One guess:
I’ve worked with GMs who expect their PDs to do weekly air check sessions with station talent.
These sessions are almost always scheduled on the same day of the week, and there’s a formality to them that tends to lessen their impact.
If you think back on your own professional — or even personal — life, you will realize that the best feedback you’ve received, no matter who was giving it, has been unexpected.
Whether positive: “That bit with the mom teaching her 4 year-old the national anthem was so cute! I was still smiling about it 10 minutes later!”
Or negative: “Way too long. You raced right by three great payoffs.“
Unexpected feedback has a chance to impact because we’re not feeling defensive before it’s delivered, and that defensiveness in expectation of criticism automatically lessens effectiveness in communication.
Honestly, not enough PDs and GMs actually listen to their own stations much today but this kind of unexpected feedback almost requires heavy listening if you’re going to practice it often.
If you can’t stand to listen to your own station, that’s a totally different problem.
Find something you loved about what you heard today and pop into an office or a studio, or leave a hand-written note telling the air talent specifically why you liked it.
I think you’ll find that this kind of feedback achieves more real improvement in content than the formal critique sessions you may now be using.