We radio folk love to connect the dots. Even dots that don’t connect.
The CHR in town plays 21 currents and their share went up. Let’s do that!
They have a red-headed female on middays and they won Station of the Year! We should do that, too!
We have new jingles! That must be why our cume went up! (Consider the illogical correlation of non-listeners’ behavior being affected by something they don’t hear).
I commonly hear otherwise smart radio folks confuse correlation with causation.
The GM loves that new one hour Saturday morning fishing show and the station’’s ratings go up. Better prepare yourself for his next brilliant programming idea!
The more emotionally invested in a concept or feature the less likely we are to discern its causality. Just because two things occur together does not mean that one caused the other, even if it seems to make sense.
Need to prove something you already believe? All you need are two graphs and two events.
“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
We’re never successful because of all the things we do. Often we’re successful in spite of them.
