The Five Rules Of Flow (Part 1)

Your radio station's final, polished sound - the overall experience that is shared by each of your listeners - is ultimately executed by one person on your staff.

It may not be who you first suspect.

Possibly more than the station manager, program/content director, or any member of the board of directors, it is the person who creates your station's daily music logs that establishes the true sound of your station. In the course of what they do every day, they will inevitably imprint their personality and preferences into your listeners' experiences. Of those in our industry given this sacred privilege, the very best among us are able to wrestle the nearly impossible clash of science, art and organizational strategy into something that is objectively and quantifiably excellent. They accomplish the strategic goals of the station while also crafting a radio station that is doggone fun to listen to.

As Jim Collins might say, they embrace the 'Genius of the AND'. Your station doesn't need to be creative OR consistent. It doesn't need to be strategic OR fun. It can be creative AND consistent, strategic AND fun. Great music schedulers know how to embrace this tension, reject what Jim Collins calls the 'Tyranny of the OR' and make something that is really more than the sum of its parts. Ideally, every music log should itself be a piece of art; every member of management should be excited to sign their names at the bottom of this masterpiece playlist.

Perhaps most vitally to radio's future; I propose that the human touch in creating your daily playlist gives your radio station a unique and permanent advantage over the algorithms of streaming services. This process is simply not scalable for a company that serves millions of unique audio streams each minute. It's why your mom's slow-cooked spaghetti sauce always tasted better than the canned stuff. You have the opportunity to create something that satisfies your listeners in ways algorithms never will. Even the best AI (currently) has a long way to go to match the human heart's ability to create Flow.

It all comes down to Flow. Flow is paramount. If your station has it, people will be drawn to the sound of your station in an unconscious, irresistible way. If you don't, your listeners won't be thrilled with your product, and there's no perceptual question in the world that will help them put their finger on the reason why. Station programmers and managers that are ignorant of Flow have a potentially fatal blind spot. Flow is the vital element, the key aspect that always stands backstage, and yet is the puppet-master that pulls the strings of everything the listener feels.

For audio, a good working-definition is that Flow is the multi-layered sense of satisfaction that comes from listening to a series of sonic elements that are progressively more satisfying the longer you listen.

Much of this is subconscious. Flow is not just about the choice of the elements themselves - it's also about the order in which they're exposed to the listener. Composers of great symphonies understand Flow, just like the top electronic music DJ's who create singular experiences meant to last for hours. Stepping beyond audio, great filmmakers understand Flow. You'll find Flow in masterfully landscaped botanical gardens, or while touring the finest architectural designs. If broadcast radio will survive the onslaught of pure-play streaming services, we must become dedicated students of this universal phenomenon.

Flow is like a good Indian curry. Or, if you'd rather, it's like a good Texas chili. It isn't confined to any one flavor or experience. There are some basic principles, but there are nearly infinite expressions of it. There is no one right recipe for Flow, but there are some general rules that will help you find the right Flow for your station. In fact, I propose that there are 5 Universal Rules of Flow. In this series of articles, we'll address one Rule at a time. And like any good radio broadcaster, I'll tease the next Rule at the end of each article. Stay tuned.

RULE ONE OF FLOW: THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE HEARING RIGHT NOW ARE INFLUENCED BY THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST HEARD.

This first Rule of Flow is probably the easiest for us to grasp. It's often 'Music Director 101' sort of stuff. It applies to tempo and power, texture, musical key, and (especially for Christian stations) subject matter.

Let's begin with the listener turning on your station for the very first time - that beautiful 'moment of Genesis'.

Think about the life of your listener. Think about their daily routines, their energy levels at various parts of that daily routine. Think about how those daily routines impact their emotional and spiritual states. Then, consider the emotions you wantthem to feel when they first tune into your station. What is the desired change? Do you want them to be energized, or relaxed? Do you want them to be encouraged or simply validated? Do you want them to be taken from their routine to another place, or would you rather meet them where they are and reflect their situation back to them? Maybe you'd like them to have each of these experiences at different points in the day. There are no wrong answers here. But these questions do need defined answers if you want effective (and strategic) Flow.

Of course, what I'm really getting at in this point is ultimately Add Selection. Since every song on your station could be that first 'moment of Genesis' song, every one of them should support the Flow you're trying to establish, and they should be scheduled in a place within the day that supports their reason for being in the playlist. There should be no songs that swing outside of that goal. You have quite a bit of room for variation of texture, tempo, and musical key... but when it comes to the overall emotional impact, you need to stay consistent - and this impact should ultimately be communicated throughout your branding. This first step may become clearer as we discuss the next step.

That first song has ended, and the next song has begun. Where will you take them next?

Let's first use a reverse-barometer to help us find our overall direction. Generally, we know that there are many ways we can distract from your station's listening experience. This is like a waiter at a fine restaurant delivering your favorite dish, but as he gently sets it in front of you, you see that he's carelessly shoved his thumb into the potatoes. Similarly, heavy-handed dramatic clashes of tempo and power can shatter Flow. Playing Tobymac's 'Feel It' followed by Laura Story's 'Blessings' would be a distracting clash. For the most part, we have much more leeway in accelerating tempo and power than we do in decelerating it (however, matching or resolving musical keys can help cushion this impact. If you haven't yet coded your music library for musical key, I highly recommend you do so. Contact me if I can help). The reverse order of 'Blessings' into 'Feel It' may actually be a fun transition, depending on what you're trying to accomplish with your station Flow. But slamming the brakes on your Flow brings the listener out of your experience; it snaps them out of the Flow.

But just as dramatic clashes can be a problem, too much consistency of tempo, power, sub-genre or subject matter can also eventually lead to poor Flow. For example, in CCM, we currently have a common male vocalist sound. Jeremy Camp, Mark Hall and Mac Powell all have a fairly similar 'deep and gruff' vocal projection. If you play two songs in a row from these vocalists, your listener may not even recognize that the song has changed (especially if they are new to the format). Two piano-driven ballads in a row create the same problem. Again, this is Music Director 101 sort of stuff, but bears mentioning as we examine Rule One of Flow.

In CCM radio, I want to bring special attention to the aspect of subject matter. This is especially important for us for two reasons. First, it is the subject matter of our songs that actually defines our format. Dave Frey from Sidewalk Prophets can sing an astonishing cover of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. This, however, would not fit in regular rotation on most CCM stations, because the subject matter doesn't fit. Our songs express things about Jesus Christ, thus we are Contemporary CHRISTIAN Music stations. But more specifically, some of our songs deal with how life is a struggle, and we can seek God in the midst of that struggle (Casting Crowns, 'Praise You In This Storm' or Building 429, 'Where I Belong'). Some of our songs encourage believers to share their faith through their lives (Jasmine Murray, 'Fearless' or JJ Weeks Band, 'Let Them See You'). Many are purely vertical songs of praise and worship (Hillsong Worship, 'What a Beautiful Name' or Tree 63 'Blessed Be the Name') and so on. Two songs in a row that share the same exact subject matter may work just fine for niche formats (such as a station dedicated exclusively to Worship) but for most CCM stations, mixing up the subject matter in a way that makes sense to the listener is ideal. Note that there isn't a single best way to mix these messages - this again is where art comes into the science, along with your station's strategy. The way you mix subject matter helps establish the personality of your Flow. There is a logical symmetry among the Five Rules of Flow, and as you'll find, Rules Three and Five directly impact this aspect of Rule One. Stay tuned.

Perhaps the best takeaway from Rule One (and, as you'll see, Rule Two) of Flow is that no element exists in a vacuum. Every element you play is impacted by the element that played before, and this is still valid for that wonderful 'moment of Genesis' wherein somebody tunes into your station for the very first time. The feelings you have about what you're hearing now are influenced by the feelings you have about what you just heard.

In the next article, we'll examine Rule Two of Flow, which is where we begin to bend the space-time-continuum a bit. It may sound a bit confusing, but as you'll see, it's actually a rather simple concept that is already more or less explained in the ground we've already covered. Without further ado, here is...

RULE TWO OF FLOW: THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST HEARD ARE INFLUENCED BY THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE HEARING RIGHT NOW.

May God bless you as you do the excellent and vital work of sharing the Gospel through your airwaves. There is no higher calling, nor any more valuable effort any of us can undertake. I'm always happy to answer questions and help you with that calling. Contact me at Dan@ShareMediaServices.com.