The rural 'safety net'

Nikolai Mather

Nikolai Mather covers rural communities for WHQR in Wilmington, North Carolina. Previously, he reported on religion for the Athens-Banner Herald in Athens, Georgia and social justice for Queen City Nerve in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mather was a Levine Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science and served as the opinion editor of the student paper. He primarily studied genocide, winning a scholarship to study the Holocaust in Berlin with Humanity in Action. He has worked in Norway, France and the United Kingdom, but calls the South home.

WHQR Public Media

WHQR is a publicly funded nonprofit radio newsroom serving the Cape Fear Region of North Carolina. As WHQR's newsroom, we are dedicated to fair, in-depth, investigative journalism aimed at holding local government accountable. While our radio waves extend beyond the county we’re housed in, our coverage historically has not gone as far out into rural areas. We aim to change that, and bring our caliber of watchdog coverage to government agencies in surrounding counties.