Wednesday, November 7, 2012

"...No One Cares That You're The Finest Steak In Town....If The Majority Is In The Mood For Sushi..."

Predictions of victory have now, as is traditional, been replaced with Monday morning quarterbacking.
 
And anyone who thinks they have a specific lock on why Obama was the winner of this election, or Romney the loser depending on your glass half whatever preference, is simply showing off.
 
A presidential election is monumentally too complex to boil down to one ingredient.
 
Upon reading the following piece online today, though, a piece written by Republican journalists and supporters, one key section struck a chord.
 
And afforded me not necessarily a key reason for Romney's loss, but, at the very least, a tactical error on the part of his campaign that certainly damaged it.
 
 
Romney lost embarrassingly among young people, African-Americans and Hispanics, a brutal reminder for Republicans that their party is ideologically out of tune with fast-growing segments of the population.
 
Obama crushed Romney among Hispanic voters by a whopping 44 points, a margin of victory that likely propelled the president to victories in Nevada, Colorado and possibly Florida.
 
The stunning defeat alarmed Republicans who fear extinction unless the party can figure out how to temper the kind of hardline immigration rhetoric that Romney delivered during his Republican primary bid.
 
"Latinos were disillusioned with Barack Obama, but they are absolutely terrified by the idea of Mitt Romney," said GOP fundraiser Ana Navarro, a confidante to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio.
 
 
In 1999, after a fairly lengthy hiatus during which I worked in songwriting, publishing and producing in Nashville, I returned to broadcast radio.
 
Since 1999, I have worked as a broadcast personality/producer in five different states, have produced and hosted radio programs in four different musical formats, have hosted radio programs in three different parts of the broadcast day (they're called "dayparts" in the biz, but, basically, it's "morning show", "mid-days" and "afternoon drive time") and in each state, each format and each day part, my radio program has been rated the number one show in its time slot in its market.
 
I'm not offering that information as an attempt to self congratulate.
 
Rather, it is to prove a point I think the Romney campaign might, in that distasteful, but inevitable, hindsight, have been well served to consider.
 
Although my personality, sense of humor, sense of theatrics, personal style, etc, etc remain, obviously, pretty much a constant, the one thing that I believe allows me to take my work to the head of the pack is an understanding that while I gotta be me, there is something equally, if not more, important that I must achieve in order to "win out" over my competitors, to get people to "choose" me, as opposed to others.
 
A "rule of thumb", as it were, when it comes to capturing the ears, and hopefully, hearts of others.
 
You gotta know your audience.
 
Because I work in radio, you can't "see" the research, preparation, production, analyzing, tweaking, re-tweaking, et al that goes on behind the scenes of my shows, but, please take my word for it, it is an ongoing work in progress. I try very hard to "listen" to what works for people, what resonates with people, what attracts people.
 
And then I fashion my show, the best way I know how, so as to attract the largest numbers of listeners.
 
Cynics who see where this metaphor is going might argue that politicians don't have the luxury of "tailoring" their show to the voters. Doing that, in the extreme, is nothing more than pandering.
 
Fair point.
 
But beside it.
 
I don't pander to my audience. I don't, for example, use very off color humor with one format's audience while refraining from using it with another.
 
I don't use it. Period.
 
Primarily because I personally think that approach is the lazy way out.
 
If you can't be witty, then just talk about the titty.
 
Not my style.
 
But I do make every effort to try and "listen" to the audience, hear what they like, hear what they enjoy, hear what they might find entertaining and informative.
 
It's been a lot of work and a lot of trial and error.
 
But I must have locked on to the formula.
 
Because my audiences tend to be appreciative, loyal and constant.
 
Mitt Romney made, if no other, at least one serious tactical error in his bid to become President.
 
He presented himself to the American public, all of it, as a specific and certain kind of performer.
 
And, in so many words, sent the message "this is who I am....love me and listen to me....or don't."
 
In fairness, a lot of people did love him.
 
And listened.
 
Just not quite as many as loved and listened to the other guy.
 
I really do understand, and relate to, Mitt Romney's need to be Mitt Romney.
 
Cause Mitt gotta be Mitt.
 
I totally get it.
 
I gotta be me.
 
But you gotta know your audience.
 
 
 
 

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