New Year’s Resolutions.

I think that the beginning of a new year is also an appropriate time for the annual check up of your station’s music architecture to determine if it’s actually doing what you want it to.

The story is told that Vince Lombardi began every training camp with the words, “Gentlemen, this is a football!” Likewise, here are some basics at a very tactical and execution level:

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Frost Advisory #185 – Funeral for a Friend, Part Two

In last week’s Frost Advisory #184 – Funeral for a Friend, Part One, I shared my recent experience of attending the funeral of a friend and seeing his very own words projected onto large video screens. Despite the bumpy road in last days of his life journey those ten-foot tall words (“You’ve never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to Jesus”) still conveyed truth.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who pondered how my own words would be remembered.

I also thought about the words people hear from our stations. What words define us? What words do people remember? What words have meaning?

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Frost Advisory #184 – Funeral for a Friend, Part One

I lost a friend this week. He was only 36.

I didn’t want to go to his funeral. But I’m glad I did. Really glad.

My friend was a gifted communicator and his very words were projected onto large screens to the thousands at his service. Some of the words I had never heard before, but some were so familiar to me that, frankly, I didn’t really realize that those were first his.

I then began to think about my own words. Are my words ones that lift others up and, as was said of my friend, show that I see “the butterfly in the caterpillar”?

Then I began to think about the words people hear from our stations. What words define us? What words do people remember? What words have meaning?

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Frost Advisory #183 – Who Am I?

There are lots of bad radio stations out there. Fortunately, there are also more than a couple of good ones.

At the good stations listeners hear who they are. At the bad ones listeners are faceless and passive audiences that are seldom even considered. (I’ve found that these are the stations where you can’t even hear the station. But don’t get me started.)

Inevitably the less we consider the listeners the fewer of them there are to consider.

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Frost Advisory #182 – Thanksgiving Thoughts on Encouraging the Encouragers

The Frost Advisory this week is a departure from the usual thoughts on how to make your radio station better. Instead I’d like to take this moment during Thanksgiving week to encourage you in the important work you do at your radio station.

I’m told that the word “encouragement” literally means to pour courage into. This word appears over 100 times in the New Testament.

Despite announcing some games for the St. Louis Cardinals over the years I never met Darryl Kile; but I wish I had. He was a pitcher for the Redbirds when he died suddenly at age 33 prior to a game at Wrigley Field. His teammates were so stunned by the loss that the game was postponed.

The tributes began almost immediately.

“When Darryl Kile showed up at the ballpark each day, he did so with an agenda – it was actually written out, too – that identified who he would seek out to encourage that day. His hope was that the attention would make someone better, that his love would make a difference.”

There is an old saying,

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”

My how-I-got-into-radio story is unique because it came about as an indirect result of the death of a friend. After sharing my story someone gave me words of encouragement I’ll never forget.

“You went to the radio station to get bad things off the air and to put good things on,” she said, “and you still do.”

Thousands and thousands of people are encouraged by your station each day.

Sometimes we need to step back and encourage the encourager.