Jared got in the back seat and admitted he stunk. I took a break between Zoom meetings and decided to use my rideshare skills to clear my head and find a story.

I found one during that eight-minute drive as Jared told me about his daily living situation. It brought back a memory of one of my favorite tactics used by a radio station’s advertising department/street team: the Alice Ambulance.

“Hey, man. We all stink. It’s August in Middle Tennessee! That’s why I have this in the car,” I replied as he apologized for his smell. I held up a can of Old Spice Swagger Spray and he giggled as he suddenly felt more comfortable.

“In a van down by the river!”

He told me about the limited parking around the Airbnb and I assumed he was visiting Nashville. “So where is home?” I asked. “Oh, I live here when I’m not out and about. I go take a shower,” he replied. Now I was confused and he noticed. “Home is where you picked me up. The ambulance was parked on the street,” he said.

Jared lives in a truck/van that was formerly used as an ambulance for medical emergencies. I took him to Planet Fitness to shower because his home, the ambulance, lacked modern amenities.

If we’d had more time, I would have told him about the Alice ambulance. It was part of the road fleet of Alice 106/KALC Denver, now Alice 105.9. I worked across the street at the sister station. When the idea of ​​buying a used ambulance came up at a department head meeting in the mid-’90s, I’m sure my reaction was something like, “That’s really cool.”

The DOC

Years later, I had to present a budget to a CEO of another company in another market. When we got to HR, there was an entry called “DOC.” I said nothing, hoping he wouldn’t notice. He did. That’s why they’re CEOs.

“What is this DOC?” he asked. I explained that it was the Director of Cool, a full-time employee with no other responsibilities – no airtime, music planning, production or marketing/promotional duties – nothing. The successful candidate would walk around and say, “You know what would be cool?” His thoughts and ideas for the station group would be his job. Our job would be to reject or approve those ideas and then put them into action.

This idea came about because the person I had in mind for the title was already working for me. When I would walk into his studio to talk about producing the spot, Marc Mitchell’s conversation would often go along the lines of, “You know what would be cool?”

Mitchell had a solid on-air background at Top 40 stations in Washington DC, Boston and Detroit during the format’s heyday. He rarely talked about those experiences unless I took him there. He wanted to discuss today any ideas we could implement now to strengthen the brand.

This fantasy job idea would work if its only job was to think and create nonsense and brilliance. The position was dead and an easy target in the budget review. Some would say I put it there as a budget tactic to keep something else I wanted. Not really. I was honest about the power this position could generate if managed properly.

It wasn’t always better

The state of the radio industry in 2024 is dramatic, strange, confusing, and sometimes boring. Before you roll your eyes, this is not an article about “how it used to be.” Let me be clear and say that not every station was better 20 or 30 years ago. There were bad products and brands on the AM/FM frequencies.

How many well-programmed and well-marketed stations failed back then? There is a who’s who list of these ventures… that were only competing with other radio stations in the game of attracting and retaining listeners.

Today we fight for the attention of a person exposed to FB, TikTok, IG, Threads, X, YouTube, smart speakers, and the rabbit holes of Google and Bing, all on the same device whose attention we hope to capture with our broadcaster or corporate app.

We need more memorable on-air and streaming content, crazier promotions, silly street team antics, and adventurous formats with people willing to put something on air that grabs our attention.

Oh, and I’m well aware of the dire economics of the industry: the recent layoffs at iHeart, the rumors of more bankruptcies, the mid-sized companies struggling with underperforming stocks, and the delistings. It’s beyond most of our pay scales and can be demoralizing if we read too much.

Time of revival

That’s why I’m reviving the fantasy idea of ​​the “Director of Cool” job. But this time it’s different. This time it’s you and I adding that task to our encumbered titles. Who’s thinking about another station vehicle? I’m sure someone has calculated the price of a vehicle wrap for the Tesla truck.

Who revives old radio stunts like living on a billboard until your team wins or the strike ends? Important difference: We don’t do it because it worked 25 years ago. We do it with the goal: “What would be cool today?”

However, the staff and budget are smaller and sometimes nonexistent, so the team has to think, try, fail and try again. We need champions in the hallways and Zoom meetings to encourage the nonsense in the search for brilliance.

The power of radio

Last week, Steve Allan of Research Director, Inc. blogged about his company’s focus on the power of radio. “Yes, we are still the ratings experts, but as representatives of the industry, we believe we can help restore the perception that radio has value. That radio has life. And more importantly – that radio has a future.” said Allan. You can read his blog here.

Radio is powerful in 2024. Those pesky spot charges continue to bring value to customers. Ask the non-com stations if radio is powerful. These stations stay on the air because listeners give money to a free medium. It’s crazy, but it’s the power of connection through music, news, sports, fun and games and a voice.

When I took Jared to Planet Fitness, he said, “Maybe I’ll meet you on the way back and we can finish the conversation.” The ability to connect with listeners hasn’t changed; only the conditions have changed. Let’s create more cool ways to facilitate those interactions.

Ron Harrell is a columnist for Barrett Media and a contemporary consultant specializing in radio, streaming and podcast optimization. He has worked in every role on the programming side throughout his career, focusing on management and business leadership in the post-Telecom Act era. Ron has held executive roles for media groups including Chancellor Media, ABC Radio, CBS Radio, Hubbard Broadcasting, WAY Media and Hope Media Group.

Anyone interested in learning more about his company, Harrell Media Group, is invited to email [email protected].