1 of 1- laffin
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Sad but true.
It's obvious today's radio station news rooms are becoming less important, and in some case obsolete, to their corporation owners. Case in point, the recent gutting of the renowned CFRB newsroom and this morning, one music host of the morning show on Lite 92 Brantford read the 8:00 o'clock news BRIEFS, over in less than a minute. Good thing today's listener really doesn't want to know what's happening. As a former ND, it's sad but true. It's a perfect example of the corporation's efforts to meet a bottom line. Another example, I recall a couple of years ago I had to call a Rogers station to enquire about the broadcast sked of a commercial package I recorded for a service club. I asked the young lady who answered my call for the Traffic Department. She said, "What's that?" Sad but true.
- RadioActive
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Re: Sad but true.
At least you got an answer. I recently had to call a certain radio station I won't mention and I got an automated recording telling me that, unless I knew the exact extension of the person I was trying to reach, I had to leave a voice mail in the completely ignored "general mailbox." Exactly when that voice mail would ever be listened to was never made clear. And they never call you back in any event.
But it wasn't just that. If you DO dial the extension you want, you're greeted by - surprise! - more voice mail, telling you they can't take your call right now and to leave a message. And, yep, they almost never get back to you.
Email is a little better, but it can take days to get a response.
This is a cost saving and horrendous trend, where companies (and it's not just media, although they should know better) that deal with the public and are happy to take their money, refuse to actually engage with them. I guess we're just not worth the effort. After these experiences, I find they're not, either.
- RadioActive
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Re: Sad but true.
laffin wrote:
I asked the young lady who answered my call for the Traffic Department. She said, "What's that?" Sad but true.
Maybe you should have said, "they're the guys who tell you what's happening on the roads." Then they'd connect you to Jody Thornton!
- RadioAaron
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Re: Sad but true.
. Another example, I recall a couple of years ago I had to call a Rogers station to enquire about the broadcast sked of a commercial package I recorded for a service club. I asked the young lady who answered my call for the Traffic Department. She said, "What's that?" Sad but true.
That call really should be made to the sales rep. There's a very good chance the traffic manager works from home and/or in another city.
- PeterY
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Re: Sad but true.
On the subject of being able to talk to an actual person, I was surprised to speak to someone in less than 5 minutes when I contacted Bell a few months ago, to continue a minuscule discount on my package. He was polite, very willing to assist, however the roosters in the background were drowning him out. I finally asked him, “Norman” (his name, I was Mr. Peter to him for some reason), “you’ve got some competition that’s interfering. Do you have roosters?” “Oh yes Mr. Peter, I do have a few.” I said, “Well, saves on investing in an alarm clock I suppose. Any chance of closing your window while we chat?”
Funny thing is, I was just talking to an acquaintance this week who had the same experience: Roosters. I say it’s a new barnyard plot that Bell has hatched to avoid taking calls.
- RadioActive
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Re: Sad but true.
Hearing those roosters should have been a wake-up call...
O.K., I'll stop now.
- AspectRatio
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Re: Sad but true.
,,,I had to leave a voice mail in the completely ignored "general mailbox." Exactly when that voice mail would ever be listened to was never made clear. And they never call you back in any event.
My even bigger pet peeve than the general mailbox where your message might go into a void and no word on when it would ever be listened to/checked/followed-up on is the recording "This voicemail box is full"! Even worse is when there's a "custom" greeting mentioning to leave it after the tone and that tone is replaced by the "full" message. You clearly know it's a company that's stopped caring or not even aware that they have that general mailbox - something getting lost in staff transition/turnover maybe, or a phone system not particularly working well for them.
A close runner-up is "This voice messaging system [or mailbox] is not configured" and that's the only message on the "general" box for months/years at a time. Pretty amazing they can put these things out to the wider public world in these states!
- RadioActive
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Re: Sad but true.
Yes and how is it that those menus have always just changed when you call? How many times do they update that thing?
- In Phase
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Re: Sad but true.
I was Mr. Peter to him for some reason), “you’ve got some competition that’s interfering. Do you have roosters?” “Oh yes Mr. Peter, I do have a few.”
Bell's support call centre is in the Philippines
- RadioAaron
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Re: Sad but true.
I asked the young lady who answered my call for the Traffic Department. She said, "What's that?" Sad but true.
That is sad, someone working at a radio statio in any capacity not knowing what the Traffic Dept is. That said, not sure what station you're referring to, but Traffic is most likely done in Toronto for it.
Traffic has generally been centralized to less expensive markets. I think Bell is Hamilton or Kitchener. Either way, that department shouldn't be listener or client facing.