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“Great companies have something in common: they don’t try to matter by winning. They win by mattering“

“The people who build them know what they stand for and act on those beliefs. What they think, say and do are always in alignment. Their story is consistent.”

Though it may not seem true at first glance “…no (radio station) ever died from a shortage of attention. Companies and ideas fail because of a lack of resonance with the people they seek to serve.“

“You need to give them a reason (to listen and) to be loyal to your brand (to listen every day!) rather than a hundred reasons why you’re better than the competition.”

Radio programmers today don’t like to hear that. And they hate being blamed for what we hear!

It may not be their fault. Most are over-worked, under-resourced puppets doing what they’re told to do.

We can pin the tail on the CEO donkey if that makes us feel better, for the truth is “…leaders have to take responsibility when things go wrong, even if they were not directly involved in the wrongdoing: they helped create a culture where people believed that the wrong thing was the right thing to do.“

Creating massive debt to build huge radio companies was the wrong thing to do.

Putting investment bankers and Wall Street pundits in the product process was the wrong thing to do.

Slashing creatives from the experience listening to Radio produces was the wrong thing to do.

Attempting to excise all potential tune-out by restricting non-musical content to an endless barrage of 7-second pre-recorded liners was the wrong thing to do.

Over-commercializing every hour of the prime time listening day was the wrong thing to do.

Top down programming and management decisions were the wrong things to do.

The result is that radio is now led by people who believe we must adapt “…our story according to what (they believe) most people want to hear.”

That is IF they think about the listeners, the listening experience, at all.

They’ve gone “…off in search of an angle that will attract the most attention…(rather than devoting) enough time and resources to (creating a product) that (consistently) resonates with the right people.”

Those are the people who will spread the gospel of our brand to every one they interact with and that only happens when we create a listening experience that cannot be duplicated by Spotify or Apple Music or your competition across the street.

All quotes above are taken from a really good book by Bernadette Jiwa: Story Driven: You Don’t Need To Compete When You Know Who You Are.

Now our work is to find an owner willing to try a different way.