Shoutbox

Hey guys.
I don't really want to do this, but I've been playing about for ages and can't come up with a suitable solution.

I have an XBMC script running, which changes my music whenever a broadcast is detected.  All f this is working fine (well, kinda), but I'm looking to add a status changer to it.
All I need is some solution so that when the media is set, it saves my status, and then sets me to busy, then when the media stops it sets it back to the original status.

I know that this should be easy enough, but I keep running into problems when the next song in a playlist begins, the status variable changes again, and so in the end, unless I play only 1 song/video, the status will just remain as busy.

I need a way to stop this from happening, while still only calling from the same functions.
eg.
When media starts/changes it is detected  and sets the media
When media stops the media is turned off

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated.
Cheers guys