Bassman's Radio Blog

I grew up with two great loves - radio and music. They were inter-related, but separate. The result of my misspent youth was a career spent around the dial, bouncing from AM to FM, small towns to real cities, living in four states - NC, CT, VA and PA. It was like a military career without the benefits.

That old medium I loved isn't what it used to be. It's death, apparently imminent, is completely self inflicted and still avoidable. Not by returning to the past - you can't go back - but learning from the past. What made radio thrive was it's unique, compelling stations. Stations that weren't mere music delivering commodities, but a pulse on their listener's lifestyle. If we can recapture that vibrancy, we'll recapture our life's blood. If not, we'll follow the daily newspaper (and the horse and buggy, the 8-track tape, muskets, suits of armor and togas) into oblivion. 'Ball's in our court.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS

It occurs to me the greatest challenges to success my stations faced during my programming career were usually internal, not external.

Free pronunciation tip: the 't' in "often" is silent. The word is pronounced "off-en". Please inform TV's various talking heads.

Some people can be counted on to fall in line lockstep, and others can be counted on to think. I prefer the latter.

Personal branding in the social networking age - You can only be known for one thing. So what do you want to be known for?

I wonder, inundated with marketing as we are, how much money you'd spend if you purchased everything you were marketed in a 24-hour period

Sometimes, there's something to be said for saying nothing at all.

I once heard one of the Masters commentators on ESPN, in a failed attempt at southern imagery, say "sit on the porch & sip an azalea". Don't fake it if you don't know it.

Dove for Men. Right! Good-luck with that

Clearly smart and stupid aren't opposites. I'm increasingly surprised at how many people I know that demonstrate both traits.

Great radio stations stand for & against certain things. Mediocre radio stations are mere commodities.

I know many wise men. I know many arrogant men. I don't know any arrogant wise men.

Indecision is the worst decision

Originality is the art of concealing your source

Perhaps we never put ourselves in more imminent danger than when safety becomes our only priority and pursuit

If we all wore personal "classic rock" t-shirts, mine would be tie-dyed, not black. How about you?

Intrusiveness is dead! Interaction, on their terms, is everything

it occurs to me that there is nothing safe about playing it safe.
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