Let’s start with a complaint that others may be experiencing. A listener wrote “I especially love streaming Morning Edition early in the morning before work. I have grown increasingly irritated, however, with the interruptions in NPR broadcasts during this time involving brief identification of various WHQR staff. This morning, right in the middle of an interview with a foreign correspondent about the attacks in Iran, there was a staff ID. It only lasted a few seconds, but why was it necessary at all? If you want to introduce staff, can't that be done during those breaks in which other announcements are made? I love the work you do and the dedicated staff, but I don't want to hear about them in the middle of a news story.” I agree, that would be annoying, which is why we don’t schedule those staff ID’s to interrupt the program. Those IDs are only supposed to run at the start of the stream and then no more. What causes them to repeat is when your phone switches from one Internet provider to another. For example, I hear that introductory message when I’m streaming from my house Wi-Fi and I get in my car and start driving away. When the stream switches from my house Wi-Fi to the cell tower signal, my streaming app thinks it’s a new stream, and replays the introductory message. Further exploration revealed that this happens when this listener is out walking his dog, which sounds like his cell signal is weak and keeps dropping and picking up the signal again, causing the introductory message to replay.
We got a couple of requests for specific shows that we tracked down recently. One listener wrote “This morning i heard a short interview with an economist (a woman) giving an analysis of capitalism and how it functions. I would like her name and the title of her book.” This one was a bit difficult to track down, as neither Morning Edition nor BBC World News showed any record of such an interview. Fortunately, our Morning Edition host Ken Campbell remembered that it was a brief interview on Marketplace that morning, which the listener figured out by the time we got back to her. Another listener asked “While driving around in my car Saturday afternoon, I heard a program about how to teach reading strategies and evaluating reading programs. It aired from 3-4 p.m. I searched on WHQR's website for that episode so I could forward it to a teacher friend, but I couldn't find it. Can you help me by sending me the link to that program?” It is true that the WHQR website has the series title but not the topic for that day. Knowing the time helped us find that the program was an episode of Reveal. We sent this listener a link to the Reveal website with the audio and a transcript of that episode.
It's always interesting to hear from people who listen from out of our area. We got a very nice, long message from a listener in Stuart Florida who enjoys George Sheibner’s Smooth Landing program. He writes “My wife and I have been following this show for many years. When on the boat (as we are now) we'll listen after dinner while having a drink. I think that much of what George presents is 'musical genius'! The sequence he did that was centered around Floyd Cramer's piano was so thoughtful: he had Cramer's instrumental "Last Date" and then something from Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson that were both supported by Cramer's piano. Such a clever pairing! I just wanted to let him know that we're out here listening and appreciating what he's doing!”
Finally, we’ve had some very nice comments from recent donors to the station, such as “I love so many aspects of WHQR. I listen to the news, 1A, Science Friday, Wait Wait, Fresh Air, TED Talks,” and “For the constant reliable honest and unbiased news reports and fabulous programming like All Things Considered.” And this question, “sustainer I would like to know if my contributions are tax deductible?” The answer is yes. We send a thank you letter for each donation that doubles as a tax receipt.
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.