A few weeks ago while listening to new music, I watched the video for Kacey Musgrave’s Dry Spell. She’s wandering around a grocery store in a baggy hoodie and basketball shorts, looking exactly how the broadcast radio industry feels right now.
She sings, “It’s been a real long 335 days, and the last time it wasn’t good anyway.” If that doesn’t sound like your last few revenue pacing meetings, you’re lying.
What if it’s just a dry spell? Between headlines about massive mega-corporate bankruptcies, layoffs, and companies spreading their local teams so thin you can see right through them, it’s easy to feel sorry for ourselves. What if we are, as Kacey puts it, “Lonely with a capital H… sitting on the washing machine”? Do we think waiting for some magical spreadsheet or corporate mandate will make us feel alive again? The spin cycle just ended. DO SOMETHING!
She sings, “Ain’t nobody’s tool up in my shed.” And yeah, when the big corporate entities strip away resources to save a buck, the shed feels pretty empty.
But how do you actually end a dry spell?
You definitely don’t do it by walking the aisles in your metaphorical sweatpants, crying about how nobody wants to take you home anymore, and publishing think-pieces about your own irrelevance or the end of a medium that still reaches over 85% of Americans each week.
In the second verse, Kacey asks the million-dollar question: “What’s a self-respecting girl to do? … I think it’s time for me to take the bull by the horns.”
That right there is ownership. “If not us, then who?”
If you want to break the drought, you have to get out there and romance the audience again. You don’t win people over by playing it safe or phoning it in. You win by delivering an A+ experience. The programmers, talent, and managers who are actually ending their dry spells are putting on a damn show. They are leaning into their creativity, embracing the suck of the daily grind, and holding themselves accountable to an incredible standard.
They are out in the community, shaking hands, and reminding the market why local radio is the ultimate companion. They’re not waiting for permission to be great. They are putting actual boots on the ground (and under the bed).
And internally? We have to stop getting in our own way.
Kacey sings, “Ain’t nobody to roll with in the hay, and nobody but the chickens are getting laid.” You want to break the dry spell? Get ALL of your departments aligned. Sales and Programming need to metaphorically roll in the hay together. (What’s that HR on line 1?… err ok) When we collaborate to build campaigns that actually thrill both the client and the listener, everybody scores.
It is time to change out of the baggy hoodie. (although I do appreciate some baggy hoodie time)
Stop focusing on the constraints and start building the kind of local brand that makes you the envy of the industry. We have the most powerful, intimate medium in the world—we just have to be good enough for people to want to connect with us in the first place.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get off the washing machine and get back to work. We’ve got bacon to bring home, and if we don’t end this drought soon, the only things getting laid around here will be the chickens—and they don’t buy ad time or get Nielsen surveys.
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As the Executive Director of Programming & Operations for Pamal Broadcasting, Kevin Callahan oversees 25 stations across five markets, including the company’s four Country brands. An award-winning brand specialist, Kevin is a passionate advocate for talent development, dedicated to mentoring personalities and restoring our medium to its most vibrant, high-impact form. His career is highlighted by 12 years as Audacy’s West Coast Regional VP of Programming for the Country format, where he managed premier brands across major markets including San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, Riverside and more. Today, Kevin balances his corporate leadership with his role as President of Sonic Maple Media, serving as a fractional executive advisor to broadcast leadership and fractional programmer and talent coach to broadcasters nationwide. He can be reached at kevin@pamal.com
