By Jim Schuh

I have some off-beat news items I’d like to share with you.

The first has to do with buying a new car. The website, cars.com, says we don’t much like the process. In fact, it lists a few things we’d rather do that might surprise you.

People said instead of going through the new car buying process, they’d rather clean toilets, attend jury duty, go to the Department of Motor Vehicles or have a long conversation with their mother-in-law.

And, it’s no wonder car sales reps prefer to deal with men. Women seek a car whose average price is about $15,000 while men want cars that cost about $50,000, according to cars.com, which also says women are more practical shoppers while men tend to be emotional buyers.

Many car dealers have worked to make a visit to their showrooms a pleasant experience – lounges, free popcorn and coffee – but it looks as if they’ve got a way to go to win over customers to the buying experience.

Toilet paper – do you hate changing the rolls?

Procter & Gamble has come up with a way to make roll changing a much less frequent task. It has come out with a Charmin roll that measures 12-inches in diameter for multi-user households, and an 8.7-inch roll for single household users. Neither fits the in-wall dispensers so the buyer needs floor stands to hold the rolls.

The forever roll, mainly for millennials, can last for up to three months. If toilet paper changing has been a serious problem for you, Charmin is selling its Forever Roll “starter kit” on its website.

Are you in the market for some new appliances?

Perhaps a peek at what one of the nation’s largest retailers is selling will help you with your decision. The Hardware Building Supply publication has reported on the kinds of appliances Lowe’s sold last year.

Refrigerators topped the list – the retail firm sold almost 2.8 million and nearly half were stainless steel. Another 28 percent were white while 24 percent were black. Black stainless steel, black matte and black slate are “chic,” according to a company spokeswoman.

Lowe’s also sold 2.7 million washing machines, and 80 percent were top loaders.

As for ranges, electric was the favorite of people in 42 states, while folks in the other eight states preferred gas.

How do you like your music? If you prefer compact discs, I just learned that you missed a chance to acquire 15,000 discs for just $3 apiece.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga radio station just held a three-day sale to dispose of all its CDs after digitizing them. It says it is earmarking proceeds from the sale as part of its fund-raising efforts.

On the subject of radio, one of my favorite stories from broadcasting was about the station manager who fired a disk jockey while he was on the air. The boss went into the studio and told the DJ, “When this record is finished, so are you!”