The world is split in two. Fractured. Divided. It is contentious, making people nervous, tense, and edgy. No, Not Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden or Republican vs. Democrat. Heck, not even Red Sox/Yankees (they both stink). What you have is New Year’s resolution people on one side and the aggressive anti-New Year’s resolution people on the other.
It could be the existential crisis of our time.
As for me, I am a card-carrying member of the anti-party, and I will fight you in the town square to maintain the honor of not making them. Meet me there every January 2nd, and I will be ready with arguments armed to the teeth.
I don’t care how fat I get, I don’t care if my book never gets done, I don’t care if my t-shirt drawer becomes two t-shirt drawers (I am not throwing them out!), and I definitely don’t care if I ever learn the piano.
You get the picture. As it pertains to my personal life, I don’t participate in the self-help jolt of the New Year. If I wasn’t doing it on December 31st, that’s on me.
Professionally though, I feel a bit different, especially as we embark on 2024. I have never made a New Year’s resolution for work, and based on my personal view, I probably never will; but two years into solo hosting a morning show, it really feels like it might be a perfect time to take stock, create new ideas and make changes.
It’s only been two years, but some parts of what I do feel stale to me, and if that’s the case, I wonder what it all sounds like. The irony is that the show is doing well, and I get (mostly) great feedback. I could probably slide forward on autopilot and not have too much of a worry.
That’s exactly what worries me.
So, I am going to try and do something about it and recommend you do the same.
As soon as everyone is back in the office (all five of us who work on the show), we are going to do the 2024 version of a radio offsite.
What does that mean in local radio? Low cost, low maintenance.
Instead of renting out a room and having a formal day-long session to brainstorm ideas, we will go out to lunch. That’s all we have time for, and it’s all we can afford. Everyone will bring 2-3 *new ideas for the show, both small and large, and we will start the process of making the show better.
*Listen, we all know that almost everything has been done before, but that doesn’t mean:
- There aren’t ANY new ideas.
- Because it’s been done before doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be done again.
During our holiday remotes raising money for the Salvation Army, one listener came in and gave me an index card full of ideas for the show. He said he listens every day, and I often reflect on this very issue; so he decided to share his thoughts.
At first, I was like, “OK, buddy.” Then, I read them, and it was amazing feedback. There is one concept I’m already sold on, even though it’s been done a million times, a million different ways.
Connecticut has 169 municipalities. Once a month, we should do a show in one of them – talk to leaders, businesses, citizens and get a feel for all of it. A little bit of booking work but a no-brainer.
Another idea given that I’m actually not sold on is phone calls.
Sandwiched between all the weather, traffic, and news, I’ve grown somewhat protective of our limited open talk time. Having said that, since I still stink at social media, I need to find ways to engage the audience more. Maybe calls? I don’t know, but that’s one subject that we will discuss off-site. If we go that route, it needs to make sense, be fun, and not hijack the show.
Regular segments are another thing.
For instance, I often do a birthday/movie segment. We take someone famous who has a birthday and pick one of their movies. We give a fun audio clip and then talk about some of the more interesting origin stories about the project. It’s super fun for me because I love those kinds of things, going down to rabbit hole of casting, budgets, and production. To be honest, though, it gets a mixed reception – let’s just say the segment itself is about 68 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes segment scale. People like it but not universally.
I am fine abandoning it but still want to do something fun with media/entertainment/pop culture that isn’t super lame. Maybe we can come up with something.
Put it on the agenda.
The point is, go out to lunch with the people you don’t normally lunch with, and generate ideas. Pick two or three and work to implement them.
For us, I feel like we need to freshen things up, and I’d rather do it when things are going well than do it out of desperation – it’s simply more authentic.
I know budgets are tight but you might want to do it at an actual restaurant with table service and an actual menu. A Jersey Mike’s offsite may last less than 30 minutes, and we need to talk longer.
Happy New Year!
