Behind The Curtain

One of the many people I admire in the media is Mark Ramsey; he’s a wicked smart forward thinking dude. Mark has been ahead of the curve a long time while bending media types’ minds in to thinking differently and focusing on – here comes the weird part – the audience!

It’s interesting to watch as we in the media try and figure out “what’s next”.

We talk about technological advancements, social media, online changes, tuning habits, eyeballs, music cycles, ears, information levels, page views, time spent listening, average quarter hours, and unit rates. The list is virtually endless.

If you are not in the media, all this means the square root of nothing to you.

We spend countless hours emailing each other, on calls, deliberating, researching, wondering, hoping and guessing. We pontificate and agonize and analyze over heaps of data and studies to determine audience appetite.

All the while those not in the media have neither clue nor interest.

There are conventions on the subject of radio, television and various other media and how it is changing. There are meetings with PowerPoint presentations and conference calls to discuss the future and how it will affect today.

While media outsiders don’t give it a second thought.

Ramsey posed a question yesterday which was this – if you had a radio station but no longer had your broadcast tower, what would you do? What kind of “station” would you build?

My overly simple answer is; something interesting and remarkable. I’ll spare you the results of the meetings and deliberations.

If you try and please everyone, you will please no one. So pick a hill to climb and get on your hiking boots. Meetings and planning are important. What is much more important is passion, teamwork and inspiration. Don’t get caught up on the tower; get caught up on the idea.

Thanks Mark, for always making us think.

km