We got a question from a listener about streaming Classical WHQR from her smart speaker. She wrote “I am a long time fan of WHQR Classical. I’m wondering if your call numbers have changed. Yesterday when I asked Alexa to play 92.7 I got a Sports station! Not what I was expecting!” We answered that to our knowledge, smart speakers like Alexa do not respond to numbers unless they’re part of a specific name, because there are so many radio stations across the country on that particular frequency. We told her that she should ask her smart speaker to play Classical WHQR instead.
But to our surprise, this solution didn’t work for another streaming listener. She wrote “What is the correct command for my Alexa to play the classical station on WHQR? I’ve tried many variations, but nothing seems to work.” Our Development Director Mary Bradley suggested to her to try saying “Classical WHQR,” to which this listener responded “Classical WHQR” works on my old Alexa but not on my new one. The new one just takes me to your regular talk WHQR, not the classical station.” We were all surprised to hear that, but Mary had another suggestion, saying “Try saying Classical HQR without the W.” This one worked, but we have no idea why an old smart speaker responds to different command than a newer smart speaker by the same manufacturer. If you’ve been having trouble streaming
Classical WHQR from your smart speaker, give this solution a try. It is apparently important to say the word Classical first, before the call letters, as saying the call letters first takes you to our main station, not classical. And you may have noticed that, for all the times I’ve said the name of the smart speaker, I have not said the correct command to use for this smart speaker. I did this in a previous Friday Feedback, and a number of listeners wrote to tell me that their smart speaker responded to my command. If your smart speaker responded every time I said it’s name just now, I apologize for that.
During the recent holidays we got some very nice notes on our production A Season’s Griot. One listener wrote “I listened and enjoyed your broadcast on the feast of Kwanzaa today. I am a white female, who knows nothing about Kwanzaa and was pleasantly surprised at all the information that I learned regarding this celebration. I especially loved the story the woman told about the alligator and the chicken. I want to tell this story however I want to acknowledge whoever wrote this story. Can you please tell me the author? Thank you very much.”
The answer to this question was in another question from New York City saying “I am desperate to find a way to re-hear this year's A Season’s Griot. Driving across rural Massachusetts recently, I heard the show on public radio and, specifically, Beverly Fields Burnette retelling a traditional Liberian folktale known by many as The Chicken and the Crocodile, which teaches that we are all brothers and sisters and we can find proof of that if we look for it. If you can find me a link to the performance or a transcript, I would be extremely grateful. I have looked and searched to no avail.” Mary Bradley produced that program for WHQR, and we offer the program to NPR stations nationwide. Mary responded with a link to the program on the WHQR website for this far-away listener.
Finally, Kelly Kenoyer got a nice thank you for a story she covered. “Thank you for covering the WHA rental increase. I sent an email to the City Council to convey how upset I am at this action. Great reporting as always.”
We love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments and criticisms. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky. Or you can email us at feedback@whqr.org. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.