Today’s Feedback offers a peek behind the curtain of our recently-concluded fundraising drive. Let’s start with a strong dissent from listener Justin: “I would first like to express that my radio seldom changes from WHQR and that I am grateful for the amount of information imparted to me through your various news programs. I appreciate that you are a public station and rely on public funding for support and operational costs. However, I am deeply offended and dismayed by [your] recent plea during your pledge drive piggybacking on the Brussels tragedy." He continues:
I find it absolutely abhorrent that [you] chose to utilize your station's provision of the information surrounding the story to solicit funding! We, as listeners, know that WHQR is a great source for news and information; but to attach a request for funding on the heels of and under the guise of alerting us to security-based news is sickening. This was a childish and dishonorable decision. I would hope that in the future [you] would use better discretion when requesting support.
I appreciate Justin’s comment. The terrorist attacks in Brussels struck just before we went on the air Tuesday, which was scheduled to be the last day of the drive. We conferred and elected to forego some of our usual pitching time to cover the breaking events, with the resulting total below expectations. At the same time we realized that one of the reasons people support WHQR was because of our ability to bring news, including breaking and tragic news, to our listeners. We felt we shouldn’t ignore that fact in our on-air comments. Reasonable people can disagree on that point.
More peeking behind the curtain -- we didn’t refer to this on-air, but all week we were operating under a huge handicap. Early on the first day of the drive, one of our PCs was hit with an outbreak of ransomware, which quickly infected three other PCs and a server. It took our consultants from Hooks Systems the entire week to eliminate the problem and rebuild our computers. Normal station business was severely disrupted by this evil program.
Here are some more comments about the drive from people pledging:
Bart said:
Retire Car Talk.
Cynthia, Carolyn and Michael agreed with Bart.
On the other hand, Catherine said:
I can’t believe people calling in who hate Car Talk.
David, Judy, Kim, Patti, David, Edward, Charles and Alexandra agreed with Catherine.
A note about that: we’re evaluating that program as well as all others. Please fill out the Member Survey if you wish to weigh in on any of our programming. Find out more at whqr.org. [Here's the link.]
Michael said:
I love most of your programs! I could do without Fresh Air (I know it’s a staple of public radio so I accept it) but WHQR is still the only station I listen to!
Nathan Kolk said:
Thank you for proving quality news and classical music. Great vibes all around.
Veronica and Quintin of Leland said:
It helps us feel part of the Wilmington community!
Elaine said:
I moved here from the WHYY listening area and I am so pleased to join WHQR.
Lindsey Lantz said:
Your news content is often the topic of our dinner conversations.
Miriam in Supply wrote:
Thank you for supporting teachers with stories on NPR.
Martin and Leslie said:
[WHQR] brings us the only intelligent news in town.
Maggie Vining wrote:
Thank you for speaking to the best in all of us.
Maggie, that’s always what we hope to do, so thank you.
We'd love to hear from you on Friday Feedback. You can send an email message to feedback@whqr.org, or you can leave a call at 910-292-9477. And thanks for your Feedback.