H.307 - A New VT Community Radio Grant Program

Updated February 26:

The Vermont Legislature is considering a new bill to establish a VT Community Radio Network Grant program. This bill would provide one-time state grant funding for all 10 community radio stations in Vermont to help us upgrade our broadcast gear to be ready for emergency response in our areas. This currently is set at $250,000 to be divided amongst the stations as grants, from the Vermont Public Safety Department via the Vermont Association of Broadcasters.

Updated: Wed. Feb. 26: The bill is now in the House, H.307, is under House Appropriations Committee review.  

Now is the time for our listeners and friends of community radio to help lawmakers know how much these stations matter, especially in the more rural parts of our state. From our everyday hyper-local programming to our ability to respond in the moment to emergencies, community radio is made by Vermonters for Vermonters.  

Please consider contacting your local State Representative to ask them to support this funding! No matter where you listen from in Vermont, and make sure they know to look for H.307 and to support this funding as it comes through the House Appropriations Budget process. Find your Representatives’ contact information at: https://legislature.vermont.gov/.

You can also reach out to the House Appropriations Committee and let them know you support this line item for VT Community Radio Grant Program. Information here: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2026/9

You can call the statehouse to leave a message for a representative or committee at: (802) 828-2228.

What WGDR/WGDH would use this grant for:

For WGDR, Plainfield, and WGDH, Hardwick, we’d use this funding to move the WGDR antenna to a higher point in Plainfield to increase our FCC-approved broadcast reach into Montpelier, Barre, and other areas we’ve been spotty for 50+ years. For WGDH, we’d replace the antenna line (a key repair!) and upgrade the transmitter, among other needed infrastructure fixes. These are critical upgrades for both stations that would have lasting impacts for many years to come. A very good investment of public funding.

We will continue to update listeners on the status of this bill as the legislative session continues.

Thank you for your support on this!

The community radio stations in Vermont currently on the air are:

·      WBTV-LP, Burlington, 99.3 FM
·      WFVR-LP, South Royalton, 96.5 FM
·      WGDR, Plainfield, 91.1 FM & WGDH, Hardwick, 91.7 FM
·      WMRW-LP, Warren, 94.5 FM
·      WOMM-LP, Burlington, 105.9 FM
·      WOOL-FM, Bellows Falls, 91.5 FM
·      WVEW-LP, Brattleboro 107.7 FM

The new community LPFM stations being built this year are:
● Bristol, WVVT-LP
● Ludlow, WLUD-LP
● Richmond/Underhill/Jericho, WRUJ-LP

Congrats, Station Award Winners!

Last year we started a new tradition at the station recognizing folks who have done outstanding things in the past year to move the station forward. Nominated and voted on by their peers, programmers, and volunteers were awarded in three categories: Best in Show, Niftiest Newbie, and Vitalist Volunteer.

Awarded in late December and presented with custom engraved radio microphone trophies, the winners were presented their awards by the previous year’s awardee. 

Vitalist Volunteer 2024: Mark Michaelis

Awarded for outstanding work on behalf of the station in a volunteer capacity. The nominees were volunteers Charles Rossell, Bill Hahn, Delia Gillen, Mark Michaelis, and Dave Tucker.

Mark was recognized for his four years as CVCR’s first board chair, and volunteer of all trades as Chief Operator, co-Music Director, and lots of things in between. Last year’s winner was Dave Tucker.

Niftiest Newbie 2024: Stranger & Deininger

Awarded to the most excellent new show to come on the air this year. Nominees were Stranger & Deininger, Spiral Galaxy, Discoverances, Jagler Katz Worm Hole, Listen Up, Soul Joy, and Audio Ergo Sum.

Tosh Deininger’s show Stranger & Deninger won for its infusing of local folks’ life stories through music. A wonderful hour of community radio, every Thursday from 11am-noon. Please note, the show is on a brief radiobattical until May! Last year’s winner was Magpie in the Morning with Delia.

Best in Show 2024: Barndance Bluegrass

Awarded for doing a mighty fine community radio show, bringing the best of what we got to give on the air. The nominees were Barndance Bluegrass, Relocalizing Vermont, Xav Wax, Geezer Rock, the Meltdown, Jagler Katz Worm Hole, Deep Blues, Still Life with Cloud Soda, Boxful of Blues, Future Reflections, Relocalizing Vermont, and Acoustic Harmony.

Barndance Bluegrass is exactly how a week should end and a weekend should start. Mixing family banter, bluegrass, and a different barn location every week into a truly mighty fine community radio show enjoyed from the mountain tops to the valleys and well beyond the borders of Vermont. Last year’s winner was Curse of the Golden Turnip.

Congrats to all our nominees and winners, thanks for all you do on the air and beyond.

Call for new station art!

This is a call for artists far and wide!

We’re looking for art pitches for two station items this year - a new sticker and a limited edition block print design.

We’ll use these stickers all year long as station freebies, thank yous, and more. The limited block print will be part of our fundrive donor incentives, starting in March for the spring fundrive and again in October. This is a nice thank you to donors who give a certain amount. We’re excited to partner with the new print shop, Hard Pressed in Danville on this project.

We will provide a modest artist stipend for the winning pitch for both projects of $100 each. The design will become fair use for the station for any purpose, but the artist can retain use as well (portfolios, etc.). This work will be seen far and wide, and will credit the artist in all the places we use the art!

To submit a pitch please scroll down to see the sticker and, further down, the block print specs.

We’re looking for designs that capture the power of community radio and the uniqueness of WGDR and WGDH. We are particularly looking to uplift visual Vermont artists with this project, so please no submissions from out of state. Cartoonists, block printers, drawers, doodlers, go for it!

Send your one design idea, per project (ex. one sticker design), along with a very brief blurb about you, your work, and any helpful links to Llu@WGDR.org by Friday, February 14. We’ll ask programmers and listeners to vote on the winning designs, via our website, and announce the winning pitches by February 28.

Feel free to reach out to Llu with any questions too and spread the word to your arty friends!

For sticker design ideas: we need a print-ready, digital design. This can be either hand-drawn and well-scanned to a digital copy or a digitally designed graphic. It can be black and white or color. The image should be within a 4” by 4” design area (nothing much smaller than that). It can be a die-cut design (cut out like our 50th edition cows were (see below) or a traditional square or rectangle design. These are meant to be true, fun sticker art and do not need to have our logo incorporated. The sticker does need to include the following text: Central Vermont Community Radio, WGDR at 91.1 FM, WGDH at 91.7 FM, and WGDR.org. Besides that, have fun with it!

For the block print design ideas: these need to be able to be easily hand cut into a print block at the print shop, either by the originating artist or someone replicating the original design by carving. The more intricate, the more we encourage the artist to do the carving too (please!). This can be a one ink print or multiple inks and should also include the basic lettering text of: Central Vermont Community Radio, WGDR at 91.1 FM and WGDH at 91.7 FM, and WGDR.org. We’re looking for a mailable size of a print piece, so something just under the standard 8”x11” would be ideal. See the fabulous print Mary Azarian did for us for our 30th below as one block print example.

What’s up with all the disclaimers?

Hey listeners!

As you know, nationally things are changing at a rapid pace, with various public institutions being challenged, threatened with funding cuts, and more actions. Community radio, by design, is meant to protect free speech and give all of us access to the airwaves, free of censorship or other threats to an individual or a station. And yet, all our stations hold federal licenses from the FCC, which can be pulled for review at any time due to complaints or challenges to a station fulfilling its duties and obligations to FCC policies.

One of the biggest protections we have to protect the license and be compliant with FCC policy is the use of a station disclaimer. This allows a programmer to share their views but does not necessarily represent the station’s position on any matter. A disclaimer is a neutral statement that reminds all listeners - including the FCC in a review - that the station has a neutral position as a media outlet.

So, you will hear us using the disclaimer - “The following (or preceding) program presents the opinion of its participants and producer. It does not reflect the official opinion of WDGR-WGDH or its licensee, Central Vermont Community Radio." - for every show - talk, and music. This will ensure that any potentially objectionable content aired during a show - local or syndicated too - is not presumed to be the position of the license holder, Central Vermont Community Radio.

Thank you for your patience with this new practice on the air. We are trying to keep it mixed up and creatively used during a show - still protecting us, but lessening the potential annoyance factor.

Most importantly, thank you for listening to and supporting this vital public institution of community radio!

New Online Listening Experience

As part of our dedication to improving the reliability of station systems and the overall listener experience, we are transitioning our live stream and archive (on-demand) listening platforms to new services as of February 1, 2025. Our past services frequently dropped out with no notification or, often, clear cause, and were sometimes out for hours or even days. We’ve vetted, tested, and are excited to integrate with two new service providers to improve online listening. We welcome feedback or comments about this change (or if you find something to not be working!): Llu@WGDR.org.

Livestream

To listen online most listeners won’t notice the difference! Just click the “listen live” anywhere on our website and the stream will start.

For internet radio listeners (with an internet radio device), you will need to enter in the new direct URL to your settings:

https://wgdr.broadcasttool.stream/wgdr_128

Archives

To listen back to past shows, go to our schedule page and you will see a new WGDR/WGDH archive player at the top of the schedule and at the top of all show pages. To listen to a specific show, enter in the date and time it starts and hit green play. You can also click on that show, in the weekly schedule, and go to the show page to listen to the most recent show. To go back two weeks, enter in the date and time of the show, wherever you see the archive play box. To fast forward, enter in a few minutes ahead in the playbox, like 10:15am. We no longer can “scrub” fast-forward by a few minutes, but that was technically illegal anyway, so we’re happy to be compliant now as part of this change!

New Year, (more!) New Local Shows

We’re kicking off 2025 right, by filling the airwaves with even more locally made shows. This month, you’ll hear these new folks getting trained on the air with some of our current community members. As they are ready, the following shows will join us on the air in the weeks to come. Please give them a warm welcome when you hear them on the air (they may be a little nervous). Give a call to the studio, a chat through the website, and let them know you’re listening.

Here are the dozen new shows coming on the air, bringing us up to 60 locally made shows!

• Civic Radio - A Vermont Community Foundation funded partnership with the Civic Standard in Hardwick. This show will record the sounds, people, and concerts of the town, produced by a Civic Standard crew of volunteers. They’ll have a 6 month limited run, starting in March in the Saturday 9am monthly rotation, the 2nd Saturday.

• The Rubber Room - a music show hosted by retired Johnson State professor, Dan Towner. This show will “swing across the genres” with music from various genres. Tune in Wednesdays 1-2pm.

• Pitter Patter Radio - Hosted by Pat Kantner, this music show will feature a range of genres, focusing in on queer artists and more. Catch them in a monthly rotation on Saturday mornings 10am-noon.

• Cuneiform Radio - Hosted by local poet, print shop printer, and professor, Kyle Schlesinger. Join Kyle on a new Monday morning monthly rotation at 11am (2nd and 4th Mondays), for prose and poetry assignments for listeners.

• The Monday drive at 2 - Hosted by Corey Flynn, featuring records from his extensive collection, crossing all sorts of genres. Catch the spinning Mondays, 2-4pm.

• Good Ways Reggae Show - Hosted by Kind, you’ll hear a range of reggae music from their Jamaican roots. Tune in Sundays at 6pm.

• Poa for the People - Hosted by Poa Mutino, this show will explore grief and how we connect to each other in the monthly Monday rotation at 11am (3rd Mondays).

• Yardscrap - A story-based, community centered show focusing on all that is happening around us, hosted by VT Digger editor Yardain Amron on Tuesdays, 9-10am.

• Eastern Dawn - A show focusing the stories and lives of youth, hosted by educator Luke Lampugnale, Tuesday mornings at 7am.

• The Wild Kindness - Hosted by Trevor Ziegler, this music show will explore the more off beat and obscure music you don’t hear anywhere else. Tune in Tuesdays, 12-2pm.

• Special One-Time Airing of - "From the Outside”  - a Community Library of Voice and Sound Archive Remix project by Khonsu X, in partnership with WaveFarm and the Oral History Summer School. Part Horspiel with a Brechtian construction, this is a crip punk primer underpinned by all the personal trauma and triggers brought up by doing oral history investigation. Weaving archival footage and field recordings, this piece also includes two original songs written and produced by Khonsu X. “Au Revoir” and “3Peat” were his anchors in creating transmission art that attempts to honor the voices who lent themselves and the emotional turmoil of oral storytelling. Visit https://www.libraryofvoiceandsound.org to experience the original interviews and sounds influencing “From the Outside”. Airing December 11, 2024; 5pm ET on WGXC.org // 90.7 Acra, NY, Hudson. Hear this one-time airing on Saturday, February 8, 9-10am.

As always, we do our best to re-curate the syndicated programming we’ve aired (where these local shows are airing instead). Look for some minor changes to the lineup for where some of those shows will have gone (or retired). Thanks to our Programming Committee for giving such careful thought to how we continue to improve our programming to draw in even more Vermonters to tune in.