Boy, I'll bet you're getting a lot of this! -- Nancy
Listener Nancy, a sustaining member, heard last Saturday’s This American Life show on using sliced pig intestines as imitation calamari. Nancy wrote:
This American Life today was beyond my comprehension. It was so far below the standard to which I hold WHQR that I cannot imagine how it got on the air. While I almost always find that show banal, repetitious, and avoidable, I stayed to listen today because of the promo, and boy, am I sorry I did! How could one reasonably intelligent guy spend a whole hour on that most unsavory subject? Maybe you have a listening audience who appreciates this kind of programming, but I'm going to quit listening as soon as Wait Wait is over. Jeez, guys, at lunch time, too…….
Nancy titled her email message “Boy, I’ll bet you’re getting a lot of this!"
A number of listeners make comments on whqr.org about stories they see there or hear on the air, and we encourage you to do the same. Several commented about a recent All Things Considered story on alleged “phantom classes” for athletes at UNC. Also listener Sarah commented on Katie O’Reilly’s story about the New Hanover County Planning Board's hearing on special use permits. She wrote:
Thank you for covering this important public hearing. The special use permit is a critical process for people who live, work and raise families in New Hanover Co. As we continue to grow, more and more homes and schools will be built closer to the industrial zoned parcels in the County, making a transparent, democratic process for determining appropriate business neighbors crucial for protecting public health and resources, property values and the overall quality of life we often times take for granted in coastal NC.
Your feedback does have impact. Last April, commentator Andy Wood spoke about managing water as an essential resource. A listener wrote back, “Andy, what’s the solution?” and Andy has now responded with a follow-up commentary, which you can read on whqr.org.
And here’s a behind-the-scenes story of something that ALMOST happened, but won’t. Tomorrow’s Live from the Met broadcast of Johann Strauss’s opera Die Fledermaus will be sung in English. The Met notified stations earlier this week that the script called for a certain 4-letter Anglo-Saxonism that is on the official FCC list of banned words. Stations, some in contact with their attorneys, protested to the Met that under no circumstances are we allowed to do that, under peril of a fine or loss of license to the FCC. On Wednesday the Met informed stations that for the 1 pm broadcast tomorrow they are going to substitute a different 4-letter term that is not on the banned list. If we were a superhero, we would probably be saying,
Another crisis averted!
We’d love to hear from you on Friday Feedback. You can always leave a message via email to feedback@WHQR.org. Our Feedback Phone is 910-292-WHQR. That’s 292-9477. And thanks for your feedback.