WHAT I BELIEVE 2011

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 a station that’s rooted in 7 or 8 major bands should play those bands 60% of total programming. (YES 60%)

I believe... that if your average listener is only listening for 7 to 12 minutes you better be playing several of their favorite bands in that time period.

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

I believe... that many station’s web presence is a joke also known as a radio exercise.  In other words just because your website does stuff doesn’t mean that it does anything.

I believe... that most alternative stations 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 there is a whole/crack for a 28 – 49 AAA/Alt format that will work in most markets… and nobody’s doing it.

I believe... that the word Alternative has meant nothing for years since the format through progression is the mass and not a very good one at that.

I believe... that a station not trying to be the mass appeal for it’s genre is DOOMED, DOOMED, DOOMED in PPM.

I believe... that no one cares about that fabulous prize we’re giving away.  Hell, they don’t care about the 53 million dollars 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 depending on music as your position is like depending on good uniforms to win the game.

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.  They can’t PPM you if they don’t remember to come see you.

I believe... that in non PPM worlds TSL in the diary system is not Time Spent Listening but in fact Passion and Recall.

I believe... that the most important thing you can do in the PPM world is to know the rules in PPM that get you quarter hour credit.

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 2010 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 use them as authority figures.

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

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

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 all the time.

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 a 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 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 encouraged 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 PPM rewards the middle and Alternative has a hard time pleasing the middle… thus Alt is a problematic format for the middle… errr where the people meters are.

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 many are simply taking their turn to do the same thing the guy/girl did before them when it was their turn.

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... “they” are still listening but “they” won’t tell you so because the medium has given them nothing to be excited about.

I believe... that anybody who loves Alt music and technology is the least likely candidate to wear a personal people meter.  A PPM is fashion faux pas!

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 local and national are just as important positions and if you pick one that’s right for your market you won’t be so damn worried if you should be local or not.

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

I believe... that in most cases you don’t want to listen to the same stuff your dad did.  Yes, there’s exceptions… but not 1/2 a format’s worth!

I believe... that playing a new track without fervor, passion or a stated reason leaves the songs on it’s own and 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 an automobile.  “Look Grandpa’s on the air again.”

I believe... that we’ve just gone through a major managing phase of programming and that’s why now more than ever stations need calculated mad scientists at work.

I believe... that we are so busy maintaining our jobs that we don’t have the time or stamina to create the future.  The future is where everybody’s going… or so I hear.

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.  “Hey there’s water in my tuba!”  “Play on fool!”

I believe... that when you’re mind set can only see the same clocks, music flow, production and promotion as the programmer before you then you are already lost.  We all get lost.  Find a new way by getting out of the station mind set and more into the community media mind set.

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? Oh yeah “we” have a web component that does something, something.  Isn’t that the future?  LOL

If this is all we can muster from a broadcast signal and media then please someone turn off the transmitter and delist the station URL.

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 world’s 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 in your key demo 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.

Someone please break the boilerplate!  There is plenty to offer that isn’t the same approach that PPM will like.  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.

sd sean@seandemery.com