Well, it has been a week at the station. It started on Monday, when we had numerous listeners call to complain that our signal was cutting in and out during Morning Edition. We noticed it too, and confirmed that streaming was unaffected. We started the process of checking all our instruments at the station to figure out what might be failing. Finding nothing amiss, we turned our attention to our transmitter, fearing that something there was intermittently cutting in and out, but all indications were that everything was good there as well. As we were scratching our heads and looking out the window, an important part of any technical problem solving process, we noticed workers walking on the roof of the tall apartment building next to the Cape Fear River. We have a small microwave dish on the roof of that building that carries WHQR’s signal between WHQR and our transmitter across the river. We figured out that there was one spot that the workers could stand in or cross that momentarily interrupted the microwave stream which cut our signal to the transmitter. It was a lesson that not all problems are solved technologically.
That said, we had a listener write to us to ask about a program he’d heard on our air about Alcoholics Anonymous, asking how he could play it for his local group. That is possible, thanks to technology. The program was Steps to Recovery, and came from the producing organization Humankind Public Media. The full program is available free on their website and as a podcast.
Another listener wrote saying “Unfortunately, I missed the Docutime Film Festival. Do you know how I can view "The Newsroom"? We’re happy to say that the filmmaker, Kim Carr, gave us a link to the film for us to put on our website. You can find that link on the WHQR website home page, and put a face to the voices you hear coming out of your radio.
Last week we ran a commentary by Rob Zapple where he reflected on his father’s role in the creation of public broadcasting. A listener wrote “I could only listen to half of Rob’s commentary about his father’s history with public broadcasting and I really wanted to hear more of it. But I can’t find it anywhere on the app or the website to listen to. Is there a way I can access it?” We try to get those commentaries posted the next day to the WHQR website, but we were delayed getting that one posted. You can hear that and all our commentaries at whqr.org/commentaries.
We got a complaint from a listener about hearing a rerun. He asked “How many times are you going to repeat the same episode of Reveal?” Program Manager Ken Campbell responded “This was apparently an encore of the 10th anniversary special. You'll find that in the middle of the summer that more than a few national shows run encores to allow for vacation time. Thanks for listening and let me know if you have any further questions.”
And we continue to get questions about federal funding and what the impact of losing federal funding might be for WHQR, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As I record this, the Senate has approved the Rescission Act and sent it back to the House. I can tell you that all of us in public media have been encouraged by your response to our request to contact your representatives to make your feelings known. We will have plenty to say about this once the dust has settled, but for now, we’re keeping a close eye on events.
We love to hear from you. Please send us 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