you have my sympathy
Our store (before they banned radios to save a few quid on the PRS extortion racket) used to have A christmas tape. Played from open until close, on automatic loop; for most of december.

One day we could take no more. Banter in the staffroom was filled with desires to throw the infernal machine off the roof, go at it with the hammer, chuck it under a delivery lorry, and so forth. Someone, who may or may not have been me, observed that the only reason it repeated was due to the 'repeat' switch being in the ON position. The assembled throng murmered thoughtfully.

Over the coming days, the tape deck developed a mysterious fault - the tape would play only one side then stop, the repeat function strangely disengaging itself many times a day.

In a rare feat of insight, and perhaps sensing the looming rebellion; a couple of extra tapes were hastily approved. This cut the repeat frequency from an agonsiing hourly, to a more tolerable three hourly. We were happy again (well, as much as you can be, working retail at christmastime).

It's the little things that can make a big difference to morale. After I left I hear they put a sofa in the staffroom, which has done nothing for morale (but that's another tale). Yet the purchase of two cassettes brought a little variety, relief, fleeting smiles amid the pressure; to many.

edit: Of course, the rest of the year it was just ordinary radio in the back. This had its own problems - like back when mainstream radio 'found' coldplay, and went apeshit over "clocks". Did they think it would get better because they played it what seemed like hourly? It used to be a good song, we liked it, yet each man kills the things he loved.

Soon the opening bars would have anyone nearest running to unplug the radio. Someone might enter the back and ask "why's the radio off?". "Clocks" was all we needed to say, and a grunt of acknowledgement, tinged with tired resignation, spoke all.

Years later and I still can't enjoy it like I once did. Radio stations: Try some variety. An album will have up to 20 tracks to explore, and there are hundreds released every year. Who knows - your listeners might appreciate you using your supposed muscial knowledge to recommend new sounds.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 6 Apr 2009, 15:01, Reply)