Passing the Mic

Alice Daly and Reuben Jackson in the WGDR Studios, 1975.

Goddard College History with WGDR/WGDH.

An excerpt from their blog full blog post.

Entering the Pratt Library on Goddard Colleges’s Plainfield campus, descending to the lower level, and winding around soundproof doors, you’ll begin to hear the sounds of broadcasting that have been transmitting for nearly 50 years. 

WGDR/WGDH started as college radio, with a renegade spirit. Yet investment from the local Vermont community was inscribed into its mission since it began in 1972. When Goddard transitioned to a low-residency model in 2002, and students left campus, the station was passed entirely to the locals, with a mission to continue to bring the work of Goddard’s engaged faculty, staff, and students into the fold when possible. The station’s staff at the time advocated for Goddard, as the programmers joined the discussion of the College’s transition to the low-residency model that it invented and continues to innovate upon.

After 2002, the DJ chair was filled with 30-50 community volunteer programmers, many of whom graduated from Goddard and continued the continuity of the Goddard mission within the community. Joseph Gainza, serving as the Vermont Field Director of the AFSC, launched his public affairs call-in show Gathering Peace as part of his outreach effort,, now serves on the Board of Directors of CVCR.

“Goddard’s mission has always been to nurture and nudge students to find and use their authentic voice, to follow their passion and use it to build a more just world.” said Gainza, “In gifting the WGDR/WGDH licenses to Central Vermont Community Radio, Goddard is honoring that mission on a community scale.”