In the method of the present invention, a customer of a service provider
would be placed in hold while waiting to speak to a customer service
representative. The method and system of the invention would recognize
the telephone number of the caller using a "caller ID" system. If this
call is the first time the caller has ever called, the caller would be
presented with an audible listing of listening choices that would include
but not be limited to the latest news, the weather (of the caller's
location), financial headlines, or a selection of music stations (via
cable radio, for example). The caller would then speak or type his/her
preference into the keypad and the selection would be played. If the
caller does not like the selection, the caller can then speak another
selection or type the new selection as many times as the caller prefers.
The caller selection is recorded in a caller preference database.
Finally, when the same customer calls one or more additional times, the
system would retain the caller's number and preferred listening
selection, based on caller ID value. The listening selection would
automatically be played on subsequent calls.