With the elections coming up in November, some of our listeners are already thinking about how they’re going to learn about the candidates. One listener recently wrote to ask “Now that the candidates for November are selected, are there going to be debates between the candidates? Do you coordinate them?
People say Rouzer never does town halls, but hopefully he would do a debate. My experience is that they are very informative.” News Director Ben Schachtman reports that we are already in talks with our partners at WECT and Port City Daily, planning candidate forums for New Hanover County School Board, and County Commissioners with similar efforts in Brunswick County. We’re also working on a State Representatives forum. As for the congressional race, we would be happy to host the candidates to give them a chance to talk about their policies and priorities, but whether that happens depends on them. If we can't arrange an event, we would work on doing sit-down interviews for congressional candidates.
You may recall that four years ago, WHQR participated in the One Small Step project, created by StoryCorps. The project brought strangers with different beliefs and backgrounds together to just have a conversation. The goal was to reduce polarization by making these kinds of conversations across the divide normal again. These conversations were recorded and are now in the Library of Congress. Rachel Keith recently got a nice note from one of our participants, Mary Lynn, with a picture of four smiling people around a picnic table. The email said “Greg and I with our partners met today to discuss politics and just life in general. Thank you for introducing us.” You can find more information on the One Small Step program at the StoryCorps website at Storycorps.org or by Googling WHQR One Small Step. As a side note, you may have heard on Morning Edition Wednesday about StoryCorps and NPR’s latest project, Connect250. If you’re interested in having a conversation to help create a living time capsule of who we are as Americans at this milestone moment, you can learn more at storycorps.org.
We also got a very nice goodbye note from a listener who is leaving our area. She wrote “Good morning and thank you for all you do to keep WHQR happy and healthy! My husband and I have been members of the station since the early 90s. We go back to when Michael Titterton was station manager and when the office was on Greenfield Street. Now we are retired and moving to the Winston-Salem area. We will be listening to WFDD and transferring our membership to them. It has been a pleasure being part of the WHQR family all these years, but our time to pursue new adventures has arrived. We wish you and the station continued success as you enrich the lives of all within hearing range and beyond!” We’re sorry to see any of our listeners go, but we’re glad to know that they’re in good hands with our friends at WFDD.
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.