Justin Ginsberg '04 dusts off his skills during a recent visit to WHCL,
where the founder of telephoneonhold.com was better known as "Justinio
on the Radio."
Like countless other Hamilton and Kirkland alumni and alumnae, they're creative, resourceful and skilled. They prepared for their professional journey on the Hill and are now building successful careers. Unlike their classmates, however, what they actually do in the working world is, well, different. Really different. Meet eight Hamiltonians who have fascinating, demanding and distinctly ...
Odd Jobs
By Allison Eck '12, Kristen Morgan-Davie '12
and Donald Challenger
Justin Ginsberg '04, TelephoneOnHold.com
Don't accuse Justin Ginsberg of putting thousands of people on hold. He will immediately correct you. "I'm not the one putting you on hold," he says. "I'm the one keeping you on hold."
Ginsberg is the founder of Professional Audio Studios and TelephoneOnHold.com, a company that records custom phone messages for businesses. His interest in the audio industry stems in part from his father, who runs a professional audio laboratory that specializes in digital enhancement and forensic examination of tapes from civil and criminal trials. At Hamilton, Ginsberg became more familiar with voice recording through his work at WHCL; his friends at school knew him as "Justinio on the Radio."
After achieving campus popularity for his show, Ginsberg got a phone call from Patrick O'Connor's Alexander Hamilton Inn. The restaurant wanted him to record a hold message, and Ginsberg enthusiastically took the job. As an economics and math major, he wanted to be an entrepreneur — and he began to see that he could make a living by just talking.
His parents were not too pleased about his newfound enterprise, however, and did not consider his charismatic and lively voice worthy of a business. "My parents both asked me what I was going to do with my life," he recalls. "I told them, 'Give me a couple years. I promise you I'll get a real job if this doesn't work out.'"
It turned out that Ginsberg's company not only succeeded as a "real job," it became his passion as well. "I love Monday mornings!" he says. "Everyone else hates them but to me, it just means I get another week to do something I love."
By now, Ginsberg has mastered the art of hold messages, even if he is only one of many voice talents at his company. The tone he adopts when he turns into a message man can be robotic or spirited — or, occasionally, comedic. "I can turn it on like a switch," he says.
On the other hand, he has to tailor what he says and how he says it to the needs of the client. Ginsberg has dealt with funeral homes, for example, that ask him to keep his tone somber and comforting. A funeral home might sound like a strange company to be inquiring about hold messages, but there are many more where that came from.
"Who relies on our phone calls?" he asks. "Everyone!" From underwater SONAR to fruit bouquets, from dog resorts to exotic vets, almost any kind of company imaginable uses his service. The relationship between Ginsberg and his clients is symbiotic. With customers in all 50 states, TelephoneOnHold.com is thriving; similarly, companies that choose to invest in his services reap the benefits.
"Statistics show that our messages increase sales," Ginsberg says. "It works really well. We figure, if we're keeping them on hold, why not educate them about the new teeth-whitening service?"
