Try, Try Again. So the saying goes. And there is a lot to be said for perseverance. Most successful people will tell you that they were not overnight successes.

But trying harder is no guarantee of success. As a wise man once said: “Brilliant execution of a flawed strategy will get you nowhere.” (Oh wait…I said that!)

I’m thinking about this because of the Chicago White Sox — you know, the new champs of baseball.. I know what I’m talking about, because I’ve “suffered” as a Sox fan for four decades. And I know that this year’s Sox represented a significant change in strategy…

The White Sox of recent years relied on power, with sluggers like Frank Thomas, Carlos Lee, Magglio Ordonez, Jose Valentin and Paul Konerko. Those Sox weren’t aggressive on the base paths… they sat back and waited for home runs. And through those years, the Sox were second to the less-talented but fundamentally-sound Minnesota Twins.

But (as a wise man once said)” “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.” So for ‘05, the Sox decided to change their approach. They dropped Valentin (a defensive nightmare), lost Ordonez to free agency and traded Carlos Lee to Milwaukee for Scott Podsednik — a player with little power, but a speed demon on the base paths.

“We wanted to make a strong effort this off season to improve our pitching and defense,” White Sox general manager Ken Williams said. “Our goal was to field a team that is more speed-oriented and offers a more consistent run-scoring attack. Scott is exactly that type of offensive player.”

With aggressive base running, timely hitting and solid defense, the Sox dominated their division, holding first place from beginning to end and finishing 16 games ahead of the Twins. They swept through the playoffs, losing only one game and are now champs for the first time in 88 years.

What did this have to do with radio? More than you might think. Because all too often, stations soldier on with their strategies despite a lack of success. They make small changes…moving spot sets, changing their positioning lines, juggling air talent, etc. But if they don’t make a fundamental change — like abandoning a losing format approach — listeners won’t even notice.

Brilliant execution of a flawed strategy will get you nowhere. Your station may have the best-possible execution of Hot A/C (for example), but if Hot A/C isn’t an winning strategy in your market, it won’t matter. Changing your frequency identification from “103″ to “103-3″ (or whatever) is not going to change your fortunes. Just like the White Sox, you need to try something different.

Or, as another wise man once said: “You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”

Why should successful stations should do research? Because research can help them stay successful. It can tell them whether their music mix is on target, whether their personalities are appealing, and if they have any vulnerabilities that a potential competitor could exploit.

Beyond these obvious benefits, though, is the “bigger picture”… Research can help managers better understand all of the reasons why their station is successful! Often, execs don’t fully grasp the reasons for their brand’s success, with potentially disastrous results.

New Coke is a prime example. It was Coca-Cola’s response to losing the “Pepsi Challenge” — a series of ads featuring consumers who preferred Pepsi in blind taste tests. Coke’s chemists developed a formula that could reverse the preference. After nearly 200,000 taste tests, Coca Cola’s Chairman announced New Coke in Spring of ‘85, calling it “the surest move ever made.”

But consumers said “no” to New Coke”…

“Changing Coke is like God making the grass purple or putting toes on our ears or teeth on our knees.”

“Like spitting on the flag.”

“Next week, they’ll be chiseling Teddy Roosevelt off the side of Mount Rushmore.”

Coke management — fixated on winning taste tests — had ignored other research it had — research that suggested changing Coke would break an emotional bond with many of its consumers. Said Coke’s President: “We did not understand the deep emotions of so many of our customers for Coca-Cola.” What resulted was one of the biggest busts in business history.

Coke was more than carbonated, colored, sweetened water. And listeners’ emotional reactions to WBCS-FM’s switch to Jack back in June suggests that it was more than just its music, DJ talk and commercials…

“I came home and I turned the radio on and it was not there. I thought I was going to faint . . . I really am sick. Part of my family is gone.”

“It was a crushing blow. I grew up on WCBS-FM, it was the station my parents listened to when I was a child and it was the station I listened to as an adult….It was the first pre-programmed station in every car radio, in every car, my family has owned. Now that is gone.”

“It’s the last thing New York needs.”

“Not all city radio stations feel like a part of the city,” said radio veteran Jonathan Schwartz. “WCBS-FM did.”

Infinity had logical reasons for making the change. Anyone involves with Oldies station knows that the format’s listeners are moving up and out of 25-54. Jack was an opportunity for WCBS-FM to adopt a younger, newer version of Oldies.

And format changes often bring protests. Many times, we encourage the controversy as a way to promote the new format!

But so far, the results for WCBS-FM are not positive. In the latest Arbitrend, the station’s 12+ share was 1.7…half of what it was prior to the change. Younger demos won’t compensate for that big of a decline.

I wonder if Infinity entirely grasped that WCBS-FM was more than an Oldies station, any more than Coke execs realized that their brand was way more than a soft drink.