Five High Fives at Five
Dearest Listeners!
April, 2026 marks my 5th year of working for Central Vermont Community Radio -- wow! Which means our 5th anniversary of community ownership is also right around the corner in mid May. When I look back on the last five years, I'm amazed, but not surprised, at what the community has "done with the place." In my view, these stations of WGDR and WGDH and this organization, CVCR, are the definition of "we are the ones we've been waiting for."
As I reflect back on the last five years, I want to give "Five High Fives at Five" for some of what we achieved together.
Centering the Community — When we were a college owned station, the mission centered around the college, from what was on the air, who made decisions, and how it was funded. As a community owned station, the community needed to be centered. This wasn’t just about empowering and engaging more local people to help lead the station, volunteer, and do shows. This was about paying attention to why this station matters and how we wanted it to feel to be part of the station—on both sides of the microphone. What voices were missing? What did programmers need to make great radio? How could we make the station feel like a place of connection, when by design you often don’t see many or in some cases any other programmers from week to week? This is about cultivating the culture of an organization and for us, we centered not just the community, but caring. Caring about accessibility and everyone’s health and well being through the years of the pandemic and beyond. Caring about the collective sound of the station, across all programming. Caring about how we do this work together, by rising to challenges, celebrating, and steadily finding sustainable, diverse funding so the station is here for generations to come.
Local First — When we took over ownership in May, 2021, the station’s programming was heavily relying on reruns and syndicated programming. Only 23 local programmers, out of over 100 show slots, were still on the air after the effects of the pandemic. The one charge of an FCC radio license is to “serve the needs and interests of our community.” To do this, we knew programming decisions needed to shift from being made by just a few in management to the many from the community—listeners, programmers, and supporters. We created our first Programming Committee in 2022 and put a call out for new shows. We were overwhelmed with the response and it hasn’t let up! We now have 65 local programmers on the air, making weekly programming that fills 75% of our main schedule. The difference in how the station sounds is night and day. We have a far more diverse representation from our community—many more women, transfolks, queer folks, younger folks, and more. This is what it sounds like when we say representation matters. You don’t only get difference perspectives, you get more talent. As we’ve added more and more local content—forecasts, events, live music, and special programming—the community has responded in so many positive ways. Listening more, giving more, and engaging more. This is how the station is finally finding a way to sustain itself. We make mighty good radio, more people listen, more support comes in.
Can You Hear Us Now? Yup! — When CVCR took over, we had an estimated 13K listeners, most via the radio. Now, we have over 45K listeners! That as many as AAA commercial station the Point. We’ve embraced the digital age, while staying committed to the accessibility that broadcast radio provides rural communities like the ones we reach. It is a myth that people under 50 don’t listen to the radio. They listen, they just listen online and on demand. We’ve proven this by investing in our digital listening experience and watching the stats skyrocket! That said, we are steadfast in our belief that broadcast radio still has a role to play in Vermonters lives. From bluebird days to our worst days as a community, we are here to provide fact checked news, diverse views, accurate and timely information, and entertainment. We often get feedback from listeners who are unable to afford subscription media or internet service, that having the radio—a free media source—reach them at home or in their car has been a lifeline. Perhaps the biggest show of our commitment to keeping the station accessible to all, is our investment in the new WGDR, Plainfield, 91.1 FM antenna. At a time when many stations are shifting to digital only and closing down their broadcasts, we are adding radio listeners. Montpelier, Barre, and many further afield areas where we’ve been staticy or silent, here we come!
Helping the Helpers — In the summer of 2023 and again in 2024, we had no idea how critical our role would become in the flood response and recovery efforts for our many communities. That first summer, we just did what was right. Completely converting our programming to coverage of where to get help and where to give help. In the many days and weeks that followed, we kept going with coverage. We shared recovery resources, how to access FEMA, and kept folks company through music, stories, and more as they mucked out basements and rebuilt their lives. The following summer, we did it all over again, but this time, with an understanding that we were now part of the helpers. We are proud to be here, when the power goes out, when internet drops, well cell phones disconnect — for any reason — to help the community to the other side of a crisis.
If You Build It, They Will Come — Yes, this is a “Field of Dreams” reference! Five years ago, these beloved stations were on the brink of being sold or given back to the FCC. Instead, the outgoing President of Goddard Bull worked with a small team of volunteers to gift the station to the community. This is almost unheard of nationally, with most college of university stations being sold off or allowed to go dark. Since then, we’ve steadily built a base of support from which the station would not just survive, but thrive. We went from 23 to 65 programmers, from an average of 250 donors a year to over 500, and from just 10 underwriters to over 30. We have built partnerships across the state with the 9 other community radio stations and 24 public access centers to amplify the essential work community media does for the state everyday. This resulted in state funding not just for us, but for all community radio; funding that is soon to become annual support. We’ve created a template of how to add some public funding to how community media is funded, at a critical time in our country. We are not just here to move our mission, we are here to be strong partners with all who uphold a free and fair press, access to the airwaves, and a way to keep us connected to our communities here in Vermont.
We say it a lot, because we mean it. We couldn't have done any of this without you - our listeners, our programmers, our many volunteers, our many donors, our underwriters and sponsors. Thank you for helping us reach this big milestone!
As always, we want to celebrate all of this with you! Please save the date for our big WGDR! Live from Barre! event on Friday, June 5. It’s another milestone moment to celebrate our birthday, the new WGDR antenna going up in a better broadcast spot, and so much more.
Thanks for staying tuned in.
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, CVCR Executive Director
