Feeling connnected in Dubai

I moved to Dubai in February to develop a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education for Emerati students at the Sharjah Women's College. I continue listening to WMUB every day on my computer. I listen in the evening here, but the 8 hour time difference means I hear the morning line -up of talk shows, which is my favorite part of your programming. It helps me to feel connected to home and keep up with what is happening in the states.

May 10th [was] my Day Sponsor day as I will be missing my daughter Lea's graduation from Indiana University law school in Indianapolis and I wanted to congratulate her. However, I accepted this position and began preparations to move just after the fund drive and I don't remember if I sent in my card with the many things I had to take care of at that time. I will listen anyway, just in case!

Anyway, thanks, WMUB for helping me stay connected in this very faraway spot where there aren't very many Americans.

--Maureen Brustkern, Dubai

[Unfortunately, we didn't have Maureen's card prior to May 10th, but we will contact her about another day. -- Ed.]

Really missed NPR

I just got into the D.C. area after spend the winter in Florida. I have really missed the NPR as many of the southern states have only religious and country stations at that end of the dial. I was so glad when I first picked up NPR from a N.C. university. Morning Edition was music to my ears. Now I am looking forward to getting back to Oxford, and listening to my favorite local WMUB shows. I did hear the Mama Jazz theme song once. That made me homesick. I can get local NPR from American University which is the reason I am here in the area. My daughter is graduating her master's from there.

So thanks for all you do and soon I will be listening to you again.

--Linda Lehmkuhl

Grateful, but loves music

I am most grateful to have MUB in town - but must tell you that I am not a "talk radio" listener except for the not-to-be-missed Diane Rehm Show, and now and then Fresh Air. For me, it's music, both classical and otherwise.

By the way, I do not have a computer at home as I know I’d get hooked. FYI, many of the older set do not have internet access.

--Jack, Oxford

Top of the list of reasons to stay

We are so lucky to have you serve our community. Your station and your web site give us great opportunities for dialog.

We are retired and our children want us to join them on the West Coast, but your station is at the top of our list of reasons not to leave Dayton.

Thank you.

--Gerald and Sally Meike, Dayton

How do I listen to an archived show?

How do I listen to an archived show? My Media Player says it cannot play a file with the extension ".mediaplayer". The extension seems wrong.

--Gayle

[We wrote to Gayle assuming she was trying to listen to our archived local talk shows such as Interconnect, the WMUB Help Desk, Sound Health, Free Advice or WMUB Forum from the home pages of those shows. Those archives are encoded as RealMedia files. The only player for listening to those is RealPlayer, which can be downloaded at no charge from the website located here.

Another option is to use our podcasts, for which we recommend the free iTunes player for Windows or Mac. The podcasts use mp3 files. Find out more about podcasts here.]

Reception problems

I listen to WMUB in the car when I'm on my way to work and then home. I can't pick up the station in the house. Has the station reduced their power, as I can't get the station since Thursday. I know that I'm not close but haven't had any problem and sometimes I can get the station almost to Indianapolis. Any help would be appreciated.

--Margaret, Muncie, IN

[Program Director John Hingsbergen writes:]

Regrettably I have no news to report about what might be affecting your reception of WMUB. We have not changed anything.

There could be environmental (weather) factors involved. Another possibility is that something has changed with another station closer to you. WMUB is obviously not licensed to serve the Muncie area. We are grateful that the signal reaches you and others in the area but it is possible that the FCC has authorized changes to another station (or stations) in the area that would affect reception of our signal. If that is the case, there is probably no recourse for you or us. You would be welcome to file a complaint with the FCC but, since you are outside our "protected coverage" it's not likely to do any good.

We thank you sincerely for continuing to make the effort to listen.]

You say Lima, I say Lima

In a recent story about National Guard units to Iraq, you mentioned the "LEE-ma" company. Shouldn't that be "LYE-ma"?

--Gene from Oxford

[Cleve Callison replies:
We puzzled about that too, but the Associated Press gave the pronunciation we used. We checked into the matter and found out that the company is from Columbus and has no connection to the Ohio city pronounced LYE-ma. It takes its name from the military alphabet, which uses LEE-ma, the same pronunciation as the capital of Peru (and that's per-OO the country, not PEE-roo Indiana].

Restricted contests discriminate

We pledged in your Spring drive by phoning in. We don't think it's fair that you had to pledge via the web to enter the "Public Radio Takes You There" contest. That discriminates against people who don't have web access or who just don't want to pledge that way. Everyone who calls you should have an equal chance.

--name withheld by request, via Comment Line (513-529-1280)

[General Manager Cleve Callison replies:

There's certainly nothing unusual about providing an incentive to encourage certain behaviors. For example, we want to encourage credit card use, so we offer Newsweek during the drive to such pledgers. In this case we definitely want to encourage web pledges. And since this was a national contest run by the non-profit group that handles web pledges for many public radio and TV stations, we didn't make the rules, though we did choose to participate. In this case an easy solution is to pledge over the phone and make a Contest Entry Only selection on the web.]

Stream is behind the radio signal

I like to tune all my radios to WMUB while I'm cleaning so no matter where I go in my house I won't miss anything. My issue is that I use my computer to hear the station for one of my rooms, and the stream is always a couple minutes behind the radio. Is that just part of it, or can something be done to sync it with the FM radio signal?

Just wanted to let you know I became a new member of WMUB during this member drive. I decided that if I'm such a loyal listener that I'll listen to a week of pledge drive, that I need to become a loyal member also. I love all the local and national programs throughout the week and on the weekends.

Also, thank you to whatever members added an extra $50 to my pledge this morning.

--Melinda Kennedy

[Program Director John Hingsbergen replies:

Thanks so much for your financial support and welcome aboard as a new member!

Regarding the synchronization of the web signal with the radio, that is not possible due to the process of coding and decoding that happens when a signal is put on the Internet. From my experience the web signal is likely to be at least 30 seconds behind the radio. There’s really nothing you, or we, can do about that. That will vary based on a variety of factors such as speed of your connection and type of computer. I am sure technology will some day change to make such connections faster but they’ll probably never be in sync with the radio. Just too many variables involved.]

How disappointed I am

How disappointed I am! [In] your on-air fundraising campaign, I believe it was Friday morn. you were running an NPR story about an Iranian animated movie. Midway the story, you broke to live fundraising! I was a bit annoyed but decided it must have been a technical error. But on the way home the very same day--you did it again! This time interrupting Stefan Fatsis's story about his baseball glove. Shameful!!!!

I have never known WMUB to resort to such tactics in the past--why in the world would you do such a thing to your loyal listeners? Please, if you want us to continue contributing, don't DO such crummy and disrepectful things to your listeners!

--name withheld by request

[General Manager Cleve Callison replies:

You're quite right that it is not our intention to interrupt stories in progress, though it has been known to happen. And I'm aware of a 3rd instance during the drive that you did not mention. We do try to be as careful as we can to leave the network when we have a "cutaway" -- a point at which we could get in or out without disruption. Sometimes the networks don't provide one; sometimes they don't accurately tell us when those points will be; but I believe the majority of the ones here are due to human error on our end -- i.e. we meant to catch the break but our reaction times were too slow yet we needed the "pitch" time to meet our goals.

I make no apologies for using program time to generate pledges. Anyone who thinks that pledges will come in without our doing so is welcome to come listen to our silent telephones when NPR stories air. But we can, and should, do better about when to pre-empt stories and how to do it in a thoughtful way. Thank you for keeping us on our toes.]

Depth of news is terrific

We especially appreciate the news coverage by NPR each morning when we wake up and drive to work and again on the way home from work in the early evening. The depth of news coverage is terrific. It gives us a really good understanding of the news and the information behind the headlines of the day. When we can find the time we also love to listen to the Diane Rehm shows during the week and we rarely miss the Prairie Home Companion show on Saturday evenings. Keep up the great work.

--David from Oxford

The best online service

I used to subscribe to WGTE, but their programming just isn’t what I wanted--too much classical music and not enough of the programs I enjoy during the day. I can’t pick up your station on the radio, but I have found that you have the best online service I’ve found, and I listen every day in my library at work and at home on our numerous snow days. Thanks for the great service and great programming.

--Judy from Wapakoneta

Don't contribute to immorality

I only listen to Car Talk on Saturdays. I am offended by the ‘partner’ information request [on a recent show]. You would do well to not encourage or contribute to immoral life styles in our culture.

--Ronald from Dayton