Culture Doesn't Override Identity

For years, I probably looked at Today's Top Hits, Hot Hits Canada and plenty of other playlists as often as I looked at the radio charts.

Not because I wanted to copy them.

They helped me understand what was happening more broadly. What people were discovering, replaying and talking about.

That mattered.

It just wasn't the final answer.

Today, there are more ways than ever to understand what's happening. Charts, playlists and social media all provide useful signals.

The information is everywhere.

The hard part isn't keeping up.

It's deciding what belongs.

People sometimes assume the job is choosing the biggest songs or reacting to whatever is happening in the moment.

In reality, that's just the starting point.

The real question is:

What does this mean for our station?

That's a very different conversation.

Sometimes a culturally significant song is exactly the right choice.

Sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes a song with modest streaming numbers can be exactly what a station needs.

Those aren't contradictions.

They're programming decisions.

I think we sometimes create a false choice.

Either radio is behind culture.

Or radio should simply mirror it.

Neither feels right to me.

Good programmers pay attention to culture.

They always have.

But they don't treat every cultural moment the same.

They ask another question.

Does this belong here?

One idea I've come back to again and again is this:

Culture creates opportunities. 

Identity decides which ones belong.

Every add says something.

Every omission says something too.

Choosing not to play a song isn't always missing the moment.

Sometimes it's protecting the story you're already telling.

That's what curation has always meant to me.

Not collecting everything.

Deciding what belongs.

Mike Lavallee