⏪ A rewind of 2025 at Central Vermont Community Radio.
What a year it was, for all of us. We're so glad to be in community with you - near and far - through the power of community radio. As we wrap this year, here is our CVCR 2025 Impact Report (and below).
Listen Local: We are committed to continuing to expand and improve the local programming that makes the station stand out.
"Just wanted to let you know that [student's] radio project work was a hit—thank YOU so much for giving her such a cool experience to supplement her learning! Grateful again for such a cool experience for all three of the kids—so awesome!" - Mom of a homeschool student who got to explore the station and be on the air
This year we had:
135 shows are in our schedule, 74 are were locally made by locals this year and nearly all of those are live (69% of the main schedule is local!)
17 were new local shows this year
8 shows step back from the airwaves (retired, moved of state, etc.)
a new, hyper local daily weather forecast added by our pay Roger Hill
special programming like a live feed from the New Orleans Jazz Fest thanks to WWOZ, a great 6 month radio show partnership with the Civic Standard, barters with the Times Argus and Hardwick Gazette to lift up each of our media outlets with each other
countless hours of your neighbors covering what is happening nationally and the impact here in Vermonter, as well as giving you a break from it all with great music shows.
"Thanks for replying. I ended up figuring it out the song. Yay for WGDR! Love you guys!" - A listener discovering music from one of our shows.
With about a dozen folks starting new programmer training this month, we are on pace to have another record number of Vermonters on the air with us by 2026. Stay tuned in for creative, informative, and entertaining content every single day.
Honoring Those Who've Left An Impact: So many individuals come together to make this station possible. In the last year, we lost one of our most dedicated programmers, volunteers, and board members - Dave Tucker. His passing was deeply felt by all of us and we miss him dearly.
We also saw the retirement of the shows from long time programmers - Jeff Lindholm (Geezer Rock), Peter Goreau (Spanning the Chasm), who both had decades on the air with us. There were many more folks who left their mark on the station - through shows or volunteering - thank you all!
Turning Challenges into Celebrations: We faced no lease, funding gaps, capacity crunches, attacks on public media, and more this year. As we always do, we rose to the moment and:
inked an affordable new two-year lease with Ledgeworks (the new owners of former Goddard campus);
secured $150K in state funding for all community radio stations on Vermont to upgrade aging gear for future emergency response;
transitioned from our founding board to a brand new board focused on strategy and capacity to ready us up for big moves in 2026;
lined up a new tower location in Plainfield for the brand new WGDR antenna and secured over 50% of the costs it will take to move us there next spring, increasing our broadcast by 8 times the coverage!
