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You are a movie producer looking at two scripts. 

Script number one is about a man of science who tries to bring the world to it’s knees with a giant “laser” that will destroy one city after another until the world governments pay the required ransom of “one million dollars.”  In this movie ultimately he fails but the movie has fun dialog, interesting scenarios, unexpected moments and a good time for one and all.

Script number two is about an accountant who’s main goal in life is to balance his ledger to the penny and put in enough years to get a pension.  He spends his days working through excel spread sheets, eats lunch at the all you can eat salad bar, driving to and fro in his 2001 Honda Civic and evenings after a hard days work tinkering with an on-line fantasy hockey league.  This movie is full of mundane scenarios where no chances are taken and nothing out of the ordinary ever happens... except that one day when the protagonist catches a head cold.

OK, you are movie producer, which one of these two scripts will you choose to produce.  Better yet if both these movies were in theaters which one would you spend your time and money on?

Alternative radio needs mad scientists.  Overall Alternative radio feels more like a movie about accounting.  The music accountant goes about their days balancing the power rotation to the note and fills the on air ledger with music, sweepers, contests and content that always adds up to the norm.  There’s no real action, intrigue or blind corners where something wonderful or horrible awaits listener judgement.  The very term alternative (if you even use that moniker) implies that you will deviate from the norm, the mass appeal, the usual, the ordinary, the typical.

Alternative radio needs mad scientists to whip up some crazy inventions that confound the authorities, terrify the establishment and awe the listener into a frenzy.

Of course the danger of being a mad scientist is that failure is about as common as success.  Of course in the current entertainment climate spectacular failure is more interesting than the Ten at Ten, 90’s at Noon or The Furious Top Five at Five.

An unexpected explosion is definitely more interesting.

“Failure?  No gentlemen, I was successful in finding 700 ways the incandescent light bulb wouldn’t work!”

Thomas Alva Edison

If my memory serves me right Edison’s career didn’t suffer by experimenting.  The man relished a good failure to find a the eventual huge success.

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Thomas Alva Edison

The current radio business is at the point where heavy experimentation is needed.  You don’t have to blow up a city (though that would get attention) or kill thousands of innocent bystanders (though that would get you the lead story on the nightly news). 

You need only to experiment with new music cultures, new social groupings, content that grabs mind share, stories that garner attention, concepts that are 30% off center and a sturdy carbon filament that will stay lit for 600 hours.

I challenge you and me to make a bright light.  I’ll be the first to squint, marvel and tell all my friends about it.

Be a mad scientist make us squint!

sd