Why I Tune Out the Radio

It's rare that I ever drive in silence but I find that less and less am I listening to the radio. Instead, I'm tuned in to my iPod or books on CD. Besides having more control over what I listen to, I've found the choice also keeps away from some of radio's big problems:

Too many commercials. I'm not just talking about the commercial breaks but the commercials that are inserted into the programing and segments. It's not just, "This segment is brought to you by Subway," but instead, "This hot topic is brought to you by Subway where every day you can eat fresh...." To paraphrase a famous quote about hockey: I turned on some commercials and heard a little radio. Or sometimes, stations will say, "We'll get to the news in one minute," and that minute is filled with commercials. I guess the idea is that a minute is amount of time that people will wait for something.

Too much repetition. One station in my area replays its morning drive program during the evening rush hour. Some will also replay the program in a "best of the week" version on the weekends. Sure it may save the station money but with so much repetition, is management giving people an excuse not to listen if they've heard it before.

Nothing new: The morning zoo format has been around for a while. In many cases, every station starts to sound a bit like another. You have your pranks/stunts, celebrity gossip news, and discussion about the differences between men and women. There's very little spontaneity or originality. Any type of community news or involvement is usually relegated to Sunday morning at 5 a.m.


With the economic slowdown, I don't see things getting much better for radio. In a way, I feel as if I've lost a longtime travel companion in my car. A long time ago, I spun records (yes, those things) at a college radio station. But like a disc being played too fast, radio just seems out of tune.

Beyond Annoying Cuss-tomer Service

I'm on hold right now for with my health insurance company. I understand that it's part of the process to sometimes have a wait to be connected to an operator. Indeed, when my call goes through, I want to have the attendant's full attention and have him or her give me as much time as I need.

But I have a problem with the way I'm on hold with Blue Cross & Shield of Florida. You have the background music playing, which is interesting as the song has no beginning or end. But worse is the fact that every 27 seconds I'm told that all operators are busy assisting other customers and I need to continue to hold. I picked up on that fact the first five times I heard the message. Every time I've since heard this message, I'm reminded that I'm having to waste my time with the call. Maybe after 4 minutes we can just hear that message every 60 seconds?

I've since been connected and at the end of the call, I asked if the employee knew about what it's like to be on hold with her company. I was told she didn't. That's a problem for employees to not understand an internal process that impacts customers. It's good to know what they've had to go through before they reach you.

This concept can apply to just about any process that involves customers. It's important to walk in their shoes so you can understand a grumpy mood by the time they reach you.