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I can tell
which of my Facebook friends are on diets. They are the ones who
post pictures of food. I reckon there’s nothing quite as
tantalizing as a 1.5 x 1.5 picture of a plate of not-yet-eaten
spaghetti three time zones away.
We’re more
keenly aware of the importance of something when it’s not there.
The storm feels most threatening when the electricity goes out. We
most feel the need for encouragement during discouraging times. The
power of love is most realized when love is lost.
Countless poems
and songs and movies speak to this part of life.
Few stations understand the process of unleashing the real power of
the format. Too many stations are full of poor recordings of
preachers, people that want to talk longer than people want to
listen, and songs that know one knows (and therefore no one loves).
If you want to know the real power of the format listen to those who
listen.
Why do you
think people are compelled to tell you the story of when just the
right song came on the radio? Why do you hear from people who are
in a desert of discouragement, shipwrecked at the loss of a job, or
had the love of their life walk off their island and out of their
life? Just yesterday an old friend told me about tuning in after
going through the agony of putting her puppy of 16 years to sleep.
You know what? She had never listened to that station before.
How does that happen?
Our format is
the only format that really connects the need with the Hope. Andy
Andrews says everyone is either in a crisis, just coming out of a
crisis, or going into a crisis. Steve Brown says that every time
you speak to ten people, seven of them have a broken heart. That’s
why we hear those stories of people who discover the station in a
time of need.
Pay attention to those stories. Share those stories. Be that
station every hour of every day.
John is a partner in Goodratings
Strategic Services, and has been a successful major market disc
jockey and program director for such companies as CBS, Cap Cities,
Westinghouse, Sandusky, Gannett, and Alliance during his 38 year
broadcast career. John joined Goodratings’ partner Alan Mason in
1999.
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