Homepage » Radio Basics » A blank canvas approach?
A blank canvas approach?
Should radio broadcasters start with an empty programme to fill, or should their content be dictated from a higher level?
I've always advocated that radio can never be a 'blank canvas'. Creative people are not those who start with a blank canvas, but those who have a restriction in their time, their budget and their guidelines and still deliver an original product which meets the criteria that was set for them.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, radio is about the whole product, not just the bit you do. You might think you create the best, most original radio show under the sun, but if you are playing African tribe music when most of your listeners expect a top forty mix, then unfortunately they are going to tune away.
And that's the second point. For every one masterpiece that artists like Michelangelo and Raphael produced there are probably hundreds of canvases where they got it wrong. You can do that in painting - you can quite happily be a painter and yet never have to display your work. You can't do that with radio, every piece of work you do is not only on public display, but intended only for public display. Every time you pick up your brush you are being watched (or listened to) by thousands of people. A blank canvas approach assumes you have that ability to make errors to find the genius - with radio you don't.
That's why I'll always argue that you have to understand the rules of radio and why they exist. All the greats, and I'm sure you can think of a few, understood the rules of radio. Yep, they broke them, and I have no problem with the rules being broken; but it's understanding why the rule was there that means you can break it without losing your audience.