The Performance

I frequently remind GMs and PDs that the only thing that really counts is what comes out of the speakers.

I don't really care if the morning show team doesn't socialize outside the studio. I only care that when I hear them, they make me laugh, or cry, or pay attention.

Most truly talented people are focused on their performance, and the best thing we, as coaches and management, can do for them is get out of their way.

Sometimes the best coaching you can do is to encourage: a bit more of this, without bludgeoning an insecure ego to stop any more of that.

All the time you spend managing music, budgets, liners, meetings and egos is important only to the degree that it makes the actual on-air performance easier. It removes distractions and busy-work from their plates.

Radio, at least at its best, is live, like the theater, and just like that experience, where you are sort of subconsciously aware of lighting and costumes and props and tempo, listeners don't need to see everything that's gone into today's performance to immerse themselves into it.

Our studio is our stage.

I have always believed that winning radio is fun. It's not like work, is it? Not when it's at its best.

So, step outside your office today. Look around. Listen quietly.

Is your station a fun place to be? Are your performers having fun inside the studio?

If not, figure out what you need to do to make it so, even if that means less of you.

Curtain's up. Lights are up.

The only thing listeners care about now is the performance they have come to hear.