We’re still wrapping things up after our successful spring pledge drive. I have to say it was such a treat to hear all the feedback from listeners who called in or went online to write their comments. Thank you to all our supporters!
Speaking of supporters, we got this message from a new member: “I made my 1st pledge today & decided to become a member after attending last week's A Little Lunch Music. I often attend events in the MC Erny gallery and A Little Lunch Music had to be the best thing I've attended yet! I'd love to see ALLM happen more often & have some musician friends that would be interested. I agree, our noon concerts are one of my favorite events at WHQR. We have another coming up on April 28 with the Ivalas Quartet. If you missed the piano concert by Thomas Austria and Guitare Le, you can see and hear it on WHQR’s YouTube page, where we try to post the concerts that take place in the MC Erny Gallery.
Pledge doesn’t bring the work of the station to a halt. Our news team was busy covering the news when they weren’t on the air. Reporter Kelly Kenoyer got this feedback on her story on feral hogs: “Your excellent piece brought back fun memories of hundreds of mountain bike rides in Central Florida I had in the 1990-2005 timeframe. We hardly ever had a ride without encountering hogs and seeing
the massive destruction they did to the backcountry. Nothing like riding mountain bikes at night, with a puny 10 watt headlamp, rounding a corner at high speed and confronting a 350 pound wild eyed hog, tusks and all!”
Of course, we also get requests for music heard on WHQR. Sometimes these requests require some forensic skills. For example, one listener asked the broad question “Where can I find a list of the Irish songs the station played on St. Patrick’s Day?” Once we confirmed that this listener was asking about music George Scheibner played on Smooth Landing that evening, we were able to dig up his playlist and send it along. Unfortunately, Smooth Landing playlists are not posted on our website, but that’s another story. Another listener asked “Just heard a lovely piece from a composer I wasn't familiar with on WHQR. Can you tell me what the piece was - a piano concerto I think - and who the composer is?” Our best guess is that this piece was heard on WHQR Classical on a Saturday. Music Director Pat Marriot responded, saying “The piece that was playing at that time was "Reflets dans l'eau" from Book I of the Images of Claude Debussy. But that confuses me because it was not a piano concerto.” We enjoy responding to these music questions because it’s a joy to expose our listeners to new music. It always helps to know whether the music was heard on our main channel or WHQR classical, and the date and time you heard it also helps a lot.
We love to get your questions, comments and criticisms. You can find us on Facebook, X, Instagram and Bluesky. You can email us at feedback@whqr.org. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.