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Look, everyone inside our industry bemoans the dearth of creativity within our daily product.

It’s not just the content between the songs; contesting is pretty bland and boring today too.

Most of the more creative types that used to populate radio stations’ programming and content staffs have been weeded out.

They’re expensive.

They’re difficult at times.

And they don’t always play that well with others.

Mostly, the best talent and the most creative minds in every industry have options and they’re not willing to put up with the way Radio works today.

But maybe there’s another reason we hear so few new and fun ideas.

I have never – ever – met a person, a really creative person, whose best ideas come from within the four walls of the radio station.

Yet our industry has created a situation where the employees tasked with providing the non-musical content are so over-scheduled they never have time to sit and quietly reflect, much less take a walk outside the building.

They don’t have time to listen to their own product!

And current management and ownership is ok with that. In fact, they’ve forced that!

Look, if you want your station to sound more fresh, more exciting, more fun, you’ve got to get your creatives out of the building more often.

Not for meetings either. For nothing.

Alone time. Unplanned time.

Time for walking, biking, gardening, whatever personal hobby or activity that reduces stress and leads to a blank, quiet mind, ’cause that’s where the ideas are and that’s when they begin to flow.

I used to swim laps, a mile and a half in 30 minutes during my lunch hour. Until my lunch hour became a lunch half-hour. So I know whereof I speak.

Less is more.

Time to practice what they preached.