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.
