Local Funding Assistance for Plainfield Residents

Plainfield Residents Affected by Flooding: PACT has opened applications for the Flood Relief Fund!

Our immediate focus is on securing stable housing, so we are currently accepting applications for housing assistance only until October 1, and exclusively for Plainfield residents.

After October 1, we will expand the application process to address other needs.

You can apply online at www.plainfieldareacommunitytrust.org or pick up a paper application from the manila folder outside the town clerk's office and submit it through the slot there.

We’re here to support you through this challenging time.

FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers & Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program Help

FEMA has opened two regional Disaster Recovery Centers in our listening area.

• The Plainfield FEMA office is at the Goddard campus off Route 214. It is located in the location of the old Goddard Cafe. Walk-in hours are 8am-5pm, seven days a week. No appointments are needed.

• The Barre City office is at the Barre Auditorium at 16 Auditorium Hill. It is also open seven days a week, 8am-7pm, no appointments are needed, you can walk in.

• Lyndon has opened at Recovery Center at the Lyndonville Public Safety Facility at 316 Main St. from 8am-7pm, seven days a week.

• And Waterbury now has a Recovery Center at the Waterbury Armory at 294 Aromry Blvd. open 8am-7pm, seven days a week.

You are welcome to make new claims, amend a claim already made, provide additional documentation, or dispute any finding that you may have received. Please remember to bring insurance documents (including coverage refusal letters) and an ID that shows your place of residence. The Small Business Association will also be at these offices with info about low-interest disaster loans. Both locations are open until further notice.

You do not need to go to a FEMA office in person to file a claim. Any Vermonter affected by the July 9-11 flooding, can apply online for individual assistance funds if you are in one of the seven counties affected. Those counties are Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, and Washington. Register at DisasterAsstiance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362. You can call seven days a week, 7am-10pm.

Even if you have already reported damage to VT-211, you must register with FEMA in person, by phone, or online to apply for support. 

Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation will be helping flood-impacted business owners and farm owners statewide with the BEGAP application (Business Emergency Gap Assitance Program).  

The BEGAP program can be applied for at https://accd.vermont.gov/BEGAP. You can apply if your farm or business was flooded out and had physical damage, equipment loss, or inventory loss. Lost revenue or wages are not included. This is for flooding from 2023 and 2024. You need proof of damage and some other documentation. Deadlines are Sept. 30 for 2023 and November 15 for 2024 flooding. 
There are also drop-in clinics statewide where applicants may receive in person support on BEGAP without an appointment. They are as follows:

• Thurs. Sept. 5  - NVDA offices 36 Eastern Ave. Suit1, St. Johnsbury

• Mon. Sept. 9 - Do North Coworking - 3rd Floor Classroom, 930 Broad St., Lyndonville

• Fri. Sept 13 - Many sites in the NEK, contact CVEDC to make an appointment at 802.595.3175.

• Tues. Sept. 17 - Mad River Planning District Offices, 4061 Main St., Waitsfield, VT 05673

• Wed. Sept. 18 - Lamoille Count (location TBD)

• Mon. Sept. 23 - drop in hours at CVEDC office at 41 State St. 2nd Floor Montpelier, for as long as there is demand.

If applicants wish to make an appointment for BEGAP help, they may do that here: https://www.centralvermont.org/begap-support

CVCR’s Fall Schedule

Over the summer we made a few schedule changes to welcome five new locally-made shows and adjust for the departure of a few other local shows. We are up to just about 60 local programmers, with locally-made content now making up 60% of our 7am-midnight schedule. When we took over ownership of the station in 2021, we had just 25% of local content on the air. This is all the result of the community stepping up to come make radio with us and the hard work of many folks at the station to train up new folks and support the ongoing shows. Thank you to all who keep the station making some “Wicked Great Darn Radio! (WGDR).”

See the current line up on our online schedule here and download and print a copy for yourself from this PDF (this shows you which is local vs. nationally syndicated).

Here are the changes and where some syndicated shows shifted to, to make room for new locally-made shows:

SUNDAYS

6pm - Adiago - A syndicated music show, featuring gentle genres like jazz, ambient tunes, and more. Moved from an overnight slot on Fridays.

MONDAYS

9am - Making Contact (now called Frequencies of CHange Media) - A syndicated talk show using stories and interviews to connect people. This show moved from Mondays at 11am. Blluminations, a locally-made show, shifted to start at 10am on Mondays.

9:30am - Economic Update- A syndicated talk show about the economy and critique of capitalism. This show moved from Mondays at 11:30am.

10am-noon - Blluminations- Host Stefani Lingenfelter shifted her show about life, spirituality, and our interconnectedness from 9am, to start at 10am instead. Making Contact and Economic Update have moved to earlier on Mondays.

7-9pm, 1st Mondays of the month - Future Reflections (formerly called Theme Time Radio), hosted by DJ Syd.

TUESDAYS

6am - Background Briefing - A syndicated news and analysis show, airing five days a week. This is the return of the Tuesday show to the airwaves. Locally-made show Styrofoam Stereo has retired.

7am - First Voices Radio - A syndicated talk show exploring Indigenous People's’ culture, stories, and issues. This show is moving from Tuesdays at 3pm.

12pm-1pm - New Dimensions - A syndicated talk show about exploring your mind, body, and spirit. This show is moving from Tuesdays at 4pm. The locally-made show, Get Fresh with DJ Llu is moving to Fridays 11am-1pm.

1pm-2pm - Afronsonic Taxi - A syndicated music show of world music. This show is moving from Thursdays at noon.

3-5pm - Listen Up! A new locally made music show hosted by Bill Nowlan, featuring selections based on the lyrics of the songs, across the rock and roll genres. First Voices and New Dimensions have moved to earlier on Tuesdays.

9-11pm - Metal Bedtime Stories - A new locally made music show hosted by Mac Dates exploring metal music. TBD on the start date of the show.

THURSDAY

11am - Stranger and Deinger - A new locally-made show hosted by Natascha Deininger. It will feature music and interviews with local folks talking about their favorite albums, sort of like Desert Island Discs (check out the BBC podcast if you haven't heard it).

12pm - Modern Jet Set - A syndicated music show with a range of music “flying the friendly skies.” This show moved from Saturday nights at 7pm.

1am - Train to Skaville- A syndicated music show of traditional ska music from the 1970s+. This show moved from Saturdays at 9pm.

FRIDAY

1am - Nuestra Musica - a new syndicated show exploring native instruments, languages, and traditional music from 22 countries around the word.

11am-1pm - Get Fresh with DJ Llu - a locally-made music show featuring new music, hosted by DJ Llu. This show moved from Tuesdays, 12pm-2pm.

6pm-9pm - Barn Dance Blue Grass - The Grassers have added the “potluck” hour and extended it to a three-hour get down to start your Friday nights off right. The rerun of Democracy Now is now retired from Friday evenings. You can always listen to the Friday episode on our archives or on the Democracy Now website.

SATURDAY
9am - 2nd Saturdays of the month, an encore airing of Rumble Strip until September. Then a new locally-made musical and poetry show will begin in October on the 2nd Saturdays, hosted by Levi Olsen.

10am-noon - All Mixed Up - A syndicated music show of a mix of music and film clips. This show moved from Tuesdays at 9pm. The local show, Predictably Unpredictable has retired.

7-9pm - Jagler Kats Worm Hole - A locally made show with host Jason Hagler, featuring music in the RPM, ambient, and spacey realms. Modern Jet Set moved to Thursdays at 12pm.

9pm - First Wave - A syndicated music show featuring 80s synth and new wave music. This used to air at 8pm on Saturdays. Train to Skaville has moved to Thursdays at 1pm.

We’re saying a friendly good, goodbye to our pals who are leaving the airwaves for other adventures:

• Thomas Mattera - Styrofoam Stereo - Tuesday mornings, 7am bi-weekly, last show July 23.

• Merry Gangemi - Quilting Hour - part of the Wednesday 9am rotation group, stepped away in the spring.

• Tim Metayer - The Tim Show - Sundays at 6pm, stepped away in the spring.

• Richie Walker (Turkey Joe) - The Jive Turkey Show - Fridays, 11am-1pm, stepping away in late August.

• Maria Shumann - Bread & Salt - 2nd Saturday at 9am, stepped away in May.

• Chris Buckridge - Predictably Unpredictable - Saturdays, 10am-noon, stepping away in late July.

We hope you will enjoy what you hear! You can always give feedback on our listener survey.

WGDH is Back On the Air

Thanks to the generosity of our community, we were able to raise the $3,500 to buy a new audio processor in just over a week! Thank you to the 29 folks who gave, including the Vermont Community Foundation’s generous emergency grant and 4 major donors who kicked in the big bucks to take us over the finish line. Having the quick support of the community has helped us limit our time off the air, from what could have been much, much longer.

The new processor arrived in Vermont over the weekend and after a quick install by our station manager, as of Tuesday, August 6, the station is back on the air at 91.7 FM for the Hardwick area.

As noted, any additional funds we raise toward the CVCR Future Fund will help prepare us for upcoming unplanned for expenses for our studio operating needs at the Pratt Center on Goddard campus. With the sale of campus looming this fall, we anticipate an increase in rent and utilities and having the extra funds to help adjust for that will help us stay on track with this year’s budget. Thank you!

Brand new audio processor (up top) keeping the good ol’ exciter and transmitter company.

NEK July 30 Flash Flooding Response

Many areas, including St. Johnsbury, were hit with up to 8 inches of rain overnight into July 30. There is widespread damage in some areas, with flash flood warnings still in effect (with more storms on the way in the next 48 hours and rivers still yet to crest). Area officials are asking folks in hard hit areas to not leave their homes if they don’t need to due to roads out and high water. More information is at Vermont Public.

Our neighbors in the NEK will need help in the coming days to clean up from this second round of major flooding, just weeks after the July 11 floods.

The Northeast Kingdom desperately NEEDS MORE VOLUNTEERS.

Incredible volunteers have been tirelessly mucking and gutting houses for days, stretching their efforts across the Kingdom’s 2,000+ square miles. The Kingdom United Resilience & Recovery Effort is leading the volunteer efforts has a number of resources to get support (VT 211) and to report damage. Folks can sign up through bit.ly/NEKvolunteer.

NEK Organizing will add to their existing mutual aid spreadsheet for NEK towns to directly offer help to locals. Vist: https://nekorganizing.org/2024-flood-recovery/. More info on them can be found at https://www.instagram.com/nekorganizing/ or https://nekorganizing.org/

We will post more info as we get it. Please send any mutual aid information to the station manager at Llu@WGDR.org so we can get it out on the air.

Hang in there everyone!

We’re Hiring! Part-time Operations Coordinator

Update: August 25, 2024 - This position has been hired.

Central Vermont Community Radio continues to commit to right-sizing the station by building our capacity on staff. We are looking for a very part-time, 10 hours a-week, temporary Operations Coordinator to help work directly with our programmers on show, training, and troubleshooting needs, ensure all programming runs smoothly through our various systems, and assist in the general technical support of the station alongside the Station Manager and volunteers.

We’re looking for a human and tech-savvy person who can be flexible, team-minded, and loves tackling problems. To be successful in this role, you must be ready to work with a wide range of personalities, tech comfort levels, and passionate radio nerds. The role will have a mix of remote computer work, in-studio tech support, and projects at our stations in Plainfield and Wolcott.

CVCR is committed to being an equitable employer and has set the rate for this position at $20 an hour. We are an organization that believes the more diverse we are, the better we can be at meeting our mission. Therefore we we strongly encourage folks from underrepresented backgrounds (in radio and more largely media) to apply.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. We are looking to fill this ASAP (by Labor Day at the latest), so don’t delay in applying! To apply send your resume and a brief cover letter explaining your interest in the position and how you’d make a great fit with the CVCR team, to the Station Manager, Llu Mulvaney-Stanak at Llu@WGDR.org. Update: August 25, 2024 - This position has been hired.

CVCR Operations Manager Position Description

Job Summary

WGDR/WGDH’s Operations Coordinator (OC) role keeps the station humming week in and week out. They oversee programmer support for shows, operational needs, and general technical support of the station. This position leads the famed “robot team” of volunteers for scheduling, addresses user or tech issues as they come up, and acts as the on duty person for when the Station Manager is away. 

Responsibilities Include

Programmer & Volunteer Support

·      Work with our nearly 60 programmers directly for remote show or live show needs, troubleshooting, scheduling, and tech coaching and troubleshooting.

·      Help train up new programmers as needed and create a good goodbye/transition for programmers signing off from the schedule.

·      Lead the “robot team” in weekly scheduling needs, provide global management for Radiologic changes, archive and confessor program updates, and spinitron show and schedule updates.

·      Provide regular updates on studio issues or changes or other operations related matters to programmers.

Operational & Tech Coordination

·      Provide basic troubleshooting and repair for broadcast, computer and other tech needs at the station.

·      Be part of the on-call station team for station emergencies and SM vacation coverage.

·      Help keep the station and studio upkept, organized, and in good working order.

·      Work with the Station Manager, tech volunteers, and engineers as needed on larger scale tech projects.

·      Assist with maintaining station compliance, in concert with the volunteer Chief Operator, with local, state and federal government laws and regulations.

Other duties assigned by the Station Manager as needed.

Prior Experience Required:

·      Ability to work with people of all tech comfort and personalities.

·      Comfort with audio technical gear and computers.

·      Prior radio or teaching experience a plus, but not required.

Reports to: Station Manager

Position Status: Part-Time, Temporary for rest of FY24

Compensation: $20/hour, 10 hours a week. No PTO or benefits are part of this position.

Please note, funding and effectiveness of this position in expanding capacity will determine if this position continues into FY25.