Call for new station art!

This is a call for artists far and wide!

We’re looking for art pitches for two station items this year - a new sticker and a limited edition block print design.

We’ll use these stickers all year long as station freebies, thank yous, and more. The limited block print will be part of our fundrive donor incentives, starting in March for the spring fundrive and again in October. This is a nice thank you to donors who give a certain amount. We’re excited to partner with the new print shop, Hard Pressed in Danville on this project.

We will provide a modest artist stipend for the winning pitch for both projects of $100 each. The design will become fair use for the station for any purpose, but the artist can retain use as well (portfolios, etc.). This work will be seen far and wide, and will credit the artist in all the places we use the art!

To submit a pitch please scroll down to see the sticker and, further down, the block print specs.

We’re looking for designs that capture the power of community radio and the uniqueness of WGDR and WGDH. We are particularly looking to uplift visual Vermont artists with this project, so please no submissions from out of state. Cartoonists, block printers, drawers, doodlers, go for it!

Send your one design idea, per project (ex. one sticker design), along with a very brief blurb about you, your work, and any helpful links to Llu@WGDR.org by Friday, February 14. We’ll ask programmers and listeners to vote on the winning designs, via our website, and announce the winning pitches by February 28.

Feel free to reach out to Llu with any questions too and spread the word to your arty friends!

For sticker design ideas: we need a print-ready, digital design. This can be either hand-drawn and well-scanned to a digital copy or a digitally designed graphic. It can be black and white or color. The image should be within a 4” by 4” design area (nothing much smaller than that). It can be a die-cut design (cut out like our 50th edition cows were (see below) or a traditional square or rectangle design. These are meant to be true, fun sticker art and do not need to have our logo incorporated. The sticker does need to include the following text: Central Vermont Community Radio, WGDR at 91.1 FM, WGDH at 91.7 FM, and WGDR.org. Besides that, have fun with it!

For the block print design ideas: these need to be able to be easily hand cut into a print block at the print shop, either by the originating artist or someone replicating the original design by carving. The more intricate, the more we encourage the artist to do the carving too (please!). This can be a one ink print or multiple inks and should also include the basic lettering text of: Central Vermont Community Radio, WGDR at 91.1 FM and WGDH at 91.7 FM, and WGDR.org. We’re looking for a mailable size of a print piece, so something just under the standard 8”x11” would be ideal. See the fabulous print Mary Azarian did for us for our 30th below as one block print example.

What’s up with all the disclaimers?

Hey listeners!

As you know, nationally things are changing at a rapid pace, with various public institutions being challenged, threatened with funding cuts, and more actions. Community radio, by design, is meant to protect free speech and give all of us access to the airwaves, free of censorship or other threats to an individual or a station. And yet, all our stations hold federal licenses from the FCC, which can be pulled for review at any time due to complaints or challenges to a station fulfilling its duties and obligations to FCC policies.

One of the biggest protections we have to protect the license and be compliant with FCC policy is the use of a station disclaimer. This allows a programmer to share their views but does not necessarily represent the station’s position on any matter. A disclaimer is a neutral statement that reminds all listeners - including the FCC in a review - that the station has a neutral position as a media outlet.

So, you will hear us using the disclaimer - “The following (or preceding) program presents the opinion of its participants and producer. It does not reflect the official opinion of WDGR-WGDH or its licensee, Central Vermont Community Radio." - for every show - talk, and music. This will ensure that any potentially objectionable content aired during a show - local or syndicated too - is not presumed to be the position of the license holder, Central Vermont Community Radio.

Thank you for your patience with this new practice on the air. We are trying to keep it mixed up and creatively used during a show - still protecting us, but lessening the potential annoyance factor.

Most importantly, thank you for listening to and supporting this vital public institution of community radio!

New Online Listening Experience

As part of our dedication to improving the reliability of station systems and the overall listener experience, we are transitioning our live stream and archive (on-demand) listening platforms to new services as of February 1, 2025. Our past services frequently dropped out with no notification or, often, clear cause, and were sometimes out for hours or even days. We’ve vetted, tested, and are excited to integrate with two new service providers to improve online listening. We welcome feedback or comments about this change (or if you find something to not be working!): Llu@WGDR.org.

Livestream

To listen online most listeners won’t notice the difference! Just click the “listen live” anywhere on our website and the stream will start.

For internet radio listeners (with an internet radio device), you will need to enter in the new direct URL to your settings:

https://wgdr.broadcasttool.stream/wgdr_128

Archives

To listen back to past shows, go to our schedule page and you will see a new WGDR/WGDH archive player at the top of the schedule and at the top of all show pages. To listen to a specific show, enter in the date and time it starts and hit green play. You can also click on that show, in the weekly schedule, and go to the show page to listen to the most recent show. To go back two weeks, enter in the date and time of the show, wherever you see the archive play box. To fast forward, enter in a few minutes ahead in the playbox, like 10:15am. We no longer can “scrub” fast-forward by a few minutes, but that was technically illegal anyway, so we’re happy to be compliant now as part of this change!

New Year, (more!) New Local Shows

We’re kicking off 2025 right, by filling the airwaves with even more locally made shows. This month, you’ll hear these new folks getting trained on the air with some of our current community members. As they are ready, the following shows will join us on the air in the weeks to come. Please give them a warm welcome when you hear them on the air (they may be a little nervous). Give a call to the studio, a chat through the website, and let them know you’re listening.

Here are the dozen new shows coming on the air, bringing us up to 60 locally made shows!

• Civic Radio - A Vermont Community Foundation funded partnership with the Civic Standard in Hardwick. This show will record the sounds, people, and concerts of the town, produced by a Civic Standard crew of volunteers. They’ll have a 6 month limited run, starting in March in the Saturday 9am monthly rotation, the 2nd Saturday.

• The Rubber Room - a music show hosted by retired Johnson State professor, Dan Towner. This show will feature music recorded on 78s (records) and feature swing, blues, and “black music” from the 20s, 30s, and that era of early music. Tune in Wednesdays 1-2pm.

• Pitter Patter Radio - Hosted by Pat Kantner, this music show will feature a range of genres, focusing in on queer artists and more. Catch them in a monthly rotation on Saturday mornings 10am-noon.

• A monthly poetry show - Hosted by local poet, print shop printer, and professor, Kyle Schlesinger. Join Kyle on a new Monday morning monthly rotation at 11am, for prose and poetry assignments for listeners.

• A weekly vinyl show - Hosted by Corey Flynn, featuring records from his extensive collection, crossing all sorts of genres. Catch the spinning Mondays, 2-4pm.

• A weekly community-focused talk show - Hosted by Timothy Burgess, this show will explore the stories of Vermont and how we can remain connected to each other in the coming changes. Tune in every Monday from 10am-11am.

• Good Ways Reggae Show - Hosted by Kind, you’ll hear a range of reggae music from their Jamaican roots. Tune in Sundays at 6pm.

• Poa for the People - Hosted by Poa Mutino, this show will explore grief and how we connect to each other in the monthly Monday rotation at 11am.

• Yardscrap - A story-based, community centered show focusing on all that is happening around us, hosted by VT Digger editor Yardain Amron on Tuesdays, 9-10am.

• Eastern Dawn - A show focusing the stories and lives of youth, hosted by educator Luke Lampugnale, Tuesday mornings at 7am.

• The Wild Kindness - Hosted by Trevor Ziegler, this music show will explore the more off beat and obscure music you don’t hear anywhere else. Tune in Tuesdays, 12-2pm.

• Special One-Time Airing of - "From the Outside”  - a Community Library of Voice and Sound Archive Remix project by Khonsu X, in partnership with WaveFarm and the Oral History Summer School. Part Horspiel with a Brechtian construction, this is a crip punk primer underpinned by all the personal trauma and triggers brought up by doing oral history investigation. Weaving archival footage and field recordings, this piece also includes two original songs written and produced by Khonsu X. “Au Revoir” and “3Peat” were his anchors in creating transmission art that attempts to honor the voices who lent themselves and the emotional turmoil of oral storytelling. Visit https://www.libraryofvoiceandsound.org to experience the original interviews and sounds influencing “From the Outside”. Airing December 11, 2024; 5pm ET on WGXC.org // 90.7 Acra, NY, Hudson. Hear this one-time airing on Saturday, February 8, 9-10am.

As always, we do our best to re-curate the syndicated programming we’ve aired (where these local shows are airing instead). Look for some minor changes to the lineup for where some of those shows will have gone (or retired). Thanks to our Programming Committee for giving such careful thought to how we continue to improve our programming to draw in even more Vermonters to tune in.

The Quiz Show & a NYE countdown

Tune in on New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December 31 from 6-7pm for Central VT Community Radio’s very first Quiz Show! Our very first contestant will be Rebby, an avid listener from the base of Mt. Hunger. 

She’ll have help too, from our panel of WGDR/WGDH programmers. They’ll be there to provide hints, help, and humor to help her win. The trivia is based on the station and our past year. Fun will be had by all, and we encourage you to play along at home. 

Panelists are Club Soda from Still Life, Dude from Barndance Bluegrass, and Tonio from the Magical Mystery Tour, with quiz host, DJ Llu.

Tune in to help us wrap up the year with a little fun and cheer! ​​And stick around after the quiz for the top 10 tunes played on WGDR this year.

Keep that radio on all night long, right up to midnight, with the Still Life Crew, 7-9pm, and Swivel Radio, 9pm until midnight, doing an extended COUNTDOWN to ring in the new year live on the air.

2024’s CVCR Rewind

​​​​Friends of CVCR -

​Well, that was a very eventful year. We didn't have Goddard College closing, three attempts at selling campus,  more historic flooding, and a busted WGDH audio processor from excessive summer heat on our bingo card. Phew! Our bingo cards did have squares for building our capacity as a station, making even better content, and increasing our engagement with the community. And that, was a coverall win this year for us. 

This was all possible due to the support of listeners like you. Truly, on behalf of all of us, thank you for tuning in and donating!​

As we look to the end of the year, here are a few highlights of 2024:

• ​More great local content: Across the year, we welcomed another 24 local programmers on the air, taking us up to 61 local shows.  These shows range from music, to interview shows, to community conversations. Tune in in late January to hear the final batch of these folks taking to the air.  We are so proud that 75% of our schedule is now local and there is some mighty fine radio being made.

• ​New special content: We aired a dozen special programming features,  providing responsive coverage of the flooding in July and live election night coverage with Democracy Now. We also live-streamed WWOZ's Jazz Fest straight out of New Orleans, celebrated the life of Reuben Jackson with a radio remembrance of our dear friend for folks far and wide to take part in, and brought loads of extra local content on the air, including live music, for our fundrives and the recent music and match Giving Tuesday. This is all in concert with our continued highly curated lineup of 40 syndicated programs featuring national and international news, views, and deeper discussion on the issues of our day.

• Celebrations and connecting as a community: We partied like it's 1973 at the Pratt, celebrating 50 years of WGDR being on the air. Over 250 folks turned out, bringing together multiple generations and eras of the WGDR community. Our internal station community also continues to thrive, gathering regularly to share ideas, take on projects, and welcome in new folks.

• ​More community-focused content on the air:  We've promoted over 220 community events on the air by our programmers, brought on numerous guests speaking to projects and local needs, and tabled at over a dozen music festivals and community events - including the solar eclipse on the statehouse lawn!  We're welcoming new to the station board members, Programming Committee members, and other volunteers in a variety of capacities too.

• Diversified funding and increased capacity: A thriving WGDR and WGDH under community ownership has hinged on ensuring we have many types of income sources and that we invest in this place - not just in gear, but in the talented people it takes to run the station. We made great strides in all these areas this year and these investments will help further shore up our future success as we prepare to partner with Mike Davidson's new campus vision and lay out a larger station strategy for the years to come.

​​We've all worked really hard to get to this point. Thank you to everyone who has helped toward our success. We hope you are enjoying what you are hearing and will be as excited as we are for what comes next in 2025.

As always, 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 the end of the year.