Radios in a office

[TalkToTheHand123]

Hi. Last few months I've been working from home but recently been told to return to the office.

Anyone struggle to concentrate in an office with a radio on? I feel terrible complaining / being a party pooper, but can't help losing my cool as it makes me go crazy. Does anyone else struggle?

If you’re in the U.K. they need a license to have TVs and radios on. If they don’t have one - they can face a fine. First they get a letter though.

It’s called “Themusiclicence” from PPL PRS.

You can go onto their website and go into the help section under other Inquiry and you can notify them of a business that might be playing a radio without a license.

Charity is typically exempt.

As Heaton sang 'and I love the PRS cheques that you bring'

hope your office is sending them

We have the radio on in our office to cope with a colleague who talks non stop all day long giving running commentary on what they are doing. I like the radio but a couple of members of staff will put their own headphones on instead. I don't think our radio is on loud enough to be heard down the phone.

I associate radios with shops, not professional offices. Have never come across it. Sounds very irritating.

I have a couple of colleagues who will occasionally play the radio quietly - no problem. There is another colleague who is incredibly loud and will regularly stand outside my office bellowing about annoying clients, annoying government rules, her stepson's latest tattoo/girlfriend/stupid idea or her husband's latest stupid idea, usually when I'm in the middle of a difficult phone call. Give me a radio any day, at least it can be switched off!

But I can see how having a loud radio on all day can be distracting and unbearable, especially if it's not your preferred choice. My hairdresser told me she left her last salon because they had the radio tuned to a country music station all day and she just couldn't bear it any longer.

I despise a quiet office - with just the sound of keyboard tapping and a clock ticking? Absolutely torturous. I do like a quiet radio, preferably not a commercial station.

I take headphones to listen to something and have done for 20 odd years since I started working in an office. Just one ear though so I can still hear colleagues.

Yes, I'm the same. I'm glad you posted it because I thought I was the one

I work for a charity 😔.

I think it's best to have a quiet room for people on meetings or calls or prefer silent working but tbh I can't work in a silent atmosphere it's weird and like being in a library. You feel odd for breaking the silence with any talking or questions. You feel too self conscious to drink your tea or eat your sandwich. It's just awful.

“TBF it's never occured to me that people wouldn't like background noise”

And there is the problem. Some people are entirely unaware that others like the opposite of what they like.

I cannot bear the radio or a TV on in the background. If I am listening to music, I’m listening to it - it’s not a background thing, it’s square in the centre of my attention. If a radio is playing a song I like, I’ll stop what I’m doing and listen to every word. No other jobs will be done while I’m listening. There is no such thing for me as background noise. It takes up brain space. I prefer it not to be there. I listen to a different sort of radio at work - communication radio. I can listen to up to 4 channels at once and filter out the relevant information I need. But the radio on at home often finishes me off. DH frequently leaves the radio on when he leaves a room. He likes the cricket commentary, endless inane chatter, but sometimes the news or music. I try and ignore it, but it’s when I switch it off that I realise how much the unwanted sound felt like scratching on my eardrums.

There should be a special place in hell for those who inflict their preferences for noise on others. In particular, those who force their choice of music onto others who were enjoying the peace of the outdoors before some idiot with a boombox came along. You get it in ski resorts, and this summer we had it whilst kayaking down a river. Why the heck do people do this? Surely this is what ear buds were made for?

Oh you'd hate my office. There's a radio blasting (usually the same top 20 playlist on a loop, or even worse, Kerrang), people singing along, people playing ping-pong loudly, and shouting and cackling during conversations. I have ADHD and it's brutal on my ability to focus, but everyone else likes the vibe so too bad for me.

I have to go into the office every 6weeks or so and it is absolutely silent except the odd person on a call, I can’t concentrate because it’s so quiet.
When WFH the radio or TV is always on as background noise, in fact the radio is on 24/7 in our kitchen as we leave it on the dog overnight!

I don't mind a bit of music in the background on a fairly low volume. What I don't like though is some people in the office mainly the superiors and their office lap dogs decide the radio is rubbish and put on their Spotify playlist which basically consists of Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day....even worse is they recently relocated the radio to the mantle piece behind my desk as they reckoned the radio reception is better positioned there even though they nearly always reject whatever the radio is playing and stick on their teenage angst Spotify playlist over my head so I can barely even listen to my podcasts on my earphones.

Maybe ask to negotiate that it’s on for a set amount of time and then off. It can be a reasonable adjustment. If it is affecting your productivity then ask for more time at home.

if you take client calls, say the client complained!!

Maybe others feel the same. And want the volume lowered so it’s background noise rather than the main event.

Yes, some places wouldn’t allow it though in case I wouldn’t hear the fire alarm. I’d quite happily have headphones on but I’ve had managers refuse that. I hate sitting in silence.

Personally OP, I wouldn’t be going in along the lines of “do you know you can get fined if you don’t have a licence for that radio?”. It sounds quite passive agressive as a way to get what you want. It will get people’s back up. Besides, after that, what will you do? Is it assumed you’ll be reporting them for non licence?

Simply ask for a compromise and ask for them to turn the volume down to an acceptable level or switch between stations each day - one you like then one they like.

If you’re ND(?), tell them, as they’ll likely be more understanding and switch it off/down.

You can also get some ear buds if you aren’t on and off calls. Loop earplugs are meant to be very good at helping reduce background noise but still being able to hear those in immediate vicinity. My sons friend has a learning disability where too much noise at school and nothing goes in. It’s overwhelming all the noise. He has these and they’ve been incredible. You don’t have to be ND to use them, but often ND struggle with noise like this as it becomes overwhelming so these are used by lots of ND folks.

Due to sickness and holidays, I've only been the one using the office last week. The radio was put on in the hall on the Friday afternoon by someone in the other office. The radio was right next to my office wall and was on loud. I left not long after it got put on. I was passing the office yesterday and popped in for a quick task I needed to do and noticed the radio wasn't there.
I need to be there for a few mins this afternoon so I'll see what the situation is.

I do find the quiet a bit awkward but a lot better than the radio. It's a small office this time with a small team who all know each and all get along quite well.

The company you work for will have to register with the PPL for a licence to play music. Not sure what the current cost is but it was about £150 about 10 years ago when I ran classes. That was the cheapest they did and for 6 classes per week. All day in an office, 5 days a week will cost more I would think. And they do check up on places and the fines are high.

I personally can't work with music playing - far, far too distracting and as for the inane drivel spoken between tracks on the radio and I'd be facing murder charges within about 3 days.

It's a charity though and I believe someone stated they are exempt. I probably wouldn't mention it though as would feel a bit of a knob. Although if need be I will!

Charities are not exempt. They can get a discount but then I believe that is for specific events only. Otherwise, they pay like everyone else.
The official stuff is here - https://pplprs.co.uk/themusiclicence/sectors/charity/

From their site...
"Charity and community organisations may apply for a discount against the standard royalty made for events or featured music sessions, in return for advertising of PPL PRS Ltd support at the event. The level of discount applied to your event will be determined by PPL PRS Ltd."

How do you report somewhere playing music without a licence?

I quite like having the radio on in an office as long as it's not loud enough to disturb phone calls.

My problem is that they're generally always set to "Local FM" - one of those stations that plays the part of being local but is actually a national station that has a complete playlist of about 8 songs that they repeat several times a day.

In a previous job I started a spreadsheet and tracked how often certain songs came on the office radio - I once heard "Roar" by Katy Perry 7 times in one day. I was going insane!!!