Year Wrap Up - December 2022

Friends of WGDR & WGDH -

We are reflecting on all we experienced and accomplished over the last year. Wow! It was a lot. We were able to meet every challenge and stop and celebrate our many wins alongside so many from our community. Here are just a few of our highlights:

• Celebrations: The life of our dear programmer and beloved community member Ken Feld, reopening the station for live guests and more live programming, and great appreciation for the years of great shows from Ruth Wilder, Sasha Thayer, and (soon) Will League who all have stepped away from shows this year.
• Growth: A new mission statement, our new Programming Committee (which includes award-winning journalists and current/past station icons), more community-generated content with event postings and PSAs on the air, new and renewed partnerships with the VT Historical Society, Vermont Arts Council, Spruce Mountain Inn, and Cabot High School, and support from 29 Vermont businesses and organizations.
• Broadcast Capacity Building: We've invested a great amount of time and funding in upgrading outdated and broken gear. A new transmitter at WGDR, numerous WGDH updates, a new station network, a second broadcast studio for increased Covid-safety, a new phone system, and so much more.
• Increased Community: We knew when we went independent from Goddard that running the station would take hard work by many hands. We are so amazed and thankful that so many have stepped up and in to help us. In total, 47 individuals have come together to help at every level of making CVCR a success this year: 16 non-programmer volunteers helping with high and lo-tech projects, including 3 young adults from Spruce Mtn. Inn (pictured helping "clear the pit," 15 of our programmers taking on small to significant operational duties, our 25 programmers making such great local content, 1 intern from Cabot High School, and 1 paid, part-time station manager and our 4 board members providing guidance and direction. We've also had 260 donors (so far this year), 48 as sustainers, and 78 new donors. Together, we are infusing more community into our stations of WGDR and WGDH and we think you can hear it and feel it. Thank you.

The Top Ten Songs We Played in 2022

Thanks to our Music Directors, Dave Tucker and Mark Michaelis, we've got our top spins of the year. If you missed them, check them out.

Listen to cuts from these albums on our CVCR Spotify playlist.

Holiday Gift Idea! Support Those Who Underwrite WGDR/WGDH

We are very grateful to the 20 different underwriters who supported the station through paid on-air mentions over the last year. First Step Print Shop, Sara Bea Art, DDY Design, Lost Nation Brewing, Hardwick Community TV, Buchspeiler, Woodbury Mountain Toys, VSECU, Green Mountain Community Fitness, Bear Pond Books,  Noyle Johnson Insurance, ORCA Media, Onion River Animal Hosptial, Guitar Sam, Black Bear Biodiesel, West Barnet Woodworks, East Hill Tree Farm, Hunger Mountain Co-op, and the Vermont Arts Council.

We also appreciate the in-kind donations from 9 Vermont businesses for our On Air Drive prizes this year: Higher Ground, The Barre Oprea House, Guitar Sam, Waking Windows Festival, Bread and Puppet, Good Heart Farm, Dave's Community Fitness, artist Julian Soberano, and Nataraja Dance Studios.

Looking Ahead to 2023

We've got 24 new show applications in progress (with more coming in each week). You can still apply to be considered. Decisions will be made in January, with training and new shows coming on the air in the weeks that follow.

It will also be our 50th year broadcasting as WGDR, 91.1 FM. We've got big ideas for how to celebrate and welcome any community support in helping to mark this significant milestone for the station.

We'll also continue to diligently build the capacity of the station, through people power, diverse funding streams, and other resource generation. As always, your support keeps us going. Thank you for listening.

Stay tuned,

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager

Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365

p.s. If you have yet to give this year, please consider a gift before December 31. Every dollar we raise goes directly to supporting the programming you love and rely on.

WGDR/WGDH broadcasts at 91.1 FM in the greater Plainfield area, 91.7 FM in the hollows and hills of Hardwick and beyond, and at WGDR.org to the whole world. Our studio is located at the Eliot Pratt Center on Goddard College campus at 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.

Follow us on social media at on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at @WGDRWGDHVT

Season of Gratitude: Our Programmers

Friends of WGDR & WGDH -

These are (some) of the faces of the programmers you have come to know and love over the years at our station. Their wit and creativity are what make WGDR and WGDH’s programming so eclectic, dynamic, and unique. They can brighten days with just the right music track or deepen thinking from a discussion on the issues of our day.

These 25 individuals have also been instrumental in our success as a station since our ownership transition in 2021. Each one of them has stepped up in small and big ways to make a difference. From troubleshooting tech issues to helping to consider new programmer applications, to fundraising, to helping with the day-to-day operations of scheduling, cleaning, and fixing. This has become a station that is not only now community-owned, but community-operated.

You can feel the sense of pride and excitement at the station about not just where the station is going, but how we are doing it—together.

As we begin to wrap up the day, we wanted to say a hearty thank you to the folks who make what you hear on the air possible.

Thank you, programmers!

You may have noticed our schedule is undergoing going some changes as we prepare for the new slate of programmers in 2023. Some of our current shows have swapped days and times. You can always find the current airtimes on our schedule or listen back to shows in our archives.

We are also still accepting applications for new shows. So, if you want to join this amazing mix of people, please get your application in soon. We will begin reviewing the first round before the end of the year.

Stay tuned,

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager

Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365

WGDR/WGDH broadcasts at 91.1 FM in the greater Plainfield area, 91.7 FM in the hollows and hills of Hardwick and beyond, and at WGDR.org to the whole world. Our studio is located at the Eliot Pratt Center on Goddard College campus at 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.

Follow us on social media at on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at @WGDRWGDHVT

Please consider giving to CVCR this season.

Friends of WGDR/WGDH -

On this Giving Tuesday, many organizations ask for your support. We're asking too, but we can assure you, gifts of even the most modest size go further with us than anyone asking you today.

With a budget of just under $100,000, we are frugal with how we spend your donations. We are investing in upgrades in gear, long-deferred maintenance, and new programming, by bringing more locals on the air.

• $30 powers one day of WGDH costs.

• $50 supports a week of music licensing expenses.

• $100 helps to fund new programmer training costs.

• And a gift of just $9.11 a month, as a new sustainer helps keep it all going all year long.

Please consider making a quick end-of-the-year gift to Central Vermont Community Radio today and help us.

You will literally hear the difference you are helping to make as we work toward continued improvements and new programming in the coming year.  

·     To donate by check: make it out to “CVCR” and mail it back in the enclosed envelope. Donating by check saves us processing fees!

·     To donate online: go to WGDR.org and click the donate button.

·     To become a sustaining donor: Set up your giving at WGDR.org today. The impact of giving monthly is huge for us. Our 40 current sustainers fund 13% of our annual budget. This is a way to make your gift have the strongest and most reliable impact, all year long. Think of it like a subscription service.

Thank you for considering a gift this year and for tuning in to your community-owned WGDR/WGDH.

Stay tuned,

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager

Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365

p.s. We're still accepting new show applications!

Call For New Shows

Friends of WGDR/WGDH -

We are overjoyed to invite members of our listening area to (finally!) apply to do a new show with us. If you are interested, we encourage you to apply or to pass it on to someone who'd be great. We also ask that you help us spread the word on your Front Porch Forums, social media, and at the general store by word of mouth. Here is the shareable link: https://bit.ly/WGDRWGDHNewShowApp.

We especially want to reach communities of folks who are underrepresented voices on the air with us: youth, women and non-binary folks, folks from various class backgrounds, BIPOC folks, queer folks, and more Vermonters who's lived experiences will help expand our programming.

The short new programmer application takes about 10-15 minutes to fill out and asks you for a basic show idea and how it aligns with the CVCR mission, a bit about you, and a rough idea of availability for show times.

Our Programming Committee will begin reviewing the first batch of show applications in December. We expect to have lots of interest, so don’t delay applying.

We have a finite amount of space in our schedule, but invite any and all to apply from our listening area of Central Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom. No prior experience is required. If you were previously a programmer and left on good terms with the station, you can apply as well. We are accepting applications for live or remotely made shows and audio content.

If you have questions or need help with the application such as translation, have it given verbally, or provided through any other accommodations, contact Station Manager, Llu Mulvaney-Stanak at Llu@WGDR.org or by phone/text at: (802) 276-0365.

You can also print the PDF version of this whole app, fill out by hand, and mail it back to us. Info on how to do this is in the PDF. If you are unable to fill this application out online or print it to send in, contact us and we can mail you one.

After you submit your app, we will be in touch as part of the application process about openings and appropriate next steps.

We are excited to see what ideas you have and to expand our current family of 26 local programmers.

Let’s make some great radio together!

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager

Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365

Love Notes From Listeners

Friends of WGDR/WGDH -

One of our favorite parts of doing On Air Drives is the notes of love you send us with your gifts. We got 52 notes last month and wanted to share our favorites:

• Thank God for the Magical Mystery Tour.

• Great station, keep up the good work!

• Avid Curse of the Golden Turnip listener, a tether to something in tempestuous times

• Listening to "The Curse of the Golden Turnip" is an essential part of our Sunday mornings!

• From the librarian upstairs in Pratt--a big thank you to Mark Michaelis for his show Acoustic Harmony!

• WGDR continues its original commitment to building community, even as that commitment faces challenges at Goddard. Special appreciation to Joseph Gainza for his Gathering Peace program.

• Great fundraising - Llu 's talk w Tonio Mark's pitch last Saturday (and more of course) - got to me

• Thanks for being such a unique radio experience! One of the many reasons I miss Vermont. WGDR is the best. Keep rockin'!

• Thanks for the diversity of thought and action.

• I LOVE this station!!!

• Terrific station. And, as a pro sound engineer, I'd like to compliment the technical staff on the quality of the audio.

• Thank you for all the great programming: music & commentaries!

• I spend this much on a cell phone that I never use. I would give more if I could.

• I love your programming! i listen regularly to Maura Quinn's programs

• Thanks for being such a dang fine radio station!

• Amy's Kid's show rocks even for seniors

• Hurrah community radio!

After all the numbers were crunched, checks cashed, and donor data double-checked, here is where we ended up for the Fall On Air Drive.  We surpassed every goal we set thanks to you!

• $8,735 ($8,000 goal)

• 11 new sustaining donors (goal of 10)

• 25 first-time donors (goal of 25)

• 122 donors (goal of 91 donors)

• the average gift was $95

• 39 Vermont towns represented among our donors

• 15 out-of-state donors

• 60% of programmers and 100% of the board and staff give

Community support is what makes community radio possible. We humbly thank you for giving and continuing to give to Central Vermont Community Radio. Stay tuned, we have some exciting things in the works in the coming weeks and months, that your funding is helping make happen.

As always, thanks for tuning in.

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager

Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365

The Fall On Air Drive starts today!

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Friends of WGDR/WGDH -

This morning long-time programmer Amy Hornblas helps us kick off our Fall On Air Drive during her show "Amy's Kid's Show" at 8am. Amy's show is part of what makes our station so special.  Nowhere else in Vermont community radio can you hear a show made specifically for kids. Her show is just one of many shows that you can only hear on WGDR/WGDH. "Curse of the Golden Turnip," our legendary call in gardening/farming show, interview shows like "Magical Mystery Tour" and "The Quilting Hour," and our many eclectic music shows like "Long and Winding Road" and "InCommon Sounds" provide listeners with ways to engage, learn, and rock out. Help us keep great shows like these on the air by making your gift to the Fall On Air Drive right now.

During this drive, you are going to hear more voices on the air, as we welcome back live guests and invite listeners to call in and share why they love the station.

We're going for $8,000 as our goal, along with 10 new sustaining donors and 25 first time donors. To make it easy for our live and remote programmers, we are asking everyone to please give directly online or by check to "CVCR" mailed to WGDR/WGDH at 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.

Listener support from you during this drive means we get to focus on curating and expanding locally made programming for the station into the end of the year, instead of worrying about paying the bills.

If you give during these two weeks of the drive, you will be entered to win:

🎙️2 tickets to see Lee Fields on November 13 at Higher Ground.

🎙️ A banner or poster from the Bread & Puppet print shop.

🎙️ A $25 gift certificate to Guitar Sam.

🎙️ 2 tickets to Dance of Hope in April 2023 at the Barre Opera House.

As always, thanks for listening!

In great gratitude,

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak

Station Manager WGDR/WGDH

WGDR/WGDH broadcasts at 91.1 FM in the greater Plainfield area, 91.7 FM in the hollows and hills of Hardwick and beyond, and at WGDR.org to the whole world. Our studio is located at the Eliot Pratt Center on Goddard College campus at 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.

Follow us on social media at on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at @WGDRWGDHVT