Even though I’ve had fancy VP titles through the years, I’ve never identified well with the “suits”… you know, the people from the corporate office who think they know your market and your product better than you do.  Even though I was enlisted to be one of them, I was never comfortable with it, because they were really the “best practices squad” – and the problem with “best practices” is that everybody does them.

The term “best practices” should scare you – because it essentially means to do what is safe and proven in other markets. It’s the exact opposite of what radio should be doing today. The safe, proven playbook has been duplicated by nearly every radio station in the country, and that’s why everybody sounds the same.

Welcome to DomTheodore.com. This is the place where we’ll talk about how to disrupt the radio industry.  How do we break the rules and build something unique so that listeners aren’t bored to death? How do we stand out in the sea of other media? How do we use new technology to grow audience? And most importantly, how do we break the model of “best practices” in a way that will likely piss off the suits, but the audience will LOVE it?

These are dangerous thoughts in the current environment. But they are necessary. We need to be thinking dangerously if we want to attract AND entertain listeners so they’ll keep coming back for more. And that means turning the paradigm on it’s head! That means putting talent in the foreground instead of the background. That means taking risks and breaking the accepted practices… and most importantly, it means having guts. Most companies won’t be up to the challenge – but for the precious few that are, big ratings and revenue are in your future.