Words Rule

I did a presentation for the University of Richmond Business students awhile back called “Secrets from the Creative Side” that dealt with filling them in on what the non MBA creative types are thinking. Three of them came up to me and said they were enlightened because I talked like a civilian rather than an industry pundit.  They have good BS radar.

A word happens on the street, and helps define the state of culture, while media usually stays in the focus group, oblivious to them until they’re behind the curve. On radio, TV and in print, there’s a kind of media speak that speaks to everyone but the user….and a user will never evolve to a fan unless ya talk the talk. In radio—Breakthrough stations that were the soundtracks to their streets,  always evolved “Radio Speak” to “Street Speak” as a powerful component in their strategy…..a little history:

In the 50’s, Radio was the transmitter of pop language. Borrowed from the beatnik and urban cultures, the truly influential DJs like Alan Freed peppered their raps with “Man, Cool, Dig It, and even Daddy-O”…..They talked urban street…trite today,  but in 1956, it connected big time. Even the name ‘rock n roll’ was an urban expression for SEX…

In the 60’s, cool stations once again borrowed from the urban streets. “Boss Radio, Rip Off, and Bitchin’ didn’t come from a focus group or some ad agency wordsmith.

In the 70’s, ”Far Out, Oh Wow, bogus, decent and bad ass” we’re right out of the late 60s underground.

THEN—In the 80s and 90s, most radio stations evolved from “Street Talk” to “Radio Speak”……The Most, The Best, Home of, The New, etc…

It was part of the research  revolution that just went too far! It helped create a very sterile sound. I was at focus groups where we’d actually “test” street terms. You can imagine how that went. Not well. What tested well was “The Best, The Most, Home of, The New etc…” Or at least the perception of management was that –of course those focus groups were 30 years ago, and those terms are STILL everywhere.

This all fueled a setback for talkin’ the streets not the marketing report.  The result was a predictably disposable attempt at cool…aka “focus group cool”—that “research driven” drivel that the sheep feed on.

We’re all about eye ear brain not detergent. THE LINES GOT BLURRED AS STATIONS MARKETED THEMSELVES AS CONSUMER PRODUCTS RATHER THAN ENTERTAINMENT VEHICLES…..going for the ratings via sloganized short cuts rather than LIVING the street and being an extension of that with undeniable authenticity.

Words? Make it up. Seriously. Media has the power to make up…fabricate words. Say them and they will come. In fact, I doubt if a well scrubbed teenybopper in 1965 knew that when she was saying “Wow! That new Tommy James record is Boss” she was technically saying “Wow! That new Tommy James Record is good heroin” (Boss was a drug term originally from the 30s). Anyways, what I’m saying is, MEDIA IS POWERFUL. You say it…and if it “sounds” right, they’ll use it.  It’s ok to be original,  or borrow from the roads of reality .  Again, you can’t trick people,  words need to be an element of completeness — simply throwing in words without the soul behind them,  and it’ll backfire into fakeness.

Speaking of creating your words—RECLAIM COOL NEW LANGUAGE FROM THE COMPUTER PEOPLE. —Hey, they  own cool culture! And those guys are brilliant at coming up with cool names: Spamming, Hacking, I.M. Cool words that stick.

Of course, the Hip Hop Culture OWNS word invention.  Walk the walk and talk the talk.