Music Saved Us: Putting The Songs Back In The Front Seat

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Sometimes we take the best things in life for granted. We frequently go through a day without realizing what is important and why. While this is often extended to people, health, sustenance, and housing, I have focused great attention on another central to radio.

That great aspect of life is music. Two podcasts of mine, takin’ a walk and Music Saved Me exist because of what I believe music means to us. Music – and the stories behind the songs – can be one of the single most unifying forces in the world.

Step back from the role you play on a music station and consider the power of music to the masses. Whether you are a personality, music director, or manager think about the various “touch points “ in a day where music unifies and matters:

The driver stuck in traffic who needs a “pick me up” in the form of his favorite song at that moment that gets him further on to his destination.  The person disconnected at their cubicle at work from a disconnected workforce who craves some much-needed companionship that music can provide. The “mood enhancer” that someone needs from a song that lifts them up because of the memories and adrenaline it provides.

Music has a medicinal value which has been scientifically proven time and time again.

I don’t care what music format you exist in; you are sitting on a gold mine of treasured material and masterpieces. My question is, will you consider reawakening your love of music?

According to the book Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness edited by Renee Fleming, “We are in the midst of a vast mental health crisis around the world, including an epidemic of addiction. Joke Bradt is a leading researcher on chronic pain and music, an area that shows some of the greatest promise. Her research has found that music is more than just a distraction from pain, it also has long-lasting effects on the brain.”

I know choices are available in many forms for musical consumption, but I’m asking you to reinvestigate your relationship with the music you play on your station and embrace the importance of it. Music generally got you to the party in the first place, didn’t it?

This is why a meticulous personal touch in music log creation is still such a beautiful thing in the hands of a brilliant programmer. (Hello, WNEW PD Jim Ryan).

When did celebrating and embracing the music overtly become “old hat”? Possibly when excessive DJ chatter became a tune-out. Sure, something had to give, but did it have to be the showcasing of our love of music?

Time to rethink the power of music.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Buzz, brilliant thoughts. Imagine being in a club where the party atmosphere is enhanced by great songs and a great group of people sharing the “vibe”, lovin’ the music. Then, it stops. The room is deflated like a balloon that landed on a porcupine. You get the same feeling when a jock reads a PSA or an App promo over the intro to a song like “Every Breath You Take” while totally ignoring anything about the song. It happens more than not these days. Even today most movies and TV shows utilize appropriate music for the scene on the screen. Radio can (and should) paint a picture in the listener’s mind with appropriate words and production values. It’s not difficult, it just takes some planning.

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