When I first became a program director years ago, naively, myself and number of staff members were certain that all that ailed the little radio station we were at was the lack of snappy, fun, upbeat music and a brighter, more contemporary presentation. Much like the 2000 Lincoln LS, which was a complete departure from the Lincoln Continental that it replaced, I transformed the radio station into something radically different from what it was. In doing so I learned quickly that doing what you believe to be right, hard work and the best of intentions ultimately mean nothing if the results of your efforts fall short of expectations.
The rear wheel drive Lincoln LS was introduced in late 1999 as a new for 2000 model and was as radically different from the Lincoln Continental it ultimately replaced as that Continental was a departure from the car it replaced, the Fox bodied Continental of 1982-1987. Borrowing literally every clichéd luxury car design cue of the time while utilizing the famed Ford DEW98 platform that also underpinned the Jaguar S-Type, at the time Ford owned Jaguar, the Lincoln LS appeared primed for great success. What's more, the car was lauded in the automotive press; Motor Trend even named it "Car of the Year" for model year 2000. The Lincoln LS, much like my work when I first became a program director, was heralded a savior since it appeared to be everything that everyone wanted in a contemporary luxury car. Heralded a savior by well meaning supporters without anything truly tangible to back up that salvation.
Radio station program directors are judged by their radio station's ratings performance so you can imagine my horror when the ratings on the station went down instead of up after I made a myriad of seismic changes. Changes I, again, were certain would garner high ratings. Ratings were so bad that they went down to a level lower than what they had been when the station was under the guise of the person I replaced. At the stern request of my boss, I (reluctantly) sought consultation with programming experts and "righted the ship". At first, ratings returned to a level somewhat higher than they were before I made changes but under my stewardship, save for the occasional ratings wobble up, the station was never able to consistently achieve the ratings success that I was certain it was going to have once I was in charge.
Radio station program directors are judged by their radio station's ratings performance so you can imagine my horror when the ratings on the station went down instead of up after I made a myriad of seismic changes. Changes I, again, were certain would garner high ratings. Ratings were so bad that they went down to a level lower than what they had been when the station was under the guise of the person I replaced. At the stern request of my boss, I (reluctantly) sought consultation with programming experts and "righted the ship". At first, ratings returned to a level somewhat higher than they were before I made changes but under my stewardship, save for the occasional ratings wobble up, the station was never able to consistently achieve the ratings success that I was certain it was going to have once I was in charge.
To us "car people", the Lincoln LS certainly appeared to do everything right when it was first introduced. While the styling was clichéd, it was far more contemporary looking than the Continental and, as if this was the most important thing in the world - it featured rear wheel drive. Performance dynamics were splendid and while the sticker price was high, it was somewhat below rival makes and models from Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes and Audi. What could go wrong?
Right from the start, the LS had two major problems. First, Lincoln had never had any where near the cache that even Cadillac once had and for them to market any automobile at luxury car buyers and not offer anything supremely different or better than what Lexus and BMW offered, for example, was tantamount to planning to fail. That's why the Lincoln Navigator was so successful, Asia and Europe didn't offer anything like it. Second, as good as the car was, it just wasn't as good as the offerings it was allegedly targeted to compete with. To make matters worse, the car had numerous quality issues. Three strikes, you're out, Lincoln. Despite the best of intentions, Ford pulled the plug on the car after the 2006 model year with just over 250,000 sold. Decent numbers but not nearly what Ford had projected sales to be.
I realized years later that I faced many problems programming that little radio station that were completely beyond my control. The largest one being that due to the size of the station relative to the market it competed directly against, there was and remains no way to ultimately succeed. One night the person who promoted me into the position, who had long left the station, took me to dinner and over a bottle of wine let me vent my frustrations. My biggest frustration being that no matter what I did nothing seemed to work despite what I believed, and honestly still believe to this day, to be the right thing to do. That old boss, supportive, lovably acerbic and candid as always purred at me between sips of Merlot, "you know what they say...the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
I realized years later that I faced many problems programming that little radio station that were completely beyond my control. The largest one being that due to the size of the station relative to the market it competed directly against, there was and remains no way to ultimately succeed. One night the person who promoted me into the position, who had long left the station, took me to dinner and over a bottle of wine let me vent my frustrations. My biggest frustration being that no matter what I did nothing seemed to work despite what I believed, and honestly still believe to this day, to be the right thing to do. That old boss, supportive, lovably acerbic and candid as always purred at me between sips of Merlot, "you know what they say...the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
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