Play Lists, by Ray McCormack

Top forty radio was a staple across the country years ago playing a limited number of songs on a continuous repetitive cycle. While popular, and designed for mass consumption it lacked creative expression. Preset song lengths along with restricted DJ participation were the rule with few exceptions. Not everyone found it banal because variations of it can still be heard on radio today. When we think of fire service education and teaching, a lot of it is on a restricted loop too.

I’m not against structure. You need it to deliver equity for presenters. Subjects; however, should be presented in formats that best suit their relevance to the listener. When every class is a set block of time, education can suffer. Not every class should be the same length. I recently designed a conference with this in mind although the idea has been rattling around in my head for years. Some classes suffer from excess time often becoming repetitive and preachy. Classes can be split in half offering two sides of a “topic coin” or co-taught.