Amen

Steve Allan created the best OLDIES station in America not that long ago.

WBIG won a Marconi and lots of other awards. More importantly, it won the hearts of enough listeners to make the long-estabished OLDIES leader in DC quit the format shortly after WBIG’s debut.

This was before PPM, and WBIG was still #1. Imagine what it’s cume would be today?

As I was a small part in this creation, I know how Steve built this brand. Everyone who had a part in the on-air product brought a personal passion, an enthusiasm for entertaining listeners that literally blew the competition away.

Listeners could hear the difference, every time they tuned in.

Here’s the thing though: Steve didn’t set out to create a great OLDIES station.

He wanted to create a radio station that was entertaining every time the mic was cracked.

He wanted to create a station that would become part of its listeners’ lives, that would make a difference every day, that would connect at the emotional level, not just the cognitive one.

He didn’t care what other OLDIES programmers thought. He didn’t care what most of the consultants who pitched him thought. Because they weren’t trying to create the same station he heard in his head.

Steve sent me the link to Content is Crap. It’s worth your time if you hope to create something unique, something special.

The one take-away: “True emotional connections come from passion and passionate people are committed not because they’ve made a strategic choice, but because they have answered a calling and never felt like they had a choice.”

Do you see yourself in that line?
Do you see your station in that line?
Do you see your company in that line?

Radio needs more passion and less cost-factored analysis. That is obvious.

Perhaps you need to find a place that will honor your calling, reward your passion, and strive for true connection more than one or two days a year.

It’s much harder to find them now. You have to search for today’s Steve Allans. But it’s worth it, for you and for your calling.