If you’re working harder than ever right now you’re probably doing it right. I’ve always been an advocate for finding a healthy work/life balance and working smarter not harder so we’re not spending twelve-hour days at the office multiple times a week. But, right now radio is in a transitional period and the ground is moving out from under us as we speak, whether we realize it or not. 

We don’t have the luxury of just coming into work and checking off the same old boxes on our to do lists week after week anymore. When an industry is in transition its critically important that those within the industry transition as well, otherwise they and the groups they work for will be left behind. Let’s commit to devoting a significant portion of time each week to learning new skills, revamping and reinventing promotions, programming, operations, engineering and sales. Let’s hold strategy sessions where nothing is off the table and everything is open for debate and discussion. Let’s embrace new technology and allow it to change our business models. Let’s look at how we price, package and sell our inventory and how its delivered on air. Let’s get to know our staff’s hidden talents so we can encourage, incentivize and train them to tap into those skillsets and apply it to their jobs regardless of their current job description (NOTE: There has to be give and take for that to work though, either in compensation or by taking other things off their plate and we have to empower them with the necessary tools.) 

But, most importantly, let’s be willing to fail. Seemingly every radio group in the country tends to work on razor thin margins making them reluctant to ever attempt anything unless they are nearly certain it will work out. Which is understandable with revenues still slowly bouncing back and the uncertainty of what lies around the corner of the pandemic. However, there’s an opening for radio to take a larger share of ad dollars, especially in medium and small markets where there’s less competition, but that window is closing. Let’s commit resources to things even if we’re not 100% sure they’ll pan out, so we can grow our reach, expand our brands and take advantage of that window. 

Now is not a time for any of us to just go through the motions, phoning it in and falling back on our old routines. We have to think outside of the box, get out of our comfort zones, get creative and innovate. I’m not suggesting we change just for the sake of changing. We have to be strategic. But we’ve also got to keep an open mind and understand that there could be a game changer out there right now that’s not even currently on our radar. Let’s keep our eyes open and look to other industries for inspiration. In doing so we can learn from the lessons they didn’t heed early enough in print and closely watch the massive shift television is currently going through to see what cues we can take from them. 

What do you think? Comment below or email me at andy@radiostationconsultant.com. 

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