Listener Feedback: September 2024

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, September 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. I don’t want to let the day get by without reminding you of an opportunity for families with school-age kids … because time is running out. Between now and the end of the month … you can take advantage of a back-to-school offer from WORLD Watch! That’s our daily current-events video news show hosted by Brian Basham and his team of young reporters. Each day’s WORLD Watch includes news headlines and intelligent, educational features from a Christian worldview—all that content especially geared to students. If you sign up during the next few days you can get three months of WORLD Watch on the house. For free. But the offer expires September 30th! Don’t risk it. Do it today. worldwatch.news/radio.

Time now for Listener Feedback

BROWN: We begin with a couple corrections from our September 16th History Book. In the story about China’s Mao Zedong and his rise to power, we repeatedly referred to him as “Zedong” … when we should’ve used “Mao.” The surname goes first in Chinese.

EICHER: We had another misspeak a few moments later … in describing the space probe Voyager and its distance from earth … we got it a thousand-times wrong. The fact is Voyager is 15 billion miles away. We misspoke and said 15 million. To simplify the numbers … it’s the difference between 15-thousand and 15 … big difference.

BROWN: Next a listener from Colorado. What prompted her call was our description of the head-to-head matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. We, like most media outlets, referred to that encounter as a debate. But …

KAREN GIBSON: I disagree with the word debate for what Trump and Harris did on television. A debate has rules that must be followed. For example, clearly state your position, use facts to back it up. Wait your turn and an unbiased group of judges. None of that happened on Tuesday night. I think it should just be called an airing of opinions. Thank you for all you do at WORLD.

EICHER: Excellent point. We are a long way from the Lincoln-Douglas debates!

Now to the segment that got the most feedback this month. Our conversation with former colleague Megan Basham on her book: “Shepherds for Sale.”

Don Luckert of Louisville, Colorado [lewis] thanked us for the timely interview. Suggesting that the strong, negative reactions to her book might be an indication that she’s hit a raw nerve.

But Greg Smith from South Carolina was disappointed … feeling like we gave Megan a home field advantage and our questions were not hard enough.

So if you were one of the many who wrote in, and there were a lot, thank you. We read them all.

BROWN: Now to some fan mail…Nick, we got this voicemail after one of your recent interviews:

LESTER TWILLEY: Hi, this is Lester Twilley calling to thank you for the interview with Victor Davis Hanson on September 19th. It helps us to take a step back and view this world's lawlessness from one of two perspectives, hope or hopelessness. My prayer is that we will look to the future with hope for truly, there is nothing new under the sun.

EICHER: Well, thanks. Victor Davis Hanson is a hero to me. It was an honor to talk with him. And, Myrna … I listened to all of the voicemail and you pressed pause here. There’s more …

TWILLEY: And before I close, thank you for the inspiring stories of lending libraries.

EICHER: And he spoke for a lot of people … great work on that Lending Libraries series.

BROWN: Thanks! I loved spending time with so many people across the country who not only love their books…but want to share them with as many people as they can.

EICHER: Myrna, we also got this email after your story last week on the 30th anniversary of Darlene Zschech’s song: “Shout to the Lord” … One listener said

Myrna, you had me crying at a stop light again! Your story was so moving. That song always gets me. I believe it’s straight from God. Thank you for the stories that inspire me to worship my Creator.

BROWN: Ah, how nice!

Next, a reaction to the story from Wednesday on men in the church, we highlighted an Eastern Orthodox monastery in Finland…that caught the attention of Amity Garwood:

AMITY GARWOOD: My family is Orthodox…and a couple of interesting things to note about Orthodox monasteries is there's two really neat purposes for them. One is they are praying for the world. So … we will ask them to pray when a situation comes up and they are really, really faithful to include all of those people in situations in their prayers…Another really wonderful thing about Orthodox monasteries is they are places where they invite you to come…They're very hospitable. They'll listen to you, they have services, you can walk the grounds and it's just really a beautiful way to kind of have a spiritual retreat. Thanks. Bye.

EICHER: One last thing before we go today. For the last five years or so, we’ve started every program with a short introduction from our listeners. We call them “pre-rolls.” They go something like this:

PREROLL MONTAGE: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. I'm Becca Bainbridge and I’m Michelle Bainbridge. Becca and I listen to World every morning when we milk our family cow.
My name is Kathy Oberg and I'm Terry Oberg. We enjoy listening to World on our front porch overlooking the Crow Wing River in Huntersville, Minnesota.
Hi, my name is Brett Tabor. I live in rural Tennessee with my husband where I homeschool and homestead with my three young kiddos.
My name is Rebecca Relman and I live in Loveland, Ohio. In this podcast. I finally found a new source. I enjoy listening to each day. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies, never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness!

BROWN: Over the years, we’ve enjoyed hearing from listeners all around the world. So many memorable pre-rolls from mountaintops, mission fields, and other interesting places. But, all good things come to an end.

EICHER: Truth to tell,  interest in sending them has really waned over the several months and we’ll take that as a sign that it’s time for a different approach, so we’re giving that a re-think. But in the meantime my personal thanks to each one who took the time to record them and send them. It was a lot of fun.

BROWN: Indeed. And thanks to everyone who wrote and called this month. We’re grateful for the time you give to listen each day and for your feedback.

If you have a comment to share you can email editor@wng.org. You can include an audio file attachment to your email and we’ll consider it for air. You can even phone it in at 202-709-9595.

EICHER: And that’s this month’s Listener Feedback.

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.