Born to Run — Do You Want to Hear it Again?
It’s called the “enough already factor”…it’s the battle cry of the streets. It’s everywhere. It’s the loud voice of the new mainstream. WAKE UP TIME. The NEXT leaders are those that ACT. It’s a bad time to be traditional, weak, or clueless. Vanilla, PC, or fakers ain’t gonna make it. Enough already! —
This sort or rhetoric will certainly create a “what is the guy ranting about?” reactions. I get that. Comes with the turf. You are an idiot until its successful then you’re at least a mystery. For me, it goes back to 1968. driving around as a High School student plotting to put Rock n Roll on FM. Most of the big broadcast guys told me ‘theres NO way you can put Rock on FM…NO-one listens to FM.” Out of sync with the emerging culture at the time. Sound familiar
Instead of whining, it’s all about doing. In our case, it’s attacking the ENOUGH ALREADY FACTOR that is driving the new culture. Enough already with:
-Bigger is best. With the exception of the brilliant new generation companies or reinvented companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Disney etc…Bigger has continually proven to be worse in media. Radio consolidation certainly proved that. The big media companies fueled by size and arrogance may be getting bigger. But they tend to buy and package REAL innovation rather than create and deliver it. Enough already
–Stupid sh-t. The world is pretty screwed up…and media is fueling it. Right or Left, it doesn’t matter. Making things dumber as if by design. Enough already
Right and left. Lean left? Watch MSNBC, Lean Right, watch Fox. You can’t compete or defeat what you don’t intellectually understand even if you heavily disagree. Whining about the POV’s instead of understanding it? Enough already
-The TV news format. Anchors, pundits, “breaking news” TV news music, fake backgrounds…informing is about new formats…new ways, not putting lipstick on the old obsolete way. Pouring gas on issues using an obsolete pump. Enough already
-Funny and cute….and like, dumb. Like OMG are BFF and so awesome. Like, SO awesome. This celebration and growth of mindlessness is probably America’s biggest challenge for anyone over 15. Enough already
–Focus groups and researching the unresearchable. If something you create needs to be researched before the fact, it’s not different enough. Like the old line—if you had a focus group in the 1890’s and asked travelers what they needed, they’d say faster horses. Enough already.
-Modern Business cultures. A pothole in media . A media company CAN BE an orchestra—a conductor/composer that focuses it, but more importantly a balance. Creative, programming, tech, distribution, legal, financial etc… its SO out of whack now, you have MBA’s making creative decisions, technos doing marketing, lawyers creating culture. the Apple’s have it right in many ways—-perfectly balancing art, science, crazy and vision. An orchestra. But filled with classic bullshit— Confused and political? Enough already
-Junk Culture. Pop culture’s evil twin that’s consuming brain cells at a historic rate. Ok if you’re 15. Over 15? Enough already -Bullshit. It’s everywhere. Definitely in media and entertainment business. In my opinion, EVERYONE is full of it until proven otherwise. I’ve never witnessed an era SO incredibly driven by bullshit as if it’s SOP. I can assure you that a great staff can be communicated via COMPLETE transparency vs. Corporate speak that impresses no-one other than yourself. Enough already.
The Born to Run factor. Do you like Born To Run? Yes! Do you want to hear it again? No— isn’t there something else you can play by Bruce? Of course Born to Run is classic and playable! But He’s recorded 100’s of songs! Unless a station is blatantly hit-song driven, ( that’s cool ) But if a station is artist driven—Enough already
The good part of all this is that its the new wild west and a historic time of opportunity and radically engaging change…and challenge THE ENOUGH ALREADY FACTOR