Thank you, listeners.
We are sending you all our warmest wishes for the new year. Thanks for making 2023 an amazing year for Central Vermont Community Radio.
Friends of CVCR -
As we end the year today, we wanted to send all of you our warmest wishes for the coming new year. To help ring in 2024 and celebrate what was good for 2023, please tune in tonight for a special New Year's Eve live special program: Countdown, hosted by the Revel Level, 7pm-midnight.
While we are in celebration mode, I wanted to also share this poem we recently got from a listener. It really captures all of what this station has been about since 1973 and where we aim to still go in the new year and beyond.
Also, today is the last day to give to CVCR for 2023 tax purposes. We are so grateful to the over 350 of you who supported the station this year. We put your money to good use, keeping the programming you love airing all year long.
As you can see below, 84% of our funding this year has come from listeners like you. We are really proud of that!
Thank you for tuning in and happy new year!
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, WGDR/WGDH Station Manager
Llu@WGDR.org, 802-276-0365
p.s. We are always eager for your feedback. Take our listener survey and help us continue to curate programming in 2024.
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 the Goddard College campus at 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.
A rewind of 2023 at WGDR & WGDH.
What a year of building more community on the radio! We are profoundly grateful to every single one of you for helping these beloved stations continue to thrive. Click through to this blog post to rad up on this year’s stats and highlights.
Friends of CVCR -
What a year of building more community on the radio! We are profoundly grateful to every single one of you for helping these beloved stations continue to thrive. As you can see from this year's stats, hundreds of our neighbors are stepping up to provide the time, funding, and energy it takes to power your community radio stations.
As we look to the end of the year, here are a few highlights of 2023:
In the spring, the schedule transformation was one of the biggest in the history of the station. We added a ton of new local and syndicated shows, bringing you new perspectives, stories, and musical genres. A number of our brand-new local shows are now some of the most streamed shows each week, a testament to the dedication they have brought to what they produce for you each week.
By the summer, the entire station took on a new sense of togetherness, especially in the wake of the summer flooding. We asked programmers to rise to the moment and they did just that for you. Providing resources and relief from the unrelenting clean-up and recovery efforts.
This sense of station teamwork rolled into the fall, where we truly made the fall drive a FUNdrive, with amazing special programming, cross-hosting, and more. You could hear just how much fun everyone was having, and it paid off, raising over $14K for the station, and blowing away all other CVCR drive records.
The community has turned it up too, helping us raise money (Worst. Song. Ever.!), transform the station with a new paint job, buying and rocking our station swag around town, and underwriting the station.
Listeners have not only tuned in more, but they've let us know what they think. We are getting close to 100 entries for our listener survey. If you have yet to take part, please do.
We spent all year celebrating the huge milestone of 50 years of WGDR being on the air. Did you know we are the 2nd oldest community station in the country and the oldest and biggest in Vermont? While we had to postpone the party, we are in the works of a 51st party for this coming spring. Stay tuned!
We also want to again extend our deepest gratitude to weather guru Bob Mitsenbeger who retired from his near-daily live forecast with us, to CVCR founding board member Joseph Gainza who completed his term, and to Eamon Dunn, our first paid summer intern.
Best Tunes of the Year from WGDR/WGDH Music Hosts
Top tunes from "the Grassers," host of Friday night "Barn Dance Bluegrass."
Friday afternoon's "the Long and Winding Road" best tunes by host Dave Tucker.
Best songs from "Hittin the Note," hosted by Bill Hahn on Thursday afternoons.
Host Barry Matthews, of "Country Sounds" on Wednesday nights has top non-country and top country tunes for you.
"Gilded Splinters" host Kevin Titterton (3rd Monday nights) brings you a top ten of his favorites this year.
A completely unpredictable top ten from Chris Buckridge, host of Saturday morning's "Predictably Unpredictable."
And a top ten in new singles released in 2023 from DJ Llu, host of "Get Fresh" on Tuesday afternoons.
We mean it when we say it. The station not only sounds different, it feels different to be part of this place. We are creating a sense of connection, care, and fun at the station, all while talking directly to and with you, our community, about what is happening right here in our communities. Thank you to everyone who is making this happen.
Stay tuned for 2024! We have 10 new local shows preparing to come on the air, plans in the works for a redo on WGDR's 50th (err, now 51st) party, and lots more engagement in and with all our listening communities.
Countdown: A live New Year’s Eve radio dance party
Join us for COUNTDOWN: A live on-air New Year’s Eve radio dance party, Sunday, December 31, 7pm-midnight.
Hosted by the Revel Level, with guest DJ sets by Chris Buckridge (Predictably Unpredictable), Sydonia (Theme Time), Turkey Joe (Jive Turkey Show), the Still Lifers, and more.
What a year it was. We want to dance it OUT with you live on the air, soundtracking New Year’s Eve celebrations across the hills and valleys of central Vermont and far beyond.
Join us for COUNTDOWN: A live on-air New Year’s Eve radio dance party, Sunday, December 31, 7pm-midnight.
Hosted by the Revel Level, with guest DJ sets by Chris Buckridge (Predictably Unpredictable), Sydonia (Theme Time), Turkey Joe (Jive Turkey Show), the Still Lifers, and more.
Call in your requests and New Year’s resolutions. Tune in for other drop-by surprises too. What a way to ring in a new year with your friends here at Central Vermont Community Radio.
12/18: How to prepare for flooding.
As of midday on Monday, December 18, we have been receiving reports of the start of flooding in several areas across our listening area. Moretown and Waitsfield are watching the Mad River crest, Montpelier and Barre are both anticipating river flooding today, the Barre Auditorium has reopened as a shelter, and there is water washing over an increasing number of roads.
There is no other way to put it. This is gutting.
As your community radio station, we are once again prepared to be here for the community to share resources and updates as they are available.
In the meantime, as we watch the streams and rivers, we want to share some helpful flooding preparation suggestions from our partners at Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC). Click through to read more.
Monday, December 18, 2023
Friends of WGDR/WGDH -
We have been receiving reports of the start of flooding in a number of areas across our listening area. Moretown and Waitsfield are watching the Mad River crest, Montpelier and Barre both anticipating river flooding today, the Barre Auditorium has reopened as a shelter, and there is water washing over an increasing number of roads.
There is no other way to put it. This is gutting.
As your community radio station, we are once again prepared to be here for the community to share resources and updates as they are available.
In the meantime, as we watch the streams and rivers, we want to share this helpful email from our partners at Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC). It reminds us all of the impact going through this has on our mental health and practical steps for right now to prepare for possible flooding in your home, business, or place of work.
On behalf of everyone here at WGDR and WGDH, we are right here with you all.
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak
Station Manager, WGDR/WGDH
Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC) Pre-Flooding Reminders
It’s tough news to hear this morning that we are again facing flood impact in Central Vermont. I’m writing to you from a shelter-in-place order at my home several yards from the Mad River, which has slipped its banks. As one of my favorite colleagues and I just reminded each other: as hard as it is to think we are facing flooding again, the good part is: we know what a strong community we live in, and we all know each other a little bit better now. |
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Revisiting the potential of flooding gives me a lot of emotions and I know I’m not the only one. If you are feeling in need of mental health support, please consider these resources from Washington County Mental Health. Sincerely, |
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.
How we are funded.
We are so grateful to the over 350 of you who supported the station this year. We put your money to good use, keeping the programming you love airing all year long. We are really proud to be supported so greatly by our listeners.
As you can see below, 84% of our funding this year has come from listeners like you. We are really proud of that! Your chance to give to CVCR for 2023 tax purposes is running out. Give today! We are so grateful to the over 350 of you who supported the station this year. We put your money to good use, keeping the programming you love airing all year long.
2023 highlights from our local talk and variety shows.
We asked some of our local talk and variety show hosts to share some of their favorite show moments from 2023. Click through to read what DJ Sacramento of “All the Crooked Saints,” Rick Agran of “Bon Mot,” and others had to share.
We asked some of our local talk and variety show hosts to share some of their favorite show moments from 2023. Here is what they shared:
Celebrating the words of “Firsts”
“Bon Mot” (a show of poetry, the spoken word, and all things word-inspired) traveled
to Hardwick in September to record Governor Madeleine Kunin reading from her new
book of poetry, Walk with Me. Kunin celebrated her 90th birthday with the debut of
her second poetry collection. She is Vermont’s first woman Governor, the US’s first
three-term woman Governor, and the US’s first Jewish Governor. She also served as
Deputy Secretary of Education and Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
after her tenure as Governor. Bon Mot also recorded and broadcast poems from
Kunin’s first book of poetry, Red Kite, Blue Sky, read live at the Old West Church in
Calais in 2020. Catch Rick Agran’s “Bon Mot” airing Sundays at 5pm.
Things That Go Bump in the Night
“It feels really powerful to bring a different kind of noise to Vermont's late-night airwaves. I know so many people who adore and depend on late-night radio, and I'm proud to help CVCR keep the nocturnal landscape weird.
That and yelling about Eurovision with my co-host in Australia.” - DJ Sacramento, host of “All the Crooked Saints,” Mondays at 10pm.