Valentine Revenge?

A few years ago, I broke up with the Christian radio station right before Valentine's Day. It had been coming on for awhile. Perhaps it was just a failure to communicate, but I felt like I was invisible to the station.

I did my part. I invited the station into my home and my car, but the station left me feeling like a third wheel. I kept thinking the situation would improve, that the station would change its ways, but alas, it didn't happen. And shortly before Valentine's Day, I had enough and I walked away from the relationship and never looked back.

I had my next radio relationship already picked out. It began innocently enough, with me listening to their Sunday morning programming. But I soon found myself leaving the station on into Sunday afternoon, and then into Monday. I gradually fell out of love with the Christian station.

What caused the rift? The Christian station's focus on couples. Focus doesn't even begin to cover it. Everything they did revolved around couples. The on-air conversations, the promotions and giveaways, and as Valentine's approached, the bad situation only got worse. The only time they ever mentioned single adults was when they ran ads for a dating service. I found myself wondering if they even knew that Jesus was single.

When I left the relationship, I fantasized about being part of the Arbitron radio survey during the all-important February sweeps. That would be my chance to let the Christian station know how badly they had neglected me.

I had all but forgotten my lost radio love, when a couple of weeks ago, I got home and saw Arbitron on my Caller ID. Could it be? Would this be my chance to fill out an Arbitron diary during February sweeps?

YES!!!

A few days later, I was home when Arbitron called again. Not only were they asking me to fill out the diary during February, the week they picked was February 11-17...Valentine's week!!! I considered it a (somewhat delayed) answer to prayer.

But then it occurred to me that I couldn't even remember how many years it had been since I last listened to the Christian station. Maybe someone on staff had finally figured out that roughly half of the population is single. Maybe it was worth checking on before totally dissing them to Arbitron.

So over the last week, I listened to my old friend a few times. And you know what? Maybe it's the time of day that I've been listening, but the station seems to have improved. Even this close to Valentine's, it's not making me crazy with couple talk.

I still prefer the station I switched to after I felt jilted by the Christian station, but it's OK. When I was in the car for 10 minutes this morning before realizing the Christian station was still on from last night (I really meant to change back before getting out of the car), I was only mildly annoyed that the Christian station would find itself in the very first slot of my Arbitron diary for the all-important February sweeps.

The truth is, if I can't remember how many years it has been since I walked away from that radio relationship, I guess maybe it's time to let go of the grudge. =)