KCRW Floats my Boat, Rocks my Socks, and Chugs my Mugs
Yes, I am aware that the last limerick makes no sense, but it was the best I could do given the context of this post. I’m an avid fan of music. I haven’t posted much about music on this blog because for the most part I’ve tried to keep it technical and nerd related (that will soon change – for I need to tell the world about the new TV On The Radio album). But I figured this could be considered nerdy enough.
I’m a bit of a fan boy when it comes to community radio. I find non-profit radio to be far more interesting than commercial radio. The eclectic mix of programming, politics, and culture is a much welcomed style of programming in today’s big-box pre-fabricated snorefest commercial radio. While living in Saskatoon I hosted an early morning (read, 6am – 8am) show on the incredibly excellent CFCR radio. When I moved to Regina I felt a hole in my community heart. But my good friend Dale Zak filled that hole with KCRW, the incredible community radio station out of LA that streams at a mighty fine 128kbps. I was hooked, and I never looked back.
One day I was out walking around Regina, streaming KCRW to my iPhone over the 3G network using (the greatest iPhone application in the world!) Tuner. I was listening right in the middle of a big campaign pledge. Being involved in community radio for a while I understood how important these campaigns were, so I dialed up KCRW and sent them a 75$ donation. In exchange they would send me a mug and a t-shrit.
Well, I’m proud and excited to say that today I received my mug. So excited, that I decided to reveal my true identity with a series of beautiful photos of me and my mug. Enjoy!
What the heck is going on with Rogers Wireless?!
It’s 5:25pm on Tuesday September 9th, 2008 – I’ve been on hold with Rogers Wireless Tech Support for 15 minutes now. I keep getting bounced around – at one point I hear music like I’m on hold, the next minute I hear ringing. Now, this isn’t out of the ordinary – what is out of the ordinary, however, is that every now and then when it rings a complete non-tech-support stranger is on the line and they’re asking ME for something. Here’s a couple of conversations I just had while “on hold” with Rogers Wireless.
*I can hear the phone ringing as if I’m finally getting through to a human being. The person picks up. All I hear is background noise and something about a “Gate Change”*
“Who is this?!” I ask
“Oh, sorry – I’m in the Toronto airport just making a call to Regina.”
*click*
They hang up. I’m left horribly confused but I remain on hold. It starts to ring again. A guy with a thick East Indian accent picks up.
“Hey man” he says.
“Uh… sorry, is this Rogers Wireless Tech Support?” I ask.
“Uh… wha? No – sorry, I guess I have the wrong number.”
*click*
He also hangs up. And I immediately start to hear ringing again.
This time a woman answers.
“Hello?” She answers as if I called somebody at home.
“Yea… uh…hi – is this Rogers Wireless Tech Support?” I ask. She laughs.
“No – but this number is on my phone 3 or 4 times in the past 10 minutes. Are you tryi–” she gets cut off and I’m bounced to another call.
This time a young dude answers.
“Hello?”
“Yea, hi – this is really bizzar, please don’t hang up” I plead. “Is this Rogers Wireless Tech Support?”
“Haha!” he laughs. “You’re the 3rd call I’ve received like this, and everytime I try to make a call it goes to somebody completely different that I don’t know!”
I explain to him that I’ve been on hold for 20 minutes now, and I keep getting other people in what I assume is the Greater Toronto Area, on their cells, as if I called them, and then I’m whisked away to somebody else. He laughs the entire time, incredulous as to what’s happening. And then ZOOM! I’m disconnected from him and am off to another random stranger.
I literally had about a dozen conversations like this, and I was transferred to about 15 or so complete strangers.
This is, hands down, the weirdest tech support experience I’ve ever had. It’s like Rogers Wireless has introduced some kind of TeleTwilight Zone package…. I better not be getting dinged any long distance for this.
