Music’s Power

We’ve separated ourselves from the emotion of music.

Pre-recorded breaks, entire stations with “jock content” preloaded onto hard drives, the very act of researching the same 450 songs over and over and over, to ever tighten the funnel from which playlists drip.

It’s sad because most of us got into Radio because we love music.

Above all the other reasons, we loved music and wanted to be the ones who shared it with others who would love it too.

There’s no denying that many, perhaps most, listeners prefer tighter libraries no matter what they say in focus groups.

The songs they wish your station would play are often unique to them and their life experience, while your job is to attract the largest audience possible.

Unfortunately, there’s also no denying that this need for mass listening produces a bland, predictable, watered-down listening experience most of the time.

Part of the pleasurable experience of listening to music on the radio is the shared passion listeners feel with us when we express it, yet I rarely hear air talent express personal enthusiasm for songs.

Music and art express what words often cannot.

That’s why many couples have something they refer to as “our song.” It’s why one specific song has the power to open the flood-gates of memory, to make us cry, to instantly bring back lost loves, better times, our own better selves.

It’s that core feeling I’m reminding you of in the hope that you can find it and share it on-air again.

Otherwise, we’re all just listening to hooks, alone, squandering the most amazing part of radio’s potential for emotional connection.