What a waste!

 “When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles which have hag-ridden us for two hundred years, by which we have exalted some of the most distasteful of human qualities into the position of the highest virtues. We shall be able to afford to dare to assess the money-motive at its true value. The love of money as a possession — as distinguished from the love of money as a means to the enjoyments and realities of life — will be recognized for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity, one of those semi-criminal, semi-pathological propensities which one hands over with a shudder to the specialists in mental disease.”

That is a quote from John Maynard Keynes.

It seems out of touch with our reality. We live during an era of massive greed with the race on to see which individual can reach a trillion dollar net worth first.

For years, we’ve measured our success by how much we earned, the kind of home and car we could afford, and we didn’t really care all that much about the “how.”

But more and more, people today do not want to be a cog in a big machine.

We don’t want to be an anonymous, interchangeable voice that can be replaced without any listener noticing.

And it seems more and more that is where consolidated Radio is taking us.

Radio has become an assembly line. Insert this liner here, that ad there. Follow the music scheduling and shut up.

And that provides a huge opportunity for the first radio company that understands many of us, perhaps most of us, especially the younger the talent, want to leave their mark on the world.

We want to have a purpose. We want our work to have more meaning than a simple transaction of time for money.

I believe the more talented the worker, the more important this becomes.

And I believe we will see at least one radio group start to act upon this need, maybe not this year and maybe not our largest groups.

But there is an entrepreneurial owner, or former owner, out there paying attention, contrarian by nature, who will see the opportunity and seize it.

So, don’t despair. Keep on doing your best work. Keep honing your skills.

Someone will notice.

Talent always stands apart. Always.