Google lists the phone number for KFSR as the number for the Fresno State’s main operator

Answering phones for California State University, Fresno̢۪s main campus operator is not in the job description for most radio station managers.

Joe Moore, station manager for the non-commercial campus radio station 90.7 KFSR, was pulling double duty as campus receptionist directing calls intended for financial aid, the dining hall, the farm market and other departments on campus. Phone calls meant for the campus operator have been ringing in the radio station’s office and other places on campus since the start of the semester.

As the first week of school kicked off, Moore said he was answering 15 to 20 wrong numbers a day and couldn’t figure out why people kept calling the radio station’s office line.

The culprit? Google.

A number of callers informed Moore that various Google searches for Fresno State gave the KFSR office line instead of the main campus operator. The error was not only with the Web site. Moore said callers also used Goog-411, a telephone based information service, with similar results.

“I wouldn’t say we were annoyed or upset by it,â€Â said Moore of the inconvenience. “Our response was to direct the people on to the university operator or the appropriate office that they were looking for.â€Â

In his Aug. 21 tweet on the Twitter social media network, Moore wrote, “Google is not perfect folks. People doing a Google search for the main phone number to Fresno State are being given the KFSR office line!â€Â

Shirley Armbruster, assistant vice president for university communications, received an e-mail from Moore early in the semester reporting the problem.

Armbruster said she submitted a notice on Google’s Web site advising the Search Quality team of the error. Armbruster said she has not heard back from Google. Since the form on the Web site indicates that the company does not respond to individual reports it is unlikely she will hear from Google.

Google did not return any phone calls from The Collegian.

With no corrections made on the search engine, the school decided to go public with a press release last week.

“We want the public to easily get in touch with us and this certainly isn’t helping,â€Â Armbruster said. “So that’s why we’re concerned about it, and that’s why we put the press release out; to let folks know that there is some sort of error on Google’s part and that we want to get them the correct number so it’ll make it easier for them [to contact Fresno State].â€Â

The correct phone number for the main campus operator is (559)278-4240 and should be used for general questions about Fresno State, Armbruster said.

Depending on the search criteria, a variety of campus contact numbers pop up on Google. When searching for ‘California State University Fresno,’ the Local Business Results show the correct campus number along with KFSR’s and a third number for an address on San Ramon Avenue. A search for ‘Fresno State financial aid office’ still gives the radio station office number instead of the campus operator.

“Obviously we have lots of different numbers on campus and lots of different departments, but how [Google] connected a wrong number to our main name and Web page, I don’t know,â€Â Armbruster said.

With hopes that the error will be corrected soon, Moore is still fielding a handful of wrong numbers each day.

“Certainly we haven’t had anything like this in the past,â€Â Moore said. “It’s just a strange quirk in their system. I have no idea how our number is showing up there. It’s not the easiest thing to do to tell a big corporation that some small listing on their billion-page site is wrong.â€Â

Perhaps next time, those searching online for Fresno State phone numbers should try Bing.