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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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A MESSAGE TO OUR LISTENERS: THANKS FOR NOTHING Arnie and I admit it; we like to give our audience a hard time. It's fun picking on them, making them look silly, and sometimes, just being downright rude or mean to them in the interest of entertaining everyone else (except Dawn, who thinks we're just "punks"). There's no doubt that after a dozen years of dominating the Reno radio market and 7 years of destroying the Sacramento airwaves that we've built up quite an allegiance with out listeners. We promise to show up 46 weeks per year and entertain the shit out of you, and we expect nothing in return other than crappy phone calls and lame e-mails. Conversely, we ask for nothing from you either. In other words, we have never taken the fact that you will listen for granted. We know that you listen only because you're entertained, not because you have to or are obligated to. Therefore, it's our job to stay at the top of our game. Which is why when the ratings come out and we continue to dominate by astronomical margins, I refuse to thank you for that. Dawn gets mortified at this, but my logic is irrefutable. If we get record setting ratings (which we just did again), that means we did so by doing our jobs well. Period. The only people who should be thanked are us. Thank you for doing a great job this month, Arnie Dawn and Nick, you all helped set another ratings record. You're welcome in advance for my part. The listeners? They did nothing. I can just hear some of you screaming out there. "How dare he!" "What an ass!" "He doesn't care about us at all!!" None of those silly exclamations would be true at all, by the way. Well, I am an ass, but not on this subject. Thanking the audience for listening to a totally free radio show that provides 5 hours of entertainment per day makes no sense at all. Thank you? For what? For being entertained? For not choosing to listen to another show which wouldn't entertain you as much? There's nothing there to give thanks for. All you do is incorporate us into your daily routine. Oh sure, there's the occasional rabid fan who gets up earlier just to listen to more of the show but hey, it's still free, so sorry, no thanks from me. Memorial Day weekend was filled with very pleasant chance encounters with listeners of the show. At Home Depot Saturday morning my wife and I met a couple of guys who were not only very nice but also totally "got" the show by asking if they could now go around telling people that they were friends of mine since we "shop together." Good stuff. They said our show was great and for that I said "thank you." It's a compliment, after all. They said they listen every morning and I said, "you should." See the difference? Later that day we were at Red Robin and got fantastic service from one of the nicest guys I've ever had serve me, a fellow named Brandon. He did a spectacular job and then at the very end of the meal introduced himself as a big fan and proceeded to compliment my wife's beauty. Nice touch, heartfelt, and one again, deserving of a thank you. When he said he'd be listening again on Tuesday morning I said "great," not thank you. Again, see the difference? Finally, there was dinner out at Carver's steak house, where a listener told our waiter he'd pick up the tab on our appetizer plate. After finishing the dish, I got up and introduced myself to the lovely couple a few tables down and thanked them for the generous gesture. As long time fans of the show they said they love listening and weren't the type to ever call in or walk right up to the table and, in their words, "interrupt our meal." For all of that, I said thank you. Especially the part about not calling in; The fewer of you that call, the better the show will be, although this guy seemed far too intelligent to ever lower himself to the level of the crappy calls we get. So there you have it; examples of when to thank people and when not to. Thank you for taking the time to read this column. If you enjoyed it, that's great, if you didn't, I don't give a rat screw.
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