Why can't I find any working headphones?
We have had a couple of emails about "no working headphones", as well as a couple of posts to the WRUW Helpdesk about the lack of working headphones.
The following is a rather long answer, which can be summed up as follows:
Buy your own set of headphones, and stop relying on the station to provide them for you.
STATION HEADPHONES ARE CHEAP ... ON PURPOSE
On average, we tend to buy 20 pairs of headphones each year. We buy pretty inexpensive headphones, at $20-25 a set. That's a $400-$450 investment, and the number works out to be about right each year, assuming normal wear and tear.
Years ago we used to buy more expensive and "sturdier" models, but they didn't last any longer than the cheap ones. They get a lot of use, abuse and manhandling.
If you look at any pair of headphones at the station, you'll see a date engraved in the earpiece. Tech Crew keeps tabs on when a pair of headphones is first put into service, and when that pair is first broken. Experience has taught us that a set of headphones breaks, on average, every 6 weeks.
Fortunately, 95% of the breakage is the same each time. A piece of plastic breaks where the earpiece joins the headband of the headphones. That allows us to take two sets of headphones and create one working set.
That is the only repair we make. If something else is broken ... we toss the set. We don't fix broken plugs. We don't resolder anything. We toss 'em.
STATION HEADPHONES ARE GROSS ... REALLY GROSS
Headphones at WRUW are a touchy (and sometimes icky gross) subject.
THINK ABOUT THIS ... 70+ different people use the headphones each week.
... That's 70+ different people's dirty ears, and waxy ear hair ...
... PLUS probably a couple of ear infections (Yes, staff members have been heard to say, on air, 'I'm getting over an ear infection') ...
... PLUS 70+ different people's gelled hair, unwashed air, sweaty hair in the summer, head lice, and dandruff.
... PLUS throw in a few people in there who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom ...
Oh yeah ... and headphones fall on the dirty carpet and get kicked around, too, and then put back on people's heads.
But you already know that, right?
Can you imagine what we would find if we took a bacteria culture of the earcups on WRUW's headphones?
Kinda ironic to think that some staffers wouldn't loan a friend their personal ear buds from their MP3 player (or phone) ... but they think nothing of putting a pair of WRUW headphones on their head.
Ewwwww.
THE BEST SOLUTION FOR HANDLING A LACK OF HEADPHONES AT WRUW
BUY YOUR OWN HEADPHONES AND BRING THEM WITH YOU.
The gross-out factor outlined above should be enough to make you want to carry your own at all times and never let anyone else touch them.
Several people on staff already bring their own down, and we applaud them!
BUY YOUR OWN HEADPHONES AND BRING THEM WITH YOU.
They'll probably sound better and you're likely to treat them a bit better if you spend your own money on them.
As a point of note ... we had a chief engineer who worked for a few local radio stations. He was always incredulous that we bought headphones for the staff of WRUW. His experience at all his other stations (a mix of commercial and non-commercial stations) is that the staff buy their own.
As a second point of note ... a contract engineer we used a few years ago from Infinity Broadcasting Group (WQAL, WDOK) was also incredulous that we buy headphones for the staff at WRUW. His experience was that the 'jocks' brought their own.
NEVERTHELESS, we will continue to buy headphones for the staff, to be rationed out every 6 to 8 weeks, or as needed.
DON'T WANT TO BUY YOUR OWN HEADPHONES?
Okay fine. Don't. We can't make you.
You thereby acknowledge that you will continue to use the WRUW-provided headphones and live by the rationing rules we have on Tech Crew that allows 20 pairs of headphones to last for an entire year.
And we only make one simple request. Please be a good human being to your fellow staff members ...
- Wash your hands after using the bathroom, and encourage your fellow staff to do the same.
- Wash your hands after handling CD's and records, because most have been manhandled by dozens of other staff and their dirty, germy hands.
- Wash your hands after touching any of the door handles around the station. They haven't been cleaned in YEARS.
- Clean your ears on a regular basis.
- Get checked for ear infections.
- Wash your hair before coming to the station.
- Wash the icky gel out of your hair, too.
- Don't sweat on the headphones
- Put on some vinyl or latex gloves before touching the headphones.
When you put the headphones down on the counter or table, be sure to put a napkin or paper towel down first. After all, so few staff members do their cleanups at the station that those counters and tables are crawling with dust and germs.- When the headphones fall on the dusty carpet where a thousand feet have tread, pick them up within 5 seconds (the famous 5-second rule that "works" with dropped food applies to headphones too -- wink, wink).
Remember, you chose to submit yourself to those germs and use and abuse those headphones instead of investing in your own personal pair at Best Buy, MicroCenter, or any of a hundred other electronic places in the area or online.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FROM STAFF
Question: HOW does one break a pair of studio headphones in the first place?
Answer: Easy. People pull them apart too hard before putting them on their head. They yank on the cords. They get their feet tangled up in the cords and they rip them apart. They accidentally drop them and kick them. No matter what type of headphones we have ever had in over 20 years at WRUW, the most common break occurs where the earpieces join the headband.
Question: Additionally, HOW do TEN pairs get get broken in less than a year?
Answer: See above. Breaking two pairs every 6 weeks works out to almost 18 pairs per year.
Question: WHO breaks station equipment, doesn't own up to it, and doesn't replace it?
Answer: Just about everyone on staff. I can name only three people who have ever told me they broke headphones ... and they were extremely apologetic.
Question: As far as I know, no one on staff is under the age of ... 17? at the absolute least ... Am I alone in thinking that this is unacceptable?
Answer: You are not alone ... many other staff members also feel it is unacceptable yet the behavior continues. We're being awfully generous even providing "public" headphones, so please treat them with care. If you won't live by that simple rule ... buy your own.
(originally written August 26, 2007)