Morning Show Inspires Doom. DOOOOOOM!!!!

I've never felt so hopeless about a radio station I was involved with as I did the day I heard a particular morning show bit go south.

I don't even remember what the bit was. All I remember was that it sucked.

It really sucked.

The morning show's bit sucked so bad they cut it off halfway and launched into a heated discussion about how bad it was. They got into an argument as to whether or not they should even finish the thing. Then they opened the phones to see what listeners thought, which led to even more people on the air arguing about the bit.

"It's stupid! It's worse than stupid!"
"YOU'RE stupid! I wanna hear the rest!"
"Get outa here!!!! It's pathetic!!!"
"You got no sense of humor girl! I thought it was funny..."

...and those were the LISTENERS!

A co-worker and I were driving to our station, listening to all of this. We spoke not one word. When the car came to a stop, we just looked at each other with a sense of doom.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

The problem was that the morning show in question wasn't on our station. It was the competition.

The problem was that even when their show was off, it was superb. Even when a bit fell flat on its face, the show was the most compelling thing on the dial.

How do you compete with that?

Well, sadly, the answer is that you don't. You instead focus on the people you're supposed to be entertaining. You execute your game plan, doing what it is you do best, giving it your all... and you hope that's enough.

My station had a plan with a clear goal and we were executing it. We were seeing progress with each new trend. But it still broke my heart to hear such great radio on a competitor.

However, while listening to a competitor turning an off day into some of the most compelling radio I'd heard in ages, I was reminded of one of the most valuable lessons of all: You've got to take chances.

If you never risk falling flat on your face, you deny yourself opportunities to grow.

And if you take a chance and fail, spin the situation 180 degrees and give it another go.