John Hingsbergen

As you can imagine, most of this week’s interaction has been on the topic of fund-raising.

A listener, choosing to remain anonymous, sent us a note following last week’s coverage of The Best of Bluegrass activities, “I really enjoyed the Gangstagrass and Appalatin music tonight. Thank  you for incorporating those two shows. I have enjoyed all the bluegrass coverage  this week.”

Brad, from Wilmore, e-mailed us, “I have not, do not, and probably will not listen to the new game show programs airing on WEKU.   Except for 'Wait, Wait . . .'  I find these programs, silly, corny, frivolous, and vacuous (without substance)."

On this week's edition of Kentucky Tonight, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss counterterrorism policy.  The program that airs on KET Monday night at 8:00 will be re-broadcast on the WEKU Stations Tuesday morning at 11:00.

A fictional drama, based on a historical event is spawning a community forum including local religious leaders.  A Lexington group is the first to stage “The Trial of God” in the Commonwealth.  The forum is being held to foster an interfaith dialogue about the issues raised by the controversial play.

Let's see, Ed from Lexington called station manager Roger Duvall.  Karen emailed from London, Kentucky.   Another Karen posted on Facebook, as did Terry.  Meanwhile Chad tweeted about it.  And this all happened Saturday evening.

Here we go again, apologizing for a technical issue, but seriously the problem with A Prairie Home companion on Saturday evening was a computer playlist error that went unnoticed when prepping for the weekend. For those who are really interested in what goes on behind the scenes, feel free to read on. Otherwise, we won't be offended.

Earlier this month, the final Chautauqua Lecture of the year at Eastern Kentucky University featured The Poetry of Thomas Merton.   Until his accidental death in 1968, the Roman Catholic monk lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery near Bardstown. 

For 21 years, Ben Chandler served Kentuckians in the U.S. House of Representatives.  This summer, he’ll find find himself in a new role, as he says, "telling Kentucky’s story" as Executive Director of the Kentucky Humanities Council.  We spoke this week with Mr.Chandler about the position he assumes on July 1st.

We begin this week with a brief follow-up to the technical difficulties that virtually destroyed the 6 – 7 am hour of Morning Edition last Monday.  The outage was a result of an equipment failure at NPR’s pristine new studios in our nation’s capital city.

A new series of concerts kicks off in Somerset next weekend.   Singer/songwriter Pierce Pettis will open The Red Gate Sessions on Friday evening May 17.

We have a few backlogged comments that have never been on the air due to reaction to coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings.

"The trouble is not in your set."  Difficulties that kept NPR's Morning Edition off the air for most of the hour between 6:00 and 7:00 am Monday originated at NPR in Washington.  By way of background, NPR's ENTIRE operation has been moved into new facilities during recent weeks.  WEKU apologizes for the inconvenience and disruption. We are in communication with NPR's technicians and management to discover what happened and we are confident that they are doing whatever they can to avoid future incidents of this type.

Thanks for your understanding and continued support.  

Thanks to all who showed up Thursday night at the Fayette Mall in Lexington and the Grand Theatre in Frankfort for the first-ever "live" cinecast of Wait Wait..Don't Tell Me.  We hope you had as good a time as we.  Whether you saw it "live" or not, don't forget to tune in for the edited and packaged results Saturday morning at 11:00 and Sunday afternoon at 3:00.

If you were selected in our random drawing, we're trying to make contact directly. Check your Facebook "other messages" in-box. If we have an e-mail address or phone number, you may have already heard from us. 

Following our broadcast of concerns about the amount of coverage we provided following the Boston bombings last week, we received the following email from listener Lisa, saying she agrees.  She writes, “I love your station and listen all the time. I usually donate once, often twice a year and will gladly donate more when I secure a full time job."

On this week's edition of Kentucky Tonight, host Bill Goodman and guests will the federal budget.  The program which airs "live" Monday evening on Kentucky Educational Television, will be re-broadcast Tuesday morning at 11:00 on the WEKU Stations.

Give us a "like" or comment on the WEKU Facebook page, call 859-622-1667 by midnight Sunday, 4/28 to enter the drawing or click this link for more information.

The Kentucky Bach Choir is getting ready for its spring concert with performance of the music of Bach and Handel. The group was founded in 2007 as the Lexington Bach Choir.  London, Kentucky native Marlon Hurst became artistic director in 2009 when choir founder Richard Sowers took a job out of state.  

All our comments this week relate to coverage of last week’s tragic events in Boston. 

An Easter weekend broadcast on both WEKU and Classic 102.1 brought a couple of responses on our Listener Comment Line. 

Young people and others in Hazard will be treated to a performance of Shakespeare next week. John Hingsbergen reports that Kentucky Shakespeare, based in Louisville, is bringing Julius Caesar to the Hazard Community and Technical College.

By e-mail, we received this note from listener Joan, “My entire radio experience was changed when I first heard your new format.  (My hours listening increased as did my twice annual contributions of many years.) The only time I am very unhappy with your programing is, of course, during fund raising weeks." 

On this week's edition of Kentucky Tonight, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss the 2013 General Assembly. The program that airs "live" Monday evening on KET will be re-broadcast Tuesday morning at 11:00 on the WEKU Stations.

Since its debut in 1742, Messiah has established itself as one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.  During this Easter weekend, the WEKU Stations are presenting a unique production of George Frideric Handel's oratorio in its original orchestration.

Although most people know it as a popular TV series, The Odd Couple first came to light on stage.  The Neil Simon comedy premiered on Broadway in 1965 and was made into a movie three years later.   As a TV sitcom, 114 episodes aired on ABC between 1970 and 75.

As you likely know, we just finished our Spring Fund Drive and got a lot of comments from listeners along with donations.  Mostly positive, as could be expected.

On this week's edition of Kentucky Tonight, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss the federal budget. The program that airs "live" on KET Monday night at 8:00 will be re-broadcast Tuesday morning at 11:00 on the WEKU Stations.

We had a call from a  very nice gentleman who describes himself as “a night listener.”  He’s unhappy with the lack of overnight classical music on weekends and not a fan of the two food shows back-to-back on Sunday, namely America’s Test Kitchen and the Splendid Table.