WGDR New Antenna & Tower Project
Listeners & Supporters -
In the spring of 2026, WGDR is poised to make history. For the first time in our station’s lifetime, we’ll be replacing our 30-year-old antenna and moving it to a new, higher location in Plainfield — and the impact will be huge. Right now, WGDR broadcasts to about 88 square miles. With the new antenna, that reach will expand to much, much more.
In early March, the FCC approved the WGDR antenna construction permit. This means we can stay on our project plan to raise the new antenna at the new tower location in May!
This new antena will give us:
Better coverage! The new location and stronger, new antenna will get us to the cities of Barre and Montpelier, and much further all around to places we’ve been spotty for 53 years! This truly takes us from our college station roots, to being a community broadcasting station.
Future possibilities! Moving the WGDR antenna off the old Goddard College campus makes us more nimble for the station’s future.
Protecting your investment! A higher, better, safer, location for the antenna protects us from impacts from future floods and the dangers of our current tower location—the forest and falling trees and the failing tower structure on campus.
Keep scrolling to see our project timeline and learn more about the project, costs, and how you can support.
We’re eager to tell you more about this once in a station moment. Reach out at 802-276-0365 or at Llu@WGDR.org.
Take good care,
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, CVCR Executive Director
Projected New WGDR Antenna FCC Application Broadcast Map: Red is strong signal, orange and yellow is decent, green depends on interference (i.e. terrain).
Make a Mission Moving Gift
At its core, this antenna move takes WGDR from serving a small college town and broadcast area of about 10,000 households to expanding to dozens of more towns and cities and over 100,000 households. Reaching more people means more Vermonters can hear the local news, music, and community coverage you simply won’t find anywhere else.
Our station already has over 70 locally made programs, tuning folks into their communities. Compared to the much later stations like Vermont Public, which only has 15 local shows and WDEV, which continues to shift their local focus to national news sources, WGDR is becoming the go to place for Vermonters to hear the sound and stories of Vermont.
We are very proud of this and eager to share our content with even more Vermonters.
Make a Mission Moving Gift
So far we’ve secured $104K from major donors, donor funds, and the state of Vermont to buy and raise the antenna. We need a few more mission moving gifts to get us the rest of the way.
These funds will cover:
$100K in antenna gear, upfitting new location
$25K in contractor and legal costs
$50K in new annual operating costs: tower utilities (electric, rent, etc.), staff time, admin costs
Give a Gift: We are seeking gifts of $5K or more, annually, for three years from our friends with the most means to make this happen. Give at WGDR.org or by check to CVCR, 123 Pitkin Rd. Plainfield, VT, 05667. Thank you!
WGDR listeners and programmers at the 2025 birthday party.
“This is a once in a lifetime moment for the station. It will forever change the sound of Central and Northern Vermont. I am so pleased to be able to help make this happen. Thank you for all you do.”
-Tower Fund Major Donor