We heard from many listeners when WHQR Classical 92.7 went off the air last Thursday. We got many calls and emails, like this one: “I’m now receiving a commercial Christian station at 92.7 instead of classical music. I am confused. I am assuming the hamster has quit running in Hamster Wheel to power WHQR Classical.” While I regret to confirm that WHQR Classical at 92.7 is off the air, I’m happy to report that the hamster is fine and getting a much needed rest while we repair the problem.
It was one of those unexpected technical failures. A crew working on the tower last January took us off the air when they accidentally crushed the transmission line going up to tower to the 92.7 antenna. This was repaired in short order, but apparently that repair failed last week, which sent us scrambling for another tower crew to take a look at it. The crew we got is coming early next week, and we’re hoping that will get 92.7 back on the air. In the meantime, we’ve been reminding everyone that there are multiple ways to get WHQR Classical, including on streaming from the WHQR website or on our app on your phone, by telling your smart speaker to play WHQR Classical or on 91.3 HD2. If your car is a late
model, there’s a good chance that the radio in that car is capable of receiving our HD signal, just look for the letters HD on the screen when you’re tuned to 91.3.
As for hearing competing stations in that slot, the radio dial is pretty crowded here on the east coast, and 92.7 is a low power translator with a more limited range than our full power station at 91.3. Thus, when we leave 92.7 vacant, your radio may pick up another distant station on that frequency that we usually overpower. Again, we apologize for all these unavoidable inconveniences.
Some of our listeners did manage to listen to WHQR Classical. One listener wasn’t happy with what he heard, writing “With much due respect for your programming efforts, I very much regret to share with you my deepest disappointment on the "classical" music selections of last night, Sunday May 4th. To "my" classical taste, such selections were quite an insult. During my 60 years of listening to classical music from major US cities, last night's selection was by far the worst indeed, to say the least. Has your station run out of decent selection from works of master composers?” This is the challenge with running a channel of music of any genre. How much do you rely on the tried and true, and how often do you take a chance on exposing your listeners to something new? Speaking for myself, I brighten up when I hear a piece I recognize by Tchaikovsky, compared to hearing something for the first time. That said, I recently heard a piece by a composer I’ve never heard of, Osvaldo Golijov, that frankly brought tears to my eyes. The world of classical music is broad and deep, and we’re going to take chances with it now and again.
Over on the news side, Kelly Kenoyer got a note of thanks from a listener recently. “Thank you for your article reminding residents they can appeal their property valuations. It has been on my radar when the new valuations were released earlier this year but then I completely forgot about it until I read your article when it came across my local news feed.” We’re happy to be of service that way.
We love to get your questions, comments and criticisms. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky. You can email us at feedback@whqr.org. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.