If you’re not familiar with NFL Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson, watch the pregame and halftime shows on Fox. To be brief, Johnson won a National championship in college, then, in just 5 years from starting 1-15, he won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.
He’s also a powerful motivational speaker, and one thing he told a group of athletes several years ago really struck me: “Fatigue…makes cowards of us all.”
What do you see in this picture, taken half a century ago this month?
Some will just see four guys and a lady standing on the curb. Not a very compelling picture, wouldn’t you say, with most of the faces barely visible.
Others will recognize those four lads as the Beatles, but don’t realize the photo’s significance without context.
A few will see this picture for what it really is – a rare shot of The Beatles taken just moments before the photo that was to become one of the most famous album covers in history – Abbey Road, the last album the Beatles recorded.
Well now, how I am going to turn THIS into a Frost Advisory?
Continue reading“They had to choose between him and I.”
No…just no. It was between him and me. “Between he and I” isn’t right either. “He and I applied for the same job. And it came down to that. They had to choose between him and me.” This is called the object of the preposition.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go,’ and he was like, ‘But you have to.'”
The word “like” flies into every conversation like sand at the beach – useless, but people can’t seem to stop it. Try, “I said, ‘I don’t want to go.’ Then he shouted, ‘But you have to!'”
“So…I went to college on a scholarship.” Continue reading
Sitting in a drive-thru will never feel the same to me again.
Did ya know that Chick-fil-A has an entire facility in Atlanta devoted to hatching innovation? In fact, it’s called The Hatch. (It’s terrific when names reflect the possibilities that can happen there. So much better than Building A or Building B, don’tcha think?)
The walls at the Hatch are covered with photos of some of Chick-fil-A’s best customers. What a contrast to a radio station with walls adorned with gold records and photos of artists.
Continue readingWe’ve all heard the station that thinks talking LOUD works, and that people like that.
And we’ve all heard a massive number of air talents that just read stuff off a computer screen with no emotional investment at all. They rattle it off, then move on the next thing.
Shout, Rattle, and Roll.
These things, of course, do nothing for the listener. (Or a client or a sponsor.)
I remember the feeling. I was actually happy to see a yellow school bus.
Despite the fact that my kids were well past the age of taking the school bus seeing one that day was no less meaningful to me.
We were coming out of the pandemic and the yellow school bus was a sign that life was returning to normal. Even with the obvious downside of being caught in slower traffic and my morning commute would be delayed there was a much bigger idea that I could embrace.
The bigger idea transcended the bus’s functional purpose.
Continue readingIn the olden days, there were two factors that were utmost for a radio station to succeed: Reach, and Frequency.
Reach was about the signal. Without a good signal, it was hard to build a bigger audience.
Frequency wasn’t about where on the dial a station was. It was about what are now called listening “occasions” – how often or how long someone chose to listen to you.
It is said that Michelangelo is the greatest influence on western art in the last 500 years. Most of his sculptures, paintings, architecture works, and poetry were in service to the church. When asked how he was able to accomplish his most famous sculpture The Statue of David, he responded simply,
“I just took away everything that didn’t look like David.”
That’s a quote that I often refer to when coaching talent.
Michelangelo lived in a time where most of the art in the world was influenced by the Christian faith. Today, obviously, we live in a much different time. In fact, our faith is virtually absent from culture and the public square. That is, with one exception that perhaps you’ve not thought of.
Continue readingA lot of young people who do want to a career in media aren’t even messing with radio. They only want to work in TV. Or do a podcast.
(Everyone and his dog does a podcast. And the dog usually has the more entertaining one. “Today on Barks and Recreation, we’re ruffing out what new flavor we’d like to see in dog biscuits.”)
Seriously, this is bad for radio, because finding a great air talent these days is already hard enough. We need new people to come in, get trained, and shine. Continue reading