You Never Call

That infamous quote, long attributed to Jewish mothers, is now obsolete for today's Jewish mom of a Millennial, since she's probably a friend on all of her kids' Facebook pages and waits for texts instead of the telephone to ring.

Somehow, though, getting an sms text message on Mother's Day just isn't the same as hearing the voice of that offspring you love.

It's the same with morning radio.

You can't blame listeners for not wanting to call "the request line."

It's busy all the time.
It rings and rings with no answer for many minutes in a row.
If the personality you took the time to phone actually does answer, they sound like they're always in a giant hurry, anxious to simply get you off the phone as quickly as possible.
They can't play that special song for you.
You always end up being "caller number six," wondering what special magic that winning eighth caller had that you didn't.

So, if you lead a typical life and aren't one of the walking wounded who leads such a lonely life that you are willing to put up with those indignities for a few seconds of validation from a radio personality you look up to, you do feel the need to share a story with your favorite radio station, emailing, texting, Tweeting or Facebooking is so much less painless and time-consuming.

Pity the poor radio personality who hopes to hear from "normal" listeners and also knows that reading those written messages aloud on the air isn't as much fun and entertaining as interacting, connecting, engaging, conversing with a real human voice.

What to do?

How about inviting listeners to use the mobile device in their hand to add their two cents to today's hot topic and if it's something you want to use on air, turning the tables and calling them to get audio?

It's not as easy as just picking up the phone in the studio, of course.

Sure, it takes extra effort, time and planning.

Doing the extra little things your competition won't do is what separates "great" from "average."