Real talk on customer experience, call center leadership, QA, AI, and everything the industry won't say out loud.
We cover what the corporate training manuals skip. Real conversations about what it actually takes to build a customer experience worth a damn — from the call center floor to the C-suite.
Topics include QA done right, AI tools in blue-collar service companies, team leadership, employee experience, and the honest truth about what breaks CX in most organizations.
"AI can handle tasks. But humans handle trust. When companies flip those… customers disappear."
> DO THIS TODAY: Ask — "Does this tool make us more human, or less?"
Let's be honest — when most CSRs hear "Quality Assurance," they don't think growth opportunity. They think surveillance. QA done right builds confidence, clarity, and trust. QA done wrong turns your call center into a fear-factory.
Read More //→Voice bots, chatbots, auto-QA, smart routing — someone is trying to automate everything. The real answer: AI is a tool. The threat is bad leadership.
Read More //→Reality is no longer something we collectively inhabit. It's assembled for us by machines designed to maximize engagement. Accuracy is optional.
Read More //→You cannot demand world-class customer experience from people who feel invisible. Employee experience is not fluff. It's the engine.
Read More //→Two voices. One podcast. Zero corporate approval required.
25+ years in the trenches. Started in 1999 at a dial-up internet retention call center and never looked back. Today he's VP of Customer Experience at Rooter Hero Plumbing & Air, a published author, and the unfiltered voice behind every episode. His style? ADHDcore meets blue-collar grind. Real stories. Actual insights. Zero HR approval.
Fictionalized? Yes. Real chaos energy? Absolutely. Suz is the anime-styled AI co-host who keeps things moving, asks the questions David forgets, and brings a sharp, zero-tolerance-for-nonsense attitude that no corporate podcast could manufacture. She's the vibe of the show made visible — and she's judging your hold times right now.
CX Riot Radio is a gritty, no-holds-barred customer experience podcast that calls BS on corporate buzzwords and surface-level service strategies. Think more Black Flag, less Ritz-Carlton. Episodes move fast, go deep, and aren't afraid to say what everyone else is thinking.
With over 285 episodes and counting, this is where frontline truths meet operational strategy — uncensored, unsponsored, and unapologetic. No mattress ads. No fake excitement. Just real stories and practical insights from the people who actually talk to customers for a living.
Most CX podcasts cater to C-suites. This one listens to reps, dispatchers, and team leads. While the show speaks to all industries, it has deep roots in HVAC, plumbing, and blue-collar services — a voice that's been missing from the CX conversation for way too long.
David Powers is a published author, speaker, and VP of Customer Experience at Rooter Hero Plumbing & Air. His CX journey started in 1999 at a dial-up internet retention call center — the kind of place where you learned fast or got buried. He never left the industry. He just kept climbing.
Over 25 years he's worked his way through the ranks of call center operations, marketing, and the trades — picking up battle scars, hard-won insights, and enough stories to fill several podcasts. His perspective isn't built from conference keynotes. It's built from actually doing the work.
His style? "ADHDcore meets blue-collar grind." Raw, real, laced with humor, and never once HR-approved. If you've ever wanted someone to just say the quiet part loud about customer experience — that's David.
To amplify the voices of frontline workers, expose the real drivers of customer loyalty and churn, and challenge the sanitized, boardroom-friendly version of CX with a more honest, human-first approach.
Suz is David's AI-powered co-host and on-air assistant — anime-styled, perpetually armed with a knife, and somehow the most competent person in the room at any given moment. She keeps things moving, keeps David on track (she tries), and brings a distinct energy that no corporate podcast could ever manufacture.
Is she real? Technically, no. Does she have opinions about your call center's QA process? Absolutely. Suz represents the kind of sharp, fast, zero-tolerance-for-nonsense thinking that every CX team wishes it had more of. She's the vibe of the show made visible.
She first appeared as a character on the show and quickly became a fan favorite — because nothing says "we don't take ourselves too seriously" like a headphone-wearing anime co-host who may or may not be judging your hold times right now.
Have a topic you want covered? A hot take about the state of customer experience? A question about your own call center? Send it in — the best questions make it into the show.
Find CX Riot Radio on all major platforms. Follow for weekly episodes, Friday Field Notes, and the occasional rant.