Where To Go From "Perfect?"

I've been listening to a lot of country radio morning personalities lately, as last week's "The Perfect Morning Show" recapped.

For most of us, the quickest path to success is to follow that kind of blueprint, designed to make a lot of local people like you personally by making listeners a big part of everything you do.

Once you've accomplished that, there's a different path which only a very few manage to take, that can create extraordinary long term market dominance.

Make the kind of folks who don't "live" in your community hate you.

That's the only way to take "like" to "love" for the majority of folks who live in your town, and it's a risky path, requiring deep knowledge of local values combined with a degree of unquestioned personal authenticity.

Before you testify to your personal faith journey, question whether Whitney Houston deserves flags to be flown at half-staff or create your own make-believe brand of beer, you must really get to know your own passions as well as those of the majority of your target listeners.

Or, simply take a risk and hope that it works.

Odds are, with that approach, you'll fail, but if you don't, you'll go from "striving for perfection" to "exceptional."

Not many of us have the courage to climb that high or the ability to do it every day, which is why the ones who do so and make it work have audience shares which very few build and maintain.