I was driving down the freeway this weekend, and I saw a car with a sticker in the window that read “Proud parent of a U.S. Marine.”

Being the patriotic sort, I gave the driver a thumbs up as I passed to show my support! She glanced my way, then just as quickly turned away assuming, no doubt, that I was wacky in traffic nutbucket.

Suffice it to say that the “Proud parent of a U.S. Marine” sticker was on her car but it wasn’t on her mind. It makes sense, really. We’re busy.

Your radio station is like that.

Lost in the busyness of our day is what is most obvious to the listener. The very reason people tune to us in the first place becomes secondary in a day filled with meetings, e-mails, interruptions, and agendas.

I’ve been inside stations where no one was paying attention to what was coming out of the speakers.

Apathy produces no fruit.

When we make our programming decisions without prioritizing why people listen in the first place we ever so subtly build silos where personal agendas trump listener-focused strategy, and the crankiest critic’s voice overwhelms that of the typical listener.

The one e-mail complaint overrides the 99% from which we never hear. Subjective terms like “fresh,” “stale,” “hip,” or “cool” permeate our vocabulary, rather than objective concepts such as “familiar,” “favorite,” “relevant,” or “today.”

Like the bumper sticker on the car of the mom of the Marine, your station is sending a signal of what you’re proud of. Successful stations deliberately link that to what is most meaningful to the listener!