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Good Riddance

I went over to Wisconsin in mid-November and loaded up on what can only be described as a muther of an arsenal of illegal fireworks. The good stuff. Because on New Years Eve I intend to send the year off with a cacophony of shells and thunderous rounds of mortars. And then I plan to go inside and get good and f'ing drunk.

This year sucked. If you'd told me a year ago that companies would be laying off entire airstaff's and that great, awesome talent was getting canned because the size of their paychecks showed up on someone's radar at corporate, I would have promptly thrown up.

Here's the deal. Radio listenership is growing. We are part of a strong, vibrant medium. At least here in the states, we're a little behind the curve in terms of catching up with new media and finding ways to sell it. But this is not our Death Knell. In fact, as I wrote in a Consultants Tips, this could be one of our finest hours.

We're free. We're immediately accessable. We're everywhere. Play to our strengths.

Be local. And I don't just mean reading local news. I mean, look and sound like you're part of the community. Don't miss an opportunity to come to the rescue when there's a local need. Serve your listeners. You spot a blurb in the news about a school whose lunch program is getting whacked, do something. Be decisive. Be heroic. The guy with the cheekbones in LA can't do that.

People are going to turn to you for entertainment. We're in Show Business. Tight breaks with no personality? A computer could do tha...whoops...I hope no CEO's read that. Be fun. Be a shelter from the storm. Radio is now, what Radio was in the 30's: a place to escape to.

This will pass. And if we do our jobs, we'll be better and stronger then ever. Have a great New Year and buy my damn book.