Music On Hold

Each of us spends 43 days of our whole lives on hold. That's far too many hours listening to Greensleeves or Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Despite being in an age of emails and social media, people are still turning to customer service lines for support and are still having to listen to music on hold. It's supposed to be designed to calm the listener but often only incenses them more in time for when they speak to a customer service representative.

Isy Suttie knows the wrath of angry callers, having worked in several call centres herself, and feels their pain. So she has decided to do the noble thing and compose the ultimate on hold music to end their suffering.

Isy will ring up experts for help - what instruments? What tempo? What genre? And why? She'll take all of their advice on board to create something that will both reassure and entertain callers while they wait so those 43 days will be a pleasure and not a chore.

Produced by Emily Smallman

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Isy Suttie embarks on a mission to compose the ultimate on-hold music.