The process

There is a recipe for creating great radio personalities and great radio stations. It's no different than making a cake.

The first thing you have to do is understand why you want to make a cake. It probably has to do with the fact that you like cake. A lot. So, you want to make the world's greatest cake. That's a good place to start. Why would you set out to make a mediocre cake?

If you're in a hurry you can make a cake the easy way, from a box. Add water and maybe an egg, stir it up and pour it into a pan. Stick it in the oven, wait awhile, and voila, you have a cake! It's a pretty good cake, too. Those people who make instant cake mixes have figured out how to make pretty good cakes on a massive scale. They make it possible for everybody to bake a pretty good cake.

But you won't be satisfied with just a pretty good cake. You don't want the same cake everybody has. You want to make the world's greatest cake and that, as you know, requires learning, practice and patience. And, it requires the finest ingredients.

As we leave our metaphor we understand that the finest ingredients necessary to make a great, one-of-a-kind radio station are great, unique people. Likewise, great radio people are honed and nurtured over time, if not from birth at least from the moment they discover their dream, their calling.

There's no getting around the need for patience, even for cakes from a box. Great radio and great radio personalities require a lifetime of learning and years of practice and loving patience.

Tomorrow: The ingredients.