Listening Window

Writing

Observations on how a station holds together.

Essays on station identity, music programming and the experience that accumulates across a real stretch of listening.

01

Station identity

How a station establishes a clear world—and what happens when its elements tell different stories.

  1. 01

    Culture Doesn't Override Identity

  2. 02

    Why Good Stations Don’t Stand Out

  3. 03

    Why Stations Feel “Off” (Even When Everything Looks Right)

02

Sequencing & momentum

The movement, contrast and context created from one moment to the next.

  1. 01

    What Does the Listener Need Next?

  2. 02

    A Station Should Feel Like a Journey, Not a Rollercoaster

  3. 03

    Radio Knows Better. It Just Doesn’t Always Sound Like It.

  4. 04

    The Room Isn’t The Hotel

03

Music strategy

Thinking beyond individual songs to the experience the music creates together.

  1. 01

    Songs Have Jobs

  2. 02

    Music Tells the First Story

  3. 03

    Why Did That Play?

  4. 04

    The Paper Isn't the Experience

04

Listener experience

What becomes clear when we pay attention to the whole listening experience.

  1. 01

    Who Decides What’s Worth Skipping?

  2. 02

    Did Anything Leave A Mark?

  3. 03

    The Listening Window: What I’m Listening For

  4. 04

    After Listening to More Than 50 Stations, Here’s What Still Makes Radio Work