Robby Bridges uses a trio of analogies to better explain different aspects of the radio world. Bridges passes along some of the wisdom he has learned over the years by comparing radio to a 2012 Ferrari, an idealized politician and your coat. Find out how in this week’s Programming To Win column.
By Robby Bridges
Robby Bridges
Like so many of us, I started in the radio business at a young impressionable age…it was the summer between my 10th and 11th birthday (that’s how I’m into my third decade behind the mic without losing my boyish good looks!). If there is any secret to whatever success I’ve had, it’s that I have an insatiable desire to learn and keep learning from production to air shift to engineering to contracts; I love it all and I never feel as though there isn’t something I can learn. For me, what always made lessons click when I was being taught/coached was the analogy. As I went from student to teacher myself, I find myself both repeating memorable correlations made to me and coming up with a few of my own. So in no particular order, after writing a few of these out in a previous column a few years ago, I wanted to share some more.
- “Would you ever give a 16 year old new driver the keys to a 2012 Ferrari?” When making hiring decisions or strategic moves with personal I was once given this piece analogy. The wisdom behind it, of course, is to think of your radio station as a bright red, just driven off the lot 2012 sports car; the kind of car you polish, keep in pristine condition, regularly tune up and always fill with super performance gasoline. Funny thing is, you take the time to maintain and care for it, but you mostly allow others to drive it. You’ve got a couple of seasoned drivers who’ve been behind the wheel of many classic models and, like some of their younger counterparts, are always keen to take driving tips from you…but now and again you get a smart newbie to your circle who really wants you to give them the opportunity to give it a spin; maybe they’ve never driven a high performance sports car before…maybe they’ve driven many but cracked them up…always think long and hard about whom you let behind the wheel. • “A radio station is not much different than the idealized politician” In a perfect world, we imagine a political candidate to be someone we want to invite into our lives, to see during the most important events in our community, who makes us feel good about the world and even offers some stewardship in it; a person who shares our desire to make the place we live better, who shares good news but sometimes bad. Yes, also a person we expect to come out to meet us, share what they are and what they stand for and ask us to trust they will deliver, and then finally have them do just that. A radio station must be an upstanding leader in its community, must go out and meet its constituents, offer what it is to them and then deliver to the supports it gains while always looking to widen the base. • “Bring the coat with you but don’t wear it”…no matter how seasoned the on air talent, when there is apprehension on executing something on the air, when a talent is trying something new and pushing themselves to a place unfamiliar (even if they know how they want it to go), if they have their PD, their friend in the biz, the consultant in their head…mistakes are always more likely to made. So I always tell talent, think of your knowledge and experience in radio like your favorite coat or jacket; everyone, both genders, owns one…on all but the hottest of days, it’s with you…maybe you keep in your car in case you need it. The “radio knowledge” coat is no different, by all means bring it into the studio with you…but don’t keep it on! It will be too heavy making movement cumbersome and you feeling too warm. In other words, let your knowledge and experience guide and empower, but don’t over think every moment and let it wear you down…not a bad lesson for life in general.
Robby Bridges is PD at WFAS/Westchester NY; host on WPLJ/New York and the True Oldies Channel on Cumulus Media Networks. He is also President of BBOR Productions, developing and marketing syndication, music and production pieces nationally. Previously Bridges has worked in various capacities at WCTK/Providence, Z100/New York, Q102/Philadelphia, WODS and Mix 98.5/Boston and elsewhere in New England. Robby can be reached at 203-333-9108 or bridges@bborproductions.com
