Listener feedback

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, May 25th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from member-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. It’s time now for our monthly listener feedback, where you tell us what you like and what you don’t! And we try to have thick, yet permeable skin.

EICHER: Thick skin! That’s what we’ve been teaching this week and will teach next week … because we’re in Sioux Center, Iowa, at Dordt College for the 2018 World Journalism Institute college course, our 20th year.

And managing editor J.C. Derrick is here with me and he’s in our WJI studios today to run through the listener feedback.

Good morning!

J.C. DERRICK, MANAGING EDITOR: Good morning! First, Nick, you need to know how concerned some of our listeners are about the dorm coffee you’ve been making in the microwave! Remember the kicker story you did yesterday, when you took the microphone with you to make coffee? Have a listen to this:

AUDIO: I have serious disagreements with warming up coffee for a minute in the microwave. I want to know what in the world you’re drinking?! Now, if you’re using cold brew straight from the fridge, okay, that that makes sense, credit for that. Or you brewing your coffee though, putting like 3/4 cup of milk and sugar and and that’s just unacceptable and in and putting a coffee in the microwave for a minute is a great way to ruin it or make it smell like the bacon you you had in there a couple minutes ago. So I just had to voice my disagreement and on your otherwise wonderful show.

EICHER: Three quarters cup of milk and sugar, ohh, noo, that is unacceptable.

I just need to say, when you’re in a dormitory, you have to be inventive.

So I was heating the water, then popping in a sleeve of Starbucks Via, the instant coffee. Just black. No milk, no sugar, and of course, no bacon.

REICHARD: Sounds like no fun!

DERRICK: Well, I like crisp bacon — and crisp radio programs, so let’s get to the promised feedback.

But first, the corrections. I wish we could pause for a few seconds because there weren’t any, but we did have a couple of slip-ups this month.

On History Book, we said the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Galileo for his teaching on heliocentrism. Well, the church did put him on trial, condemn him, and ban heliocentric beliefs and books—but they did not go so far as to excommunicate Galileo.

REICHARD: Also, on Legal Docket, I referred to the “Bureau of Immigrant Appeals” — and it’s actually the Board of Immigration Appeals. Same concept, different name.

EICHER: Let’s head back to our listener feedback line at 202-709-9595.

AUDIO: My name is Jared. I’m a pastor and church elder in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. I’ve been a 5-year listener and wanted to congratulate the team on a half-decade of excellent journalism… I also want to say that I was very moved and thankful for Mary Coleman’s recent piece on a Christian approach to mental health. Mary, thank you for your courage and your vulnerability. So many men and women in our congregation struggle with depression and have been helped much the same way you described—via the common grace of medicine and the community of Christ around them, speaking truth and love, and with great encouragement… And to all of you at the WORLD Radio team, do not grow weary of doing good. All of you are sowing a great harvest.

REICHARD: Thank you, Pastor Jared and what an encouragement.

EICHER: It is an encouragement, and it’s an encouragement, even when criticism comes, that it comes from those who overall find our journalism helpful. Like this from Bob Stewart in Moreno Valley, California. Bob says he listens every day and is grateful for the program, but he doesn’t feel we’re fair to the president, and we’ll let him have the last word on that.

AUDIO: I do want to mention that while the rest of the Christian world seems to be rejoicing in the fact that Israel’s 70 years as the state of Israel has come and that Jerusalem is finally being recognized as the capital of that country, we have problems here with Mindy Belz, who seems to see it only has a political maneuver by the Trump administration. I don’t understand that… And the idea that somehow Obama didn’t… recognize Jerusalem as the capital had something to do with the seditious Iran deal just doesn’t even make sense… So anyway… Thank you for the majority of the reporting that you do. I’m just a little weary of this kind of Never Trump attitude. Thank you.

DERRICK: Here’s an email from a teacher named Cami. She’s one of several educators we heard from this month saying they use the program in the classroom.

Cami wrote:

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your weekday podcasts! I am a high school English teacher in rural Texas and listen to you each day as I go through my morning ablutions, listening intently for tidbits that I can share with my students.”

Alright, quick side note: I have to admit I had to look up the word ablutions. It means washing oneself. So, Cami, thank you for expanding our vocabulary!

REICHARD: We should tell George Grant about it.  

EICHER: OK, we’ve got time for one more caller to our listener feedback line. This is from Stephen Lang in Louisville, Kentucky.

AUDIO: Hi… I just listened to Marvin Olasky’s Ask the Editor segment on the movie reviews that WORLD puts in, and I just wanted to express my great appreciation for the movie reviews that WORLD includes not only and its magazine but also on the radio. My wife and I don’t like spending money on things that we will regret having paid money for. And so we… consult WORLD’s movie reviews and very much appreciate the fact that you comment on what’s good and bad in all the movies that you review and our end are honest in your evaluation. So thank you very much for that service. Thank you to Megan Basham and the other reviewers for their fine work.

DERRICK: Well, that’s all the time we have today. To leave a message on our listener feedback line, just dial 202-709-9595. That’s 202-709-9595.

And we have that contact information online at worldandeverything-dot-org on the “contact us” tab. That’s worldandeverything-dot-org.

Via email you can reach us at feedback-at-worldandeverything-dot-com. That’s feedback-at-worldandeverything-dot-com. Dot-com for email, dot-org for the blog.

REICHARD: And please remember to leave a review on iTunes and Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Just search for WORLD Radio.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.