Radio Snobs

My single mom didn't raise me to be a snob.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Looking down on people was not a luxury we had. If anything, I was the one looked down on. I was the kid wearing VERY patched Sears Toughskins jeans and Trax shoes from K-Mart. I swore to myself I would never be one to turn my nose up at other people who couldn't or wouldn't wear name-brand clothes. So far, so good. Snobbery snuck over to another area of my life though: radio. If you don't do the kind of radio I like, you might as well be wearing a fake Swatch. (Insert Alicia Silverstone "AS IF!" drop from Clueless here.)

I'll bet you a pair of Air Jordans radio snobbery has tried invading your life too.

Arrogance used to rear its ugly head any time I heard a station playing a song I KNEW to be a stiff. When they had a loose segue. When the DJ missed their first exit. And especially when they missed their 13th exit. (Actually that's totally worth some disdain. Introduce them to Tommy Kramer, please.)

Survey the latest Nielsen ratings, though. You'll see a variety of CCM stations sitting at the top of their markets. These stations sound quite different from each other! I see a few doing it "my way" when it comes to their music flow/choices, clocks, and how their DJs execute. I see just as many doing it 180-degrees opposite. Some are playing their powers 70 times a week. Some don't even crack 30 spins weekly. Some have playlists tighter than my backup GAP jeans worn only when all my newer/looser ones are dirty. Others are obviously playing a couple hundred stiffs. Whoops. There goes my pretension again. I mean, others seem to have very deep libraries.

My point: there is no single, right way to execute CCM Radio. There are certainly best practices. The cliché' "good radio is good radio" rings true too. CCM has evolved into a durable radio format. If you have a true, genuine, deep connection with enough listeners, they're going to allow you some wiggle room when it comes to the formatics and best practices us pros tend to get snooty about. But part of the unspoken deal with your audience is that you don't suck, because there are also plenty of ways to do bad radio.

Caveats:

1. Ratings aren't the end-all-be-all of measuring success. (I'm kind of telling myself that after we had an unusually soft month on one of our stations. When numbers are down, blame Nielsen! When they're up, take credit!)
2. Sometimes a station wins in the ratings despite themselves. If they had a direct competitor with equal footing when it comes to signal and resources, things might look a lot different. (It's at this point you might want to be a snob towards your own product to ensure you were at your very best.)

Instead of allowing my radio elitism to swell my hat size, when I hear radio done differently than my obviously perfect ways these days, I try to use it as a learning opportunity. Maybe there's an idea begging to be perfected, or a lesson to share during my next aircheck session. Here's a radical possibility: the folks at these other radio stations know more than I do! Perish the thought!

If you're going to the Momentum conference, it's quite likely you'll meet some radio peers that leave you scratching your head (or plugging your ears). Join me in resisting the smug self-satisfaction that comes with thinking you've cracked the secret radio code. Sure, you might know things they could learn from. That's a two way street though, if we're humble enough to just make a new friend. (Says the introvert.) In fact, it could be the new friendship that helps both sides up their game.

Philippians 2:3-4 sums this all up nicely: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go shine my new Jordans, iron my Polo shirt (not U.S. Polo Association), and wash my Gucci jeans.