WHQR staff answered some listener questions this week, as we do most weeks. Richard Howard wrote Rachel Keith to say “I really enjoyed your report on New Hanover County Schools annual budget issues. As usual you and Ben touch on almost all corners of the story in a through presentation. As a retired television News Director I can only offer one suggestion. I missed the overall size of the school system's annual budget and I missed the number of students and employees covered by that budget. This might have helped me put the 20 million into perspective as to its real value to the overall system.”
Rachel Keith responded “You’re right, they only announced last year’s overall budget number -$390 million, don’t think they have this year’s estimate. You’re also correct about that much needed context. I do know New Hanover County Schools has around 25,000 students.” Rachel did look up the staff number and found it is just under 3600 employees.
Bill DiNome was driving while listening to WHQR Classical one morning and wrote “I heard a beautiful piece by J.S. Bach yesterday morning a bit before 7 a.m. Is there any way to find out the name of the piece?” Our Classical Music Director Pat Marriot wrote Bill back that it was Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor, arranged by Leopold Stokowski for orchestra, and included the Naxos CD number 572050 to make it easy for Bill to find.
Nannette Gabler asked about a song on Smooth Landing, saying “Listening while driving home from work last night, a beautiful song was played that struck me so much that I'd like to purchase the album on which it was recorded. I did catch that it was from a movie and received a high award. Would this info be made available to me so i may purchase the soundtrack and see the movie?”
George Scheibner responded “The song you heard that evening is called “Falling Slowly.” It won the Oscar for Best Song in 2007 for the movie “Once.” The setting for ”Falling Slowly” is in a music store where the musicians ”spontaneously” create the song together. I won’t tell you any more because you should experience the sequence yourself. Deserving of an Oscar!”
But not everyone loves everything they hear on WHQR. Michael Goggin wrote about a recent Splendid Table broadcast, saying “Why, as a Wilmington resident, would I want to listen to a show about Orange County, CA food? Please don’t celebrate food from a place that only exists as it is because of uncontrollable resource exploitation, and which steals water to mass produce foods in a way that is completely out of balance with the natural environment, and which requires a form of slave labor with their reliance on illegal immigration to bring its crops to market and to sustain itself.” Fair point Michael, and we passed your comments on to the producers of the program.
Your feedback is important to us. If go to the WHQR website, you’ll see a link to our latest survey that we’d love to have you take. Some responses we’ve gotten so far are:
“Absolutely love the relatively recent shift in focus to local coverage. My knowledge of local issues has skyrocketed as a result.”
Another survey respondent praised the news team, adding “I see my sustainer donation as an investment in our community, and I appreciate y'all giving me that opportunity.”
Another listener said “Since we moved to Wilmington in 2009 the station has just got better and better. What an amazing asset you are for the community.”
And one left this encouraging note: “Keep playing the great classical music. I listen to it all night every night.”
We invite you to take our short survey at whqr dot org slash survey. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter, or X, or email us at feedback@whqr.org. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.