Lots of feedback on our news reporting this week. With election day getting closer, we got this question from a listener about our candidate forums, asking “Will you be broadcasting the candidate forums being held at the Burney center on the 7th and 12th, or do I need to attend on site?”
The answer is we will be broadcasting the forums after the fact on Fridays and Saturdays this month as part of our Newsroom series. Tonight and tomorrow you can hear the New Hanover County Commissioners forum. Next week we will broadcast the New Hanover County School Board candidates, with the state representatives forum for House districts 18 and 20 and State Senate district 7 the following week. On October 30, the Newsroom will feature the candidates forum for House districts 17 and 19 and State Senate district 8.
We will post the audio for the Brunswick County commissioners and Congressional representatives forums on our website as streaming audio. We do partner with WECT to stream the forums live on Facebook as they happen. If you would like to attend the forum live, we’ve moved them to the Burney Center on the UNCW campus and the Leland Town Hall to accommodate a larger audience. You can find details at WHQR.org.
Another listener wrote “I want to tell you how much I appreciate your weekend newsletters. In the old days--when l lived in much larger news markets, I counted on their excellent print media to provide local and national news coverage. Since newspapers and news magazines are shrinking or disappearing altogether and since Wilmington is a much smaller city, I couldn't live without WHQR now. Thank you for all your work and the work of everyone else on your editorial and editorial support teams. Your WHQR newsletter is a very special perk!“
Another listener wrote to Rachel Keith to say “Thank you for your reporting on salaries of local leaders - it is important to understand what the people running our local institutions and making the decisions in our community are being paid.
Out of the 100 counties in NC, there are 16 where you need to make more than $30 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rate and New Hanover County is on the list as I am sure you know - so these institutions are creating housing instability in our community because of the low wages they pay.
Thanks again for your local reporting – it’s so important”
We did get a complaint about our interrupting a news report during our recent pledge drive. “I often listen to WHQR News when riding my bike. A few days ago during the afternoon pledge drive there was a very interesting program discussing the drivers' licenses being sold on the internet. During the indepth discussion, one of your folks interrupted the program and explained how NPR and WHQR don't just report the news but go deep into the story behind it and the repercussions. He was right and that is a reason I listen to WHQR. But it was a very ironic interruption and explanation for why we should support WHQR since a very interesting part of the interview never made it to us listeners.” That is a fair criticism, and we try hard not to cut stories short during the pledge drive, but sometimes we miss where we’re supposed to open the mic and do it at the wrong time. Our sincere apologies.
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 LinkedIn. Thanks for your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.