Whatever Happened to the B-HAGs?
They weren't just goals.
They weren't just big goals.
They were Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Like Bigfoot, they used to be spotted all over public radio land. Like Bigfoot, they are seldom spoken of anymore.
When we had our swagger in public radio, we talked of doing all sorts of great things. We committed to goals. Seemingly impossible goals.
But we believed that if we set the goal, a real and measurable goal, we'd find a way. And if we didn't quite get there, we still be better for trying.
The B-HAGs are coming back.
They will be too big to ignore.
Watch out.
They weren't just big goals.
They were Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Like Bigfoot, they used to be spotted all over public radio land. Like Bigfoot, they are seldom spoken of anymore.
When we had our swagger in public radio, we talked of doing all sorts of great things. We committed to goals. Seemingly impossible goals.
But we believed that if we set the goal, a real and measurable goal, we'd find a way. And if we didn't quite get there, we still be better for trying.
The B-HAGs are coming back.
They will be too big to ignore.
Watch out.
posted by RadioSutton at 9:54 PM
3 Comments:
That's an interesting interpretation of this article given all the big numbers that are thrown around in it. Are you suggesting that raising more than $8 million in corporate support and meeting membership goals while cutting on-air fundraising by half happened by accident?
There's one other interesting note here. Both WBUR and WUNC had terrific Arbitron surveys... just 6 months after dropping The Connection. I'm not saying it is causal, just pointing it out.
Aaron -- I can't find any data showing WBUR making $12-$15 million per year in underwriting. Could you provide a link to your source on this?
As for your statement "six months does not a casual trend in Arbitrons make," I agree. So how can you call one Arbitron survey "dominant ratings?" That would make a lower book a fall from dominance.
Third, a prudent manager would note the cooincidence of higher ratings for WBUR and WUNC without the Connection and study it further. So, yes, it is legitimate to point it out without suggestion causality.
A finally, what's wrong with commiting to achieve something big for all of public radio? Are you saying we shouldn't try to better ourselves in a big way?
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for being such a thoughtful contribtor to the blog. The dialogue is terrific.
One point of clarification. I'm talking about big goals for the industry. Sure, stations should think big too, but my main point is our industry has no defined goals. We talk about all the things we want to become and no one is willing to commit to a measurable outcome.
It's easy to succeed when you get to define success after the fact.
There's a lot of that type of thinking today in public radio.
I don't think it serves us well.
On another note, this is the third time since 1990 that WBUR has embarked on a "less fundraising" campaign. I'm not criticizing it because I'm a strong advocate of it. In fact, I helped with the first two efforts. But it is worth pointing out that the station cuts the drives, experiences fundraising creep, and cuts the drives again. I'm actually stunned that the Boston media missed that.
It reminds me of the advertising for Jerry's Sub Shops here in the DC area. For nearly a decade, Jerry's would run an ad campaign at least once a year touting "50% more steak in the steak and cheese." By my calculations, the cheese steak should have been 38 times larger after 10 years. But it never worked out that way.
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