Mason's Morning Minute

And Now A Word From Chicken Little

You know, in the end, Chicken Little was right.

We all know about Chicken Little, the little guy who kept running around yelling, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”  It was a great childhood story about over-reacting.  A lot of people seem to be thinking Chicken Little has a new, digital evil twin, running around telling radio stations, “The sky is falling!” in terms of the growth of digital media.

In this story I’d probably change Mr. Little’s shout to, “The shares are falling.”  It’s unfortunately inescapable that people aren’t listening to the radio as much as they were.  They also aren’t watching Network TV as much as they used to either.  They key fact is that things are changing, and we simply can’t stop change from happening.  What’s going on with the Internet is going to impact radio, even if you don’t want to hear about it.

Even companies who are playing around in the new digital arena aren’t sure what’s going to happen, including Facebook and, of course, Microsoft.  The Seattle giant thinks that simply owning Yahoo will help them survive digital growth, but a recent post by Diane Mermigas on mediapost poses an interesting point.
It’s not that you’re digitally involved; it’s what you do with that digital involvement.

This is especially important to we radio people, who seem to think that pushing a radio station stream on the Internet is being digitally involved.  We somehow haven’t noticed that the popular sites are those doing something different.

Buried in the post is one more extremely important thought, staying true to your core.  Here’s where it gets even more interesting for radio.  Not only do you have to stay true to your radio core, but also your digital core.  If you’re ever lucky enough to get one, has it’s own complexion to stay true to, and it may not be the same as your radio core.

Let’s not forget that, in the end, Chicken Little was right, the sky was falling, but no one listened to him.

Happy Valentines Day

“The emotions aren’t always immediately subject to reason, but they are always subject to action.” – William James, philosopher and psychologist.

I think what James is trying to say here is that people act emotionally, even when it doesn’t make any sense.  If you aren’t sure you believe it, just look at the world of politics.  From the “Daisy” spot for Lyndon Johnson, and the “Bear Loose In The Woods” spot for Ronald Regan, and ending up with Hillary Clinton gaining votes for showing emotion, the logic of issues can be trumped by emotion.

One sociologist put it that people think rational thoughts, and then act according to how they feel.  After years of radio, I have to agree.  Your fans develop an emotional attachment to your station, not an intellectual one.  And they don’t become attached to the music; they become attached to the people on your station.  Just another reason we’re having problems, because radio is becoming less personable and more generic.

Think about the emotions behind today, Valentines Day.  Whenever I doubt that emotion overrides rational thinking, I consider my wife.  When she was thinking about marrying me, she didn’t sit down and do a spreadsheet to forecast my future earnings, or check out the genetic makeup of the family to see if we’d have strong offspring, she fell in love.  Against all odds, with me 6’4” and she 5’2” (I wanted someone who would always look up to me), me a wanderer and she having never left the state of Oregon, she let her emotion override her reason and said yes.  And she’s stayed attached to me for the past 39 years, even though she’s traveled to all parts of the country.  Even more astounding is that she’s still emotionally attached to me.  I’ve noted that in relationships, including listener-radio relationships, the longer it goes on the more loyal they are.

Do you work to forge an emotional connection between your station and your listeners, or do you throw rational thoughts at them like “the best mix?”

OK, gotta go, I forgot to pick up the Valentines present.