We added a new jingle package and our ratings went up!

We ran that new promotion and our ratings went down.

I know of a general manager that wanted to change the shifts of the deejays based upon weekly or monthly ratings. I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP, as Dave Barry would say.

Our minds crave simplicity. We crave the Silver Bullet.

“People are drawn to black and white opinions because they are simple, not because they are true. Truth demands serious effort and thought.”

Donald Miller

Just this week I found out a friend’s middle name is the same as my first name. But wait… wait… there’s more!

We also discovered that my middle name is the same as his first name. We’ve known and worked together for most of ten years and we never knew.

How do your listeners get a sense that your station has lots of listeners? Because they hear lots of listeners. It’s like an audio version of a crowd shot.

Trust me. I’m going somewhere with this.

In their book “Made to Stick,” Chip and Dan Heath share the story of a newspaper with a remarkable 100% circulation rate: everyone in his small town reads it. The publisher’s country wisdom was simple: “Names, Names, Names,” reasoning that people read his newspaper because they wanted to see their own names (or someone else’s).

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that the church is known more for what it is against than what it is for.

“A business is no longer what it tells customers it is. A business is what customers tell other customers it is.”

In his book “Know What You’re For,” Jeff Henderson recommends that you consider the gap between these two questions:

1. What do you want to be known for?
2. What are you known for?

The gap between the two answers will illuminate how your station moves from a transactional relationship with your listeners to one that is more relational.

They say there are more “religious” radio stations than any other format category. They also say those religious stations have fewer listeners than any other. Having worked in the format for more than twenty years now I’ve believe the reason is fairly obvious.

A radio station cannot grow unless it is designed to grow. And that requires a different kind of thinking. Strategic thinking.

A growth strategy is one that incorporates big picture concepts such as:

• Why does the radio station exist?
• Who are our listeners?
• What do they desire and expect from our station?
• Who and where are other people like them?