We Are Tuned In
In any given week, you can drive down Route 2 or out Route 14 tuned into 91.1FM or 91.7FM and enjoy hours of locally curated music shows that span genres, themes, and decades. The musical taste of our programmers will surprise and delight any music lover. Our local talk shows will advise you on just about anything, from how to dispatch a groundhog from your garden to which poem is best read while listening to the morning birdsong. Our beloved and highly curated national content will expand your thinking on the issues of our day and deepen your empathy.
In our 55 locally made shows, our programmers are bringing you stories of their lives, the music that brings them joy, and coverage of what is going on just down the road. This includes when times get tough. Just hours after the repeated devastating flooding of our listening area, our folks put on their muck books and took to the airwaves. They offered live reports of road outages, calls for mutual aid, explained how to apply for FEMA support, and most importantly, kept listeners company through these hardships.
We all need more of all of this in our lives and from our media sources. Real access to information, opinions, music, weather, and a real local connection by having this content made by and for Vermonters. This is the heart of a healthy democracy what makes a community so vibrant.
This is exactly why we do what we do in community radio and why at Central Vermont Community Radio you are going to hear - “GDR – Great Darn Radio” – the greatest you can find in all of Vermont.
We Are Our Community
Central Vermont Community Radio is a three-year old non-profit which now owns the beloved 51-year-old stations of WGDR, Plainfield and WGDH, Hardwick. These stations were once under Goddard College and are now thriving under community ownership.
Our mission is to give Vermonters in our rural part of the state a free forum to cultivate social change, inspire more civil discourse and creativity, tell the stories of our diverse community here in Vermont, and access to news and analysis in these increasingly hateful and harmful times. When you tune in, you will hear the diverse voices of your community, new perspectives and ideas, and music you may have never heard.
We envision community radio as the go-to, free, and accessible media outlet that truly connects us to each other, our communities, Vermont, and beyond. When you tune in, you hear your neighbor, someone you may already know or, will meet soon at the general store.
As a community owned station, we’ve set a priority to be as local and as representative of our community as possible on the air. In three short years, we’ve done that by:
• doubling the number of locally-made shows, which are now nearly all live—a huge step in recovering from the Covid pandemic.
• diversifying the voices of who is on the air and in leadership at the station. This means more youth, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are part of the over 75 volunteers we have making shows, running the station, providing leadership on our board, staff, and committees.
• expanding our content to include more coverage of community needs and happenings, the stories of locals, and recovery response to crisis like the recent flooding.
• building a culture of connection at the station that shows in the rapport between programmers--folks who are from wildly different backgrounds, ages, and even parts of Vermont.
All of this is what makes community-owned WGDR and WGDH so special. Everyone who is on the air and behind the scenes are here to lift up the community through the power of radio. If you’ve tuned in, streamed us at WGDR.org, or listened on-demand in our archives, you no doubt you have heard this wonderfully different sounding WGDR and WGDH.
We know we are having a positive impact locally and across the state because:
• Our listenership is up via broadcast by at least 1,000 folks, with another 1,000 new online streamers each month, and hundreds more listening on demand.
• We’ve gone from just 23 programmers and volunteers under Goddard College ownership, to over 75; 60 of those folks do shows on the air.
• We’ve expanded and diversified our philanthropic support by doubling the number of donors, tripling our underwriting and sponsorship support, and establishing new partnerships with many folks in the community who help the station succeed in all sorts of ways. We are particularly proud that over 80% of our funding comes from listeners.
Community Media is Rare in Vermont
We are one of only 6 community radio stations in the entire state. With a reach to nearly 30 towns and four counties, we are by far the biggest, oldest, and have the greatest volunteer engagement. The other 5 stations are mostly low-power, designed to reach just a few towns each, with about 25 volunteers at each station.
With Vermont University selling off the college stations at the Johnson and Lyndon campuses and Dartmouth selling their college station in the last few years, we are now the only non-commerical, independent, and community-centered station left in our large, rural part of the state. This has meant that access to the airwaves by everyday Vermonters is at an all time low. This is why we are working so hard to not only ensure WGDR and WGDH continue under communtiy ownership, but that we and the rest of the stations thrive.
As we look to the future, community radio must remain a critical part of our media landscape in this state to ensure local issues are covered and local voices heard. We intend to be a state leader in communtiy radio, alongside our five other community stations, helping to get as many Vermonters on the air, across the state, as possible.
A 50-Year Old Start Up
We are in a unique position to be 50 years old in reputation, and in some cases infastructure, but only 3 years old in organizational development. Building our capacity, smartly and strategically, is remains one of our major goals in our first five years. With a budget of just under $100,000 to operate both full power stations and fund one staff position, we are working on sustainable growth, while also weathering repeated fiscal setbacks. This has included needing to replace $14,000 in broadcast gear in the last year, make up a $30,000 fundraising gap from lost underwriters and sponsors caused by the 2023 floods, and rebuild from the impact of Covid on the station, which we inherited at the start of the ownership transition. We have risen to each moment with transparency to the community about what it takes to run and fund the station day in and out, alongside why and how these unexpected costs have happened. Each time, the community has risen to us meet us and fund our needs.
In 2024, we now face the closing of Goddard College and sale of campus, where we still call home for the station. The impact of a new owner of campus has created a huge sense of concern in the community and for the station. Goddard had given us a generous deal on rent and utilities and while we are confident we can work out a fair lease with any new owner, we know the cost to operate on campus will undoubtedly cost us more.
What’s Next
Under the leadership of our Station Manager, Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, a long-time nonprofit leader with three decades of community radio experience in Vermont, our 7-person board with long-time station members and new folks from the community, and alongside all our programmers, we have three main goals:
1. Connect to Our Community
We will do this by continuing to diversify who is part of the station, providing access to the air for local groups and individuals to share their causes, events, and ideas, and by building partnerships, where the power of radio can help move great ideas into action.
2. Create Great Content
We will continue to invest in our local programmers with training and coaching to help them make Great Darn Radio. We will be responsive with our programming to local emergencies like flood coverage or special content that uplifts the listening experience. We will do all this with careful attention to feedback and new ideas from the internal and external station community.
3. Right Size Our Capacity
To do all this, we need funding. We are committed to working toward the most sustainable way to maintain the station. This includes continuing to diversify and increasing our fundraising for the next few years, evaluate and increase staffing needs, and pursue new funding streams that can help us grow responsibly.
When we do this, we will have a station that not only leads the state as a media outlet but one that presents a national model for a thriving community radio station.
Be Part of Funding Great Darn Radio
Our budget directly funds the programming you love, the community engagement we hold so dearly, and the upkeep of the station gear and technology. There is no bulky overhead and much of the work of the station is still done by volunteers who give their time and talents to the station.
Your donation, of any size, will have a huge impact on keeping the programming you rely on. You can make a tax-deductible gift to Central Vermont Community Radio at WGDR.org, including making a monthly sustaining gift, or give by check to “CVCR” mailed to 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.
Interested underwriters or sponsors can support the station financially in exchange for “ad-like” mention of their services either on the air or “pre-roll” of our livestream online. We have a wide range of packages, with lots of customizable options, starting at just $253. Contact our Station Manager at Llu@WGDR.org for more info.
Together, We Can Make Great Radio Happen
We are dreaming big, but starting sustainably to make sure Central Vermont Community Radio can thrive. With your support this year, we can keep Great Darn Radio on the air right now and start looking to a future where long held dreams become reality: locally made news shows, an improved broadcast reach into Barre and Montpelier, and more.
Thank you for investing in the future of community radio here in Vermont.