This is what I believe.

I believe... That an Alternative radio station practicing the status quo is at odds with itself, thus making the station impotent with the Alternative listener.

I believe... That many Alternative stations have changed very little since the early 90s.

I believe... That most alternative station sound more or less like KROQ circa 1995. (production, VO, contests, concerts, promos)

I believe... That most all formats have the same production values that Alt Rock stations offer.  How Alternative is that?

I believe... That the word Alternative has meant nothing for years since the format through progression is the mass.

I believe... That no one cares about that fabulous prize we’re giving away.  Hell, they don’t care about the 53 million that your state lottery gave away yesterday!

I believe... That most Alternative stations have no centralized culture that a listener can identify with, thus leaving no real impression with the listener.

I believe... That stations that don’t stand for something, stand for nothing and are likely to be used little at best and unremembered at the very least.

I believe... That TSL in the diary system is not Time Spent Listening but in fact Passion and Recall.

I believe... Benchmarks are worthless if the benchmark doesn’t invoke passion and a response.  Better to have no benchmarks rather than to have bad benchmarks.

I believe... That many Alt stations do “it” because KROQ did it, has done it or is doing it.  Hello cookie cutter.

I believe... That in 2008 an Alternative station playing 20% new music can not compete with the likes of CHR, Rhythmic, Urban or Latin formats that play upwards of 58 - 81% new music.

I believe... That our jobs at Alt stations is to distill music for consumption in the same way as movie critics give suggestions on what to see... and you believe it.

I believe... That research was most effective when only a few had it. 

I believe... That radio is an ongoing sociology project and not just a research project.

I believe... That if research made this format work then most stations would be better than Top 13 - 12+ and all would be in the top 5  - 18 - 34 persons.

I believe... That many stations need to pick a position and maximize it.  Are you a new music station, an Active Rock station, a pop alt station, an accessible Indy station or an  nostalgia station?  Pick something that fills that hole in your market!!!!

I believe... That many Alternative stations sound like a series of cogs and systems in motion.

I believe... That The Ten @ Ten, Resurrection Lunch, The all request lunch, Block Party Weekends and their ilk are about as interesting as what I had for dinner last night. (Chicken, a rice dish, and salad) 

I believe... That we can’t get any viral because we’re not really doing anything worth talking about.

I believe... That without planned anarchy most Alt Rock station are about as exciting as a PTA meeting.

I believe... That you cannot research what does not exist or what has not been sampled in real life for a significant amount of time.  Ask Proctor and Gamble about it... they know first hand.

I believe... That research is a snapshot of what was and a report card of what you did at best. 

I believe... That programming prognostication should be encourage and research should be used as the report card for how effective your efforts were.

I believe... That real people will listen to something compelling on the radio (instead of their iPods) if you give it to them on a regular basis.

I believe... That if you don’t commonly give the listener the unexpected after awhile the listener expects nothing.

I believe... That it’s important to be hated by 95% of the listening audience if you can get the other 5% to love you and get a 3.5 share 12+ and top 5 18-34 persons.

I believe... That many of us are so scared to lose our jobs that we’d rather look busy and official than to take the chance to be truly effective. “Little Jill needs braces.”

I believe... That not going all the way with your overall station vision is like not going all the way with sex... you get painfully frustrated and the listener is unfulfilled.

I believe... That if radio is so ubiquitous and research respondents say many users no longer listen to it, it’s because we collectively have given them no reason to love the content of our medium.

I believe... That the iPod lets me create my own world and the radio let’s me stay in touch with community and the real world.

I believe... That our problem with iPod and Tivo is not that these technologies are taking mind share... it’s that the power to listen to what you want when you want (pull technology) makes any poorly executed or banal offering even less tolerable to these listeners we so desperately covet.

I believe... That we can’t be a NOW format if 80% of what we offer is based on then.  Everyday that goes by makes us just a bit more passe.

I believe... Alt rock is an 18-34 persons venue and that try to add significant 35 - 49 listeners diminishes you ability to aggregate adequate amounts of 18 - 34s.

I believe... That the hits from Pearl Jam, STP, Alice in Chains and Bush are so ubiquitous that even though people like them in 12 second snippets in AMTs they can’t actually listen to Glycerin or Jeremy all the way through one more time.

I believe... That playing a new track without fervor, passion or a stated reason leaves the songs on it’s own and an with an increased chance of failure.

I believe... That it’s time to stop being radio stations and start being audio sources.  Calling it a  radio station is like calling a car and automobile.  “Look at Grandpa program!”

I believe... That PDs are expected to be more like GMs rather than Mad Scientists, thus few innovations are achieved unlike the reports and proposals that are due tomorrow at noon.

I believe... That we are so busy maintaining our jobs that we don’t have the time or stamina to create the future.

I believe... That new technology is not the enemy... we are, by our complacency and inability to move forward.

I believe... That doing the right thing may be so status quo that sometimes doing the wrong thing may be more effective with the listener.

I believe... That staying the course year after year with poor results is like rearranging the deck chairs as the Titanic goes down... it’s busy work and a waste of time.

In 1899 the head of the US Patent Office, Charles H. Duell sent his resignation to President McKinely urging him to close down the Patent office because “everything that could be invented has been invented.”  Nice foresight.

It’s sad to see that collectively we as a broadcast group are working under the same assumptions as the feebly adept Charles H. Duell.

This is it?  Recorded IDs, sweepers, artist IDs, contests, prizes, tired promos, station concerts, back-sells, liners and What I Got by Sublime are all we have to offer?

If this is all we can muster from a broadcast signal then please someone turn off the transmitter.

Go ahead change the station 10%... no one will notice. 

Go ahead build a website that actually does something.  If the on air audio doesn’t garner your attention then it’s like having great uniforms and little athletic skill.

This is art not an accounting project.  Some of the worlds most revered paintings contain BOLD strokes of color and composition!

Don’t be afraid to try something new.  Don’t be afraid of failure, when you’re not top five 18-34 persons you’re probably already failing.  Any manager who doesn’t allow you to fail doing something different, weird, strange or attention getting is not a manager at all.

If your KXRK in Salt Lake City... please disregard the above.  X96 was number one 18-34 and 25-54 in the Fall book.  Everybody else... we have some work to do and X96 is not the template.  X96 is not syndicatable, nor should it be.  Make your own damn boiler plate and then break it every once in a while!  It’s not that we’re not working hard.  I know everyone’s working hard.  It’s just that in many cases it’s just not working.