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Big shakeup in Birmingham radio

I don’t know why all the changes are being made…but I do know they’re big.

WJOX, the powerhouse sports station that is home to Paul Finebaum, is moving frequencies for the second time in less than two years.  They first shifted from AM to FM (at 100.5)…now they are replacing an AC radio station at 94.5 — with 100.5 flipping, probably to music, in two weeks.

Meanwhile, the only local presence on sister station WSPZ (the AM sports station born when WJOX moved to FM), Dunaway and Brown, is moving to a news/talk station - WAPI 1070.

By the way, for the Huntsvillians, you *probably* will be able to pick up 94.5 in your car — especially when there’s an inversion.  The station is all local from 6am - 8am (though the last two hours are a Finebaum replay).

Get ready for $5 Gas

Might want to fill up in the next couple days…if this thing gets in the Caribbean — or especially the Gulf — prices will spike.

Calling all Olympics fans…

If you’re looking forward to the Olympics, starting August 6th, I have a pretty nifty Excel spreadsheet that shows what will be on each of the NBC networks and when.  If you want it, message or email me and I’ll send it.

Milestoning

…which I’m pretty sure is better than kidney-stoning.  Or kidney-beaning.

Anyway, since for some reason my body has slammed me awake at 5:45 in the morning (which, frankly, isn’t all bad since I have to be awake by this time next week anyway)…I thought I’d explain, just so no one is worried, about my down feelings for the last couple weeks and particularly today.

I actually addressed most of it back in this post, but I suppose I can elaborate.  Maybe tell a few stories or something, as I turn 29 for the second time.

The whole decade of my 20s started out really nicely.  July 5, 1998 was a Sunday, but that was also the one summer I was taking summer classes in college, so I think I spent that day in my dorm room.  I suppose I might’ve gone home (or been driving back to Mobile from home) but I don’t think so.  While it was by no means my first birthday away from home (I spent many summers in upstate New York as a kid), it was my first one away for any sort of actual reason.

The ensuing year was quite possibly the best year of my life.  But also the fastest and maybe hardest.  I took a full courseload (despite it technically only being three classes) my last fall semester:  Synoptic I, Remote Sensing, and a 400-level history class (because I liked the instructor and needed the writing requirement).  My final spring semester, I also had three classes:  Synoptic II, Linear Algebra (I hadn’t had a math class in two years at that point; what a way to spend my last semester in college!), and a Directed Studies in which I did a hurricane climatology study.  I was also enrolled in Industrial Meteorology (which became the only class I ever dropped; more on that later), and Geography of Tourism, which was at the same time as Linear Algebra…Dr. Sebastian allowed us to “visit him” once a week and not have to actually come to class since there was a conflict.  That move alone saved me at least another semester of college.

I also completely fell into the SCEP position at Mobile that year.  Chris Davis left the job in May, and the boss there couldn’t — or some claimed, wouldn’t — fight to get me hired on as a replacement.  Feeling badly for the situation, my first NWS mentor, DAPM Ron Ferguson, got the forecasters to put me on the forecast desk as much as possible.  I still have my first AFD.  In mid-December 1998, though, I was hired.  It was the first paying job (outside of typing term papers and tutoring) that I ever had — yes, I literally have only worked for myself and the NWS in my life.

So why was I chosen as the SCEP?  Because I was the only person volunteering.  Makes sense, right?

At that moment, my life changed.  Despite my intelligence, my parents had been convinced I’d graduate and move back home because I really wasn’t motivated.  Who can blame them, since I’d never held a paying job, and pushed away all their attempts — and one demand — to get one?  That day in December 1998, when I finally got to do what I’d always wanted to do, I found my motivation.

As I approached graduation, I was faced with a choice — whether to start my career in Memphis or start it in Birmingham.  Being a rebellious 20-year-old, obviously I chose Memphis. :-)  Actually, I mostly did not want to be forecasting/warning for the area where my parents lived.

I spent three years in Memphis — had my first real relationships (not just dating)…including an audiology student (Ph.D.) who I really was immature toward and to this day regret how I treated…turned 21 in a town where I knew no one (so I didn’t exactly have the rite of passage a lot of people have at 21, I was already “adult”).  In so many ways, I do not miss Memphis.  I don’t miss feeling unsafe.  I don’t miss finding out that the townhouse next door had been broken into and items stolen.  I don’t miss having to battle with gun shows and boat shows to get a parking space at work.  I do miss the absolutely fantastic fireworks show set to music that WMC-TV and WMC Radio put on every year, which were held across the street from the NWS office…so we’d go to work to watch them.  (Sadly, the show is now held downtown.)

Then it was on to Huntsville, where I’ve been since August 2002 (really???).  My time here has been really mixed emotionally.  I love this place.  It’s both small town and big city.  It’s cheap to live here; it’s because of the low cost of living that I can pay for grad school in cash.  Although my job is very stressful, and the hours royally suck, I genuinely do still love it.  But I never in a million years imagined I’d be looking toward hydrology as a career path — yet I am.

I might tell more stories later but I’m running out of energy — maybe I can catch a couple more hours sleep. 

Mergers and Acquisitions

Interesting news developing today…

*  The Congress is trying to put another hurdle in front of the XM/Sirius merger.

*  It could be back to the future, as a former NOAA administrator and members of Congress proposed reviving the ESSA (Earth Systems Science Agency, in this case) — the same acronym which was the precursor to NOAA itself.  And although the Drudge story and others are playing up the “global warming” side of the story, this AP article is much more neutral (and dare I say, realistic-sounding?).  Global warming is mentioned but not pegged as the primary reason for the merger.

*  Last, but not least…it was first reported weeks ago, and was not true.  Now it is being reported again, and looks like it will be true.  As early as Saturday, NBC Universal and other funding partners may have an agreement to purchase The Weather Channel.  It’s all speculation what would happen to NBC’s own weather entity, “NBC WeatherPlus,” but stations which carry WeatherPlus are reportedly receiving a software upgrade which, according to a couple message boards, makes WeatherPlus look “a lot like TWC.”

My prediction: NBC WeatherPlus will continue to exist (though maybe as ‘NBC Weather Channel’?), but will be programmed with TWC programming in a shrunk-back format, and the “L-Bar” (very much like ESPNEWS HD).  Meanwhile, TWC’s “Local on the 8s” will be programmed with local NBC forecasts in some markets, either by ‘replacing’ TWC with NBC WeatherPlus on cable systems, or by covering TWC (similar to how some cable systems cover HeadlineNews with local news for one segment).

When good customer service = good customer service

Yes…two blog posts in a row with almost the same title.

Why? Because I thought it was important to point out good results.

While in Birmingham today, I decided to stop by the HQ of my credit union to get a debit card added to my account.  After a bit of a wait, I sat with one of the customer service specialists.

CSS: “Can I ask you a question?”
Me:  “Um…sure.”
CSS:  “Are you aware of our Choice Checking?”
Me:  *skiddish*  “No….”
CSS:  “Well, it’s just like what you’re signed up for now…except you get more for free.  We sign all the new accounts up under this, but we weren’t allowed to automatically move old customers over.”
Me:  “So what else do you get?”  *handed a brochure*
CSS:  “Well, I’d be foolish not to take this…”

Long story short…I not only have a debit card…but I can use it *for free* at any ATM in the country.  (Technically it’s not for free, but all fees are reimbursed at the end of the month.)

Then…
CSS:  “Can I ask another question?”
Me:  “Am I going to be as happy with it as I was the last one?”
CSS:  “I think so.  You’re earning (percentage) on your savings account; if you switch some of that money to a money market account, you’ll earn (four times higher percentage).”
Me:  “Well, I’d be foolish not to do that too…what’s the catch?”
CSS:  “There’s not one.  You can do everything you do with your savings account — and in fact, you have to keep your savings account — but the only difference is you must keep a $2500 minimum balance in the money market.”

So…long story short again…I go from earning $225 a quarter on my savings to $600 a quarter…meaning I now pocket an additional $1,500 a year.

Now THAT is what I call good customer service!

When bad customer service = good customer service

That headline may not make much sense to you.  But hear me out.

#27 was with me a week or two ago when I needed a frappucino from Starbucks to wash down some Mexican food.  Stopping at one of the two Decatur locations (inside Target), I was greeted by one poor guy having to work the entire place — taking money, making orders, everything.  Insane to say the least.

But the employee was firmly rooted in the Starbucks guiding principles contained in the Green Apron Book that each barista is given when they start working.  And so, when he recognized that customers — in fact, every customer — were not getting the optimal experience, he began handing out what they call “recovery certificates”…to everyone in line.  This, despite the fact that I’m sure I felt worse for his (the barista) situation than he did about ours.  And, although it’s rare for me, I was patient — before getting the ‘freebie.’

I won’t say that every single Starbucks employee follows all the principles; quite frankly, some don’t.  Some are more interested in enhancing their own experience than their customers’.  But not this person (whose name I sadly did not catch).

So today, I took my “recovery certificate” down to my neighborhood Starbucks (Madison, AL) to redeem it.  Call me sappy, but I feel badly about going somewhere, getting something totally free, and not spending any money at all.  So I bought a slice of coffee cake to go with my frappucino.  The barista working the counter clearly was doing a ton of things at once — brewing more coffee, taking new orders, making drinks, (I think) relieving someone who was going home — and completely forgot about me and what I had ordered.

After a couple minutes, she realized that she had taken my order and had no idea what it was…and was nearly dazed realizing that to be the case.  Again, I was patient — a rarity.  But…for my freebie, I walked out with another “recovery certificate.”  I didn’t ask for it…and the experience won’t deter me from continuing to go to Starbucks (although I admit I’ve had more negative experiences at that location than any other).

The bottom line here is that the customer service, while bad…was ultimately good because the employees have shown commitment to ensuring that customers get a good service experience.  If you haven’t read the business/leadership book “The Starbucks Experience,” I highly recommend it.  It gave me a new appreciation for the principles the company operates under — principles that many other companies would be well-served to follow in this era where we reward “standard” customer service because it suddenly seems good compared to the craptasticness of most customer service experiences.

I’m now reading “It’s Not About the Coffee,” which I believe is the second book in the series.  And I’ll be back to Starbucks.  Not just because it’s good.  Because they’re good, even when they’re not.