Life gives us many challenges.
Sometimes, the hardest thing to decide is when to stick to something and when to let it go.
Traditional media – print, radio and television – are at that moment now. Do they stay the course and hope the “good old days” will come back, or do they let it go and begin inventing and innovating for the future?
Indiana Jones
In 1989, the third Indiana Jones movie was released. The film was a wonderful parable about what’s really important in life. Parables, as you may know, are simple stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.
In this film, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” the parable told is about what happens when greed overpowers the soul.
Indy and his dad are searching for the Cup of Christ, the Holy Grail. When Indiana finally holds the treasured bounty in his hands, he is faced with a life or death choice. Does he hold on to the cup or use both hands to save his life, for you see Indiana is in a rather precarious position on the edge of a cliff and can’t do both.
Indy’s father whispers, “Let It Go.”
Radio
2020 for the commercial radio industry is a milestone year. It marks the 100th birthday of an innovation that forever changed the world.
Like Indiana Jones, radio needs to decide, should it hold on to the past or let it go.
Back to Our Movie
After the senior Jones asks his son to “Let It Go,” you can see the terrible anguish on Indy’s face. Both father and son have spent a lifetime searching for the Holy Grail and now Indiana has it firmly in his grasp. To let go of the cup would seem to have made their life’s quest meaningless.
Indiana’s father now says more firmly, “Indiana, Let It Go!” And this time he does.
Movie audiences gasped.
The Lesson
In the end, the father and son journey was never about possessing the Holy Grail. It was about the importance of spending time together, of taking on a challenge that one of them could not do alone, and by building a stronger relationship. The true meaning of life is never about the things we can possess, but about the relationships we can build.
Radio strength was always about the people creating the magic and not about the delivery system. Unfortunately, the radio industry’s leaders held on to the “cup” instead of its people.
For radio, the really valuable prize is the relationship it can have with a radio listener, and its ability to bring together businesses and services for the betterment of a community.
Is there still time for radio to make this change?
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