They Say It’s Your Birthday
WHQR celebrates its 30th with Saturday bash
Ring tosses, a fortuneteller, and dancing will help celebrate WHQR’s birthday this weekend.
To mark its thirtieth year, the local public radio station holds a carnival-themed party Saturday at Cape Fear Community College’s Union Station.
With live music, specialty cocktails, open bar, strolling magicians, carnival games, prizes, and more, the event is expected to be a lively one.
“We are taking this to the next level with great lighting, lots of entertainment roaming the place, and fun photo backgrounds to take pictures with,” says Andrew Gray, a board member for WHQR and chairman on the event. “The community has really come together to help us put this one, and we have had a tremendous response with donations, sponsorships, and prizes.”
Founded in 1980, WHQR began broadcasting in 1984 with studios and offices in a strip mall on Greenfield Street. It has been located on the third floor of the Warwick Building in downtown Wilmington at at 254 North Front Street since 1994.
This year, the station purchased its space in that building and also debuted a new all-classical music station – 96.7 FM – while leaving its previously existing channel 91.3 FM all news and information. News director Rachel Lewis Hilburn also this year helped launch the local news call-in show CoastLine.
Organizers of this weekend’s party say it will mark the past several decades of history for the station as well as its recent updates.
“There is only going to be one thirtieth birthday for the station, and I doubt we will go all out like this for the thirty-first, so this is probably a one-time event – one that can’t be missed,” Gray says.
WHQR’s 30th Birthday Celebration is 7:30-11 p.m. For more information and tickets, which are $65, go to whqr.org.
