There was no way to know it at the time but when I look back on the glorious decade I spent in and around the 40 acres in Austin that make up the University of Texas, I realize that those years were when I was most tapped into the no-reservations belief that I was part of something big and awesome that had real meaning.
Most of you reading this know I spent a significant chunk of my early adult life in the radio world. That path began at UT and took me to radio stations around Central Texas and Oklahoma (briefly, thankfully), where I got to bask in the good times and high tides that came with delivering great music to the world in the pre-streaming world.
And while the free albums, concert tickets, and elbow rubbing that came with those years were great, the deeper thing that drove me was a simple but iron-strong belief in the mission of what my brothers in broadcast and I were doing; that delivering a great radio product day after day was essential for the good of the people who could hear us, and we were willing to fall down dead working to give that to them.
Chances are we’ve all had some degree of feeling like we’re serving a higher calling with what we do in our business on a day-after-day basis. After all, money is great and certainly essential to keep bills paid and food on the table. But there’s got to be more involved than “gettin’ dem checks” to keep us all striving to do the absolute best and reaching to get better in how we perform for the people who depend on us.
The simple fact is that might mean that the Bigger Than Me mission of what we believe in changes as the years pile up.
For yours truly, the shift happened as my time in the radio world showed me that people we once thought had it all figured out are fallible, and that the once-sturdy boat of the broadcast radio world could get riddled with holes pretty dang fast, thanks to YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, podcasts and a bunch of other technologies that haven’t even been developed yet. When that happens, it’s easy to trade faith and passion for comfortable stability, which also means it’s probably time to look for new things to get excited about.
I’ve been lucky. A little over a decade ago, I found out that helping small businesses be the best they can be was a calling that excited me and kept me going as if I’d just sucked down a liter of espresso. I truly believe that the world is a better place when more people have a seat at the table. In the business world, that means helping mom-and-pop businesses stay in business so they can shape their world and serve their communities instead of bowing down to a future run by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
Do I still love radio? Of course! It’s still one of the most powerful ways people connect with their community and create a shared experience. And the people who continue to thrive there are absolute masters at adapting to a changing media landscape.
But you’ve got to know when and where you fit best and be able to spot something bigger up the road where you’re needed most.