There’s a first time for everything, and this week is an example of that. On Wednesday night, George Scheibner played the song “Strong Women” by singer/songwriter Lisa Rankin during his Smooth Landing program. That one song generated half of the mail in our Feedback mailbox this week. One listener wrote to ask “What is tonight’s song list? I think a good friend is playing tonight.” Another wrote to say “Please play again “Strong Women” by Lisa Rankin. You played it last night and I loved it!! Thank you, we enjoyed your show.. But Lisa, Oh My she touched my soul. Love Her.” And one Lisa Rankin fan wrote fifteen minutes into the show to say “Waiting to hear Strong Women.” George did play the song in the last half hour of the show. I expect he’ll play it again at some point.
One of the things that surprises me is how few comments we get about our commentary series, where Cape Fear residents are invited to comment on their area of expertise, news, or really anything that’s on their minds. Our commentators report that they get lots of feedback from our listeners, though. Gary Trawick shared this appreciative email he got where a listener said “I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your most recent commentary on WHQR about your brothers partner John - I am so sorry for your family’s loss - his story that you shared is truly remarkable -your tie in to the “American dream / American promise “‘will stick with me as I hopefully influence my grandchildren to “attain a good life and contribute to others seeking a good life “‘thank you for contributing your commentaries to WHQR.”
We did hear directly from another listener who was unhappy with one of our recent commentaries. It was in reaction to the poem “Until It’s Your Son” that local poet Mahlaynee Cooper wrote as a response to news of recent unsolved deaths of young Black people. It is a challenging poem, expressing hurt and anger, but it is an honest reaction to a far-too-common occurrence in our society. One listener wrote, “I have never been so utterly offended and angered by your chosen programming. The repetitive accusation that "I cannot imagine the grief of losing a son unless I am a black mother," which I'm not. This pissed me off beyond words. Shame on you. In short, you have lost a loyal listener.” I wrote back to this listener to say that I do not agree that accusation was made in this poem, and that we are sorry to lose her as a listener.
I’ll end with this note of appreciation we received.
“I wanted to send a short note to say that I've been waking up with WHQR ever since my husband & I moved to Wilmington in 2018 & to say thank you for all that you & everyone at the station does. And, as silly as this may sound, I loved hearing Metallica's "One" played as the musical interlude between news segments & the Marketplace Morning Report today! Thanks again for all you do & have a great day!”
We love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, and criticisms. You can email us at feedback@whqr.org. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.