As we mentioned last Monday, the six days and one hour of our fall fund drive served as a time of intense listener feedback. I begin with a special message of thanks to all who supported the station during the drive, allowing us to reach our goal of $75,000 by the end of the drive last Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile we had a note from listener Elaine in Van Lear, Kentucky, cancelling her monthly contributions since she has not had access to the WEKH signal on 88.5 FM since the transmitter’s failure in June. As I wrote to her, we are making progress in getting the 150 to 200 thousand dollars we’ll need to get it back on the air but we do not yet have a specific timeline.
Here’s a call we received Wednesday afternoon from Mark, from Winchester, “I was listening to WEKU while the Vice President was making his remarks in the Rose Garden and it was interrupted by ad space. I was shocked and angered that you guys would interrupt the Vice President speaking in an announcement that no one knew what he was going to say.”
Mark’s disappointment, and that of other listeners we’ve heard from, is truly justified and we apologize. What you heard was certainly not “ad space” as Mark called it but a normal station break with underwriters and perhaps a promotional announcement. It happened since the midday station breaks are automated and we did not receive notice of Here and Now’s coverage of the Vice President’s address in time to take the station out of “auto-pilot.”
That situation was not helped by the fact that our station fund drive had just ended the day before and our staff, including yours truly, were not operating at maximum efficiency and energy level.
We’re interested in your feedback. Send it by email to WEKU@eku.edu. Leave your voicemail message at 859-622-1657. Post on Facebook or the website or send us a tweet @889weku.
Then tune in for Listener Feedback again next Monday morning at 6:49 and 8:49 or in the afternoon at 5:33 on 88.9 WEKU.
