Radio Enlightenment

It started by seeing a movie called “Peaceful Warrior.” That led to reading a book by the subject of the movie, Dan Millman titled “Everyday Enlightenment.” It made me ponder if the radio industry might benefit from some of the book’s gateways to personal growth. Let me give it a try. Let me know if any of these things resonate with you.

Discover Radio’s Worth

Running a radio station is about choices. Lots and lots of choices. They include our beliefs, support systems, motivation, relationships, luck and/or karma.

Radio operators that do things that are worthy, have a radio station with a good sense of self-worth. “The moment we recognize the degree to which our difficulties are self-imposed, we begin to heal them,” says Millman.

Reclaim Radio’s Will

The radio industry’s great challenge in a 21^st Century world is turning what we know into what we will do. Of course, it’s easier said than done, but radio’s future depends upon three little words, made famous by Nike, “Just Do It.”

Radio’s “will” might be better labeled radio’s “purpose.” It’s mission.

Once defined by the radio regulators, in a more deregulated world, it is now up to radio operators to clearly define it for their stations.

I remember a Clear Channel managers webinar that was all about focus. Slide after slide after slide introduced more and more things the company wanted its managers to focus on. You can imagine how CC’s senior managers felt when the webinar concluded, and then what didn’t happen.

Find your radio station’s focus. Agree on your property’s priorities, make sure everyone at the station is on the same page and then handle them one at a time.

The Flow of Money

“Self-worth tends to improve with net worth,” says Dan Millman. The biggest radio companies today haven’t led the way in managing their money.

“There’s a certain Buddhistic calm

That comes from having…money in the bank”

-Tom Robbins

Before an advertiser asks “How much do your charge for your spots?” your radio station needs to have first addressed “How much is our time, our services, and our talent worth?” Your answer needs to be honest and realistic and reflect the realities of the marketplace. Then always deliver your client more than their money’s worth. Don’t discount your product, give more service to your advertisers.

“The great decisions of human life

usually have far more to do with instincts

and other mysterious unconscious factors

than with conscious will

and well-meaning reasonableness.

The shoe that fits one person pinches another;

there is no universal recipe for living.

Each of us carries his own life-form within him—

an irrational form which no other can outbid.”

-Carl Jung

Trust Your Intuition

The radio industry is filled with all kinds of data. So much data, it often paralyzes decision making, rather than aides it.

In the days before this information overload, decisions were made on gut instincts.

Throughout recorded time, some of the most heralded scientific discoveries, like those of Archimedes or Einstein, came to be while that person was napping, dreaming, bathing or the like. Only later were these discoveries validated through scientific methods.

When I read George Johns weekly blog, I often come away with a sense that Geo just knew in his gut the right things to do to make every radio station he touched, be a success.

Face Your Fears

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it,” writes Dan Millman.

Some of the articles I write, where I share the latest research about audience trends, that don’t put the radio industry in a positive light, get some very angry responses from people in radio that are filled with fear. Like if we just all bury our collective heads in the sand, the bad news will go away and the sun will come out again and shine down upon radio. That’s not facing your fears.

So, when should you listen to your fears and when should you work to overcome them. If you find yourself in harms way, let your fear guide you to avoid risks and keep you safe. If what you fear is psychological, such as a fear of shame, embarrassment, rejection, and the like, then you need to push through it.

“I have not ceased being fearful,

but I have ceased

to let fear control me.”

-Erica Jong

The way to overcome psychological fear is to take action, action overcomes fear.

Every time I took over a new radio property as its manager, I felt fear. When I began teaching at the university, the first time I stepped in front of a class, I felt fear. When I was invited to do an airshift on 650AM-WSM out of Nashville, after not having been on-the-air in 30-years, I felt fear. But each time, I pushed through the fear by taking action, and just doing it. The fear went away.

“Don’t tell me I can’t do it

until after I’ve done it.”

-Pam Lontos

Serve Your World

“Service is an attitude founded on the recognition that the world has supported you, fed you, taught you, tested you, whether or not your earned it. Understanding this simple truth can move you to do what you can to repay a boundless debt of gratitude. Service is both a means and an end, for in giving to others, you open yourself to love, abundance, and inner peace. You cannot service others without uplifting yourself,” writes Dan Millman.

When I started my radio career, the words, to operate my radio stations in the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity,’ were etched into my soul. Radio was a business, sure. Radio stations, like all businesses, are in business to make a profit. But the radio business also was there to service their community of license, by entertaining them, informing them and coming to their aide in times of need.

“There must be more to life

than having everything.”

-Maurice Sendak

Through your actions, your radio station’s service provides the ultimate means to establish a firm sense of self-worth. It will impact every area of your radio property and enhance the quality of your life.

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

-Robert Byrne