Why is Irene so infatuated with listening to the radio?

Irene gives the impression from the beginning of the story that her life is perfect and her relationship with Jim is perfect. She becomes more insecure about their relationship when she begins hearing other people's problems over the radio and goes so far as to question whether or not he loves her. Ultimately, the reader begins to see that their relationship is falling apart; Jim's business which has provided their comfortable lifestyle is declining; finally, he brings up some telling information about the way she has acted in the past, and the reader learns that she has unpleasant characteristics in her prior behavior. These characteristics show that she is not at all who she has portrayed herself to be earlier in the story.