Recently I wrote about the folly of forcing talented radio personalities to follow on-air formulas.

American radio is held in high esteem by other radio people around the world.

You’re familiar with the stereotype of a consultant as someone who can’t make it in the industry and, instead, declares herself to be “a consultant?”

While some of my best friends really are talented, successful radio consultants, the negative stereotype of the know-nothing, blowhard radio programming consultant is supported by a number of living examples.

I began consulting/coaching radio stations in North America 25 years ago. Six years later I took on my first European client. By now I’ve worked with radio people in 37 countries.

And still I’m occasionally astonished when a radio person on another continent refers to “X, the famous American radio consultant” — and it’s someone I’ve never heard of.

Or maybe I have heard of them — barely. Someone who had a fringe career in the U.S., moved to Europe or Asia and declared himself “an American radio consultant.”

Hey, a person’s gotta make a living, right?

Here’s What Happens When They Don’t Understand The Structure.

Example #1 (Music Programming):

A guy worked as an engineer for a very successful music station. The music was the star; it was a product-driven format.

He moved to Europe and, under the guise of “consultant,” put that music format on-air at an existing station. Before leaving the U.S., he had diligently copied all the music clocks, rotations, etc.

Big ratings success.

For eighteen months.

And then the ratings took a dive.

What happened?

Well, it was a product-driven format. And the product flow changed. Fewer hit songs. Fewer hit artists.

The architect of the format, back in the U.S., knew how to modify the format to accommodate the product flow changes.

That architect saw the format not as a magic pill but rather as a living, ever-changing organism. That person was able to adapt, and that station’s ratings didn’t suffer at all.

But the clone in Europe? The “consultant” didn’t know why the format worked…or even how.

He knew how to read the blueprint, but he didn’t understand how or why it was designed that way.

Upcoming: True example of a Copy & Paste, Crash & Burn radio program….