Intro:
As your public media station, WHQR takes listener input very seriously and for a number of years we aired a regular feature called, “Friday Feedback”. We've heard from listeners who missed this short review of questions and comments along with updates about the station. From here forward, as we have listener voices and information to share, you'll find it all on our reboot of "Friday Feedback".
Here’s WHQR Station Manager, Kevin Crane.
Kevin Crane" We’ve gotten a number of calls and emails from 96-7 Classical listeners around Southport asking why they can’t hear us this week. The answer is that our transmitter suffered from a power surge of some kind that fried the power supply, taking the transmitter off the air. We apologize for the inconvenience. We’ve ordered a replacement power supply from the transmitter manufacturer in Nova Scotia, Canada, which we expect to have any day. As soon as it arrives, we’re going to install it and return it to service. We hope to be back on the air early next week. Watch the WHQR website for more information. And I just want to remind everyone that our streaming service is not tied to our broadcast, so if you can’t get WHQR or WHQR Classical over the air, you can always get us on your smart speaker, computer or on your cell phone using the WHQR app.
Listeners have been coming into WHQR all week to pick up their hand-thrown WHQR mug by local potter Renato Abate. It’s been so nice to meet our listeners, give them a tour of the station and answer their questions. Scott Spike of Sawyer Sherwood & Associates Architecture took a moment to comment on our mugs in an email, saying “I like that the station reached out to a local potter for the mugs this year vs the normal mass-produced units. That kind of decision is a small expression of the station’s values, and sets a good example for the community. Lots of great local resources if we look around…”
Of course, it’s not required that you come to the station to pick out your mug, we are mailing them out also. One listener who got her mug in the mail is Mary Storms in Supply, NC. She writes “thanks for sending the red pottery WHQR mug. It arrived today. More importantly, thank you and the rest of the WHQR and NPR staff for providing balanced news and other information to our community.”
Other kudos to our news staff included this from an anonymous donor who said “I’m donating today because of the fearless, outstanding reporting that Rachel and Ben do. So grateful to have them.”
Of course, we also make mistakes sometimes. One concerned listener wrote us to ask “I could have sworn I listened to a broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera on your station a few Saturdays ago. Yet just now, I looked at your schedule page for Classical HQR on your website , and I see NO SIGN OF THE MET AT ALL!!! Did you guys stop carrying that program???????????????” Not at all. We do carry the Metropolitan Opera live every Saturday during its season, but sometimes we do forget to put it on our website.
Speaking of the Metropolitan Opera, it was the desire of a group of Wilmingtonians to hear the opera live every Saturday that led to the creation of WHQR. Thirty nine years ago tomorrow, a dedicated group of people, mostly volunteers, launched WHQR with the sound of a baby crying followed by Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. We’re all grown up now, thanks to our listeners, donors, local underwriters and volunteers through the decades. We couldn’t do it without you. We’ll be celebrating our 39th birthday tomorrow at Fermental Beer & Wine from 3 to 5 PM.
Thanks also to everyone for your comments. We always love to hear from our listeners. We're on Facebook and Twitter, or write an email for Friday Feedback to feedback@whqr.org. We look forward to hearing from you.