Radio, Accordions, And Jim Gaffigan

Working in radio is a little like playing the accordion.

Stay with me on this.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan did an interview a few years back where he shared how his act changes over the course of a tour. As things kick off, he's focused on efficiency. He wants a laser-focused set, so he trims every bit of fat he can find. He'll cut an extra word here, skip an unnecessary detail there. It's a lean, mean comedy routine until, suddenly, there's no humanity left. The act has no room to breathe.

So he reverses course. Little bits of flavor reappear. He'll pepper in a few more details that help the audience get to know him better. He allows himself to have fun. But before long, he realizes he's added too much. The act gets bloated and self-indulgent.

So he starts trimming again.

In the interview, Jim Gaffigan said he's always in this cycle of trimming an act until it's lost its humanity, and then adding flavor until it's lost its focus. He's constantly squeezing and stretching, in and out, over and over. A little like playing the accordion.

When I heard this interview, the radio guy in me perked up.

Because that's the tension I live in, whether I'm on the air, writing and producing imaging, or managing a playlist. There are things I need to do to keep a distracted audience engaged, to stay focused on the station's mission, to keep things streamlined. But getting too lean can leave listeners cold. It's possible to algorithm the soul right out of a station.

I find myself swinging between these two approaches: Squeezing in with focus and then expanding out with personality. I've never settled into a point where the ratio of leanness to flavor feels perfect, but I have realized when I swung too far in one direction-and when that happens, I correct course.

And I think that's okay. With all my spreadsheets and my data and my research, I get caught in the trap of chasing after "perfect radio." Every change feels like a move closer to or farther from the correct answer on a multiple-choice test. But there's no correct answer for radio. There's too much art involved for anything that easy, and too many tastes across my listenership for one formula to make everyone happy.

So I'll keep pushing and pulling my accordion. You don't make music holding it still, anyway.