Orlando, WLLD: I think listeners enjoy good content, so if it’s good, you can fudge a golden rule, or two, for the moment. Can’t be a habit though, so rule breakers ultimately have to be even more disciplined by not going to the well too often.

Dom Theodore, Radio Animal Media Strategies: I’m worried more about creating the new “best practice.” Remember, someone had to challenge the prior system to create today’s “best practices,” so why not challenge the current system?

Rick Vaughn KENZ: I think as an industry, we’ve gone too far to try and recreate radio and have gotten away from traditional best practices. We’ve created way too many new best practices and making radio mediocre. We’re being handcuffed by new best practices.

Kobe, @kobeontheradio: I think we need to stop worrying about “what can go wrong,” because this prevents us from taking chances and truly advancing our brands and our industry overall. Now is when we need risk-takers more than ever. We need to make noise and grab attention. We may make mistakes, but instead of being paralyzed by the fear of making them, we need to get better at identifying them more quickly and moving on from what doesn’t work more expeditiously instead of “giving it more time.”

Buzz Knight, Buzz Knight Media: Because of intense competition in almost every market the margin of error is quite slim. Markets are more compressed than ever and the battle for revenue market share is fierce. It’s literally a game of inches when it comes to what can separate number one from number three or four. That being said if you build a great brand and remain true to the brand expectations you won’t need to recreate and you will remain a leader. Brand evolution is also something to never lose sight of with the help of strategic market research.

Frankie V, KSSX / KHTS:

Mike “OD” O’Donnell, WKRZ: My instinct says do what you’re already doing but do it better. How far to go is the compromise you need to make. I would say 20% as the absolute top limit. Today’s world is about niches, and radio is a mass audience platform, so the only thing you can do to recreate it is to make it tighter. But you can only make it so tight because you want to avoid losing more and more audience. You might be able to get a certain demo to listen more, but you’d also be shaving off some of your cume. There are concessions to be made in either direction but you don’t want to stray too far and be tipped over the cliff.

Jagger, WKSS: I think we need to be mindful of all of the modern technology around us and all of the modern consumer metrics we’re seeing on music, and incorporate these into our strategic planning and execution. We have to program to 2020, not to 1990, with many of the traditional practices remaining in place to a degree as well.

Valentine, WBHT: I don’t think we need to stray too far, but I do think we need to evolve with the lifestyle habits of the listener. I’m a strong believer in focusing on and executing the basics and because our ratings system is still the same system we’ve had all along, we can’t deviate too far away. But if we don’t evolve as the listener evolves then we’ll be too far behind the curve.