Predecessor |
|
---|---|
Formation | June 30, 2021 |
Headquarters | Colchester, Vermont |
Products | Public radio and television broadcasting |
President and CEO | Scott Finn |
Endowment (2021) | $71.9 million |
Website | vermontpublic |
Vermont Public Co. is the public broadcaster serving the U.S. state of Vermont. Its headquarters, newsroom, and radio studios are located in Colchester, with television studios in Winooski. It operates two statewide radio services aligned with NPR, offering news and classical music, and the state's PBS service. It was formed by the 2021 merger of what had been previously separate organizations, Vermont Public Radio and Vermont Public Television, which were both renamed Vermont Public in 2022.
The services were separate organizations prior to 2021. The first to be founded was Vermont Educational Television (Vermont ETV), originally a service of the University of Vermont, in 1967; the network's four main transmitters were completed in March 1968. Originally mostly funded by the state of Vermont, Vermont ETV began fundraising in the community and developed a substantial audience in the Canadian province of Quebec, which has historically accounted for a significant portion of viewer donations and where a related charity once operated to process Canadian viewers' donations. Vermont ETV was separated from the university in 1989 and later renamed Vermont Public Television and Vermont PBS. In addition to public television programming from PBS and other distributors, Vermont Public produces TV programs of local interest.
Vermont Public's radio operation began broadcasting in 1977 as Vermont Public Radio (VPR). The first transmitter served southern Vermont; coverage of the northern half of the state was added in 1980 and extended by the construction of new stations as well as the acquisition of several existing commercial radio stations. Beginning in the 2000s, VPR established a second radio programming service with a classical music format, which also now has statewide coverage; the existing programming was shifted to an all-talk format with shows from NPR and other public radio distributors as well as local programming focusing on Vermont issues and musical artists.
In September 2020, the Vermont Public Co. was formed; it became active on June 30, 2021, with the merger of Vermont PBS and Vermont Public Radio, which had been separate entities. [1] The move brought together the 57 full-time VPR employees with 42 at Vermont PBS to create the state's largest news organization, with $90 million in assets. [2] [3] The name Vermont Public was unveiled on June 23, 2022. [4]
The television service was established by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1966 as Vermont Educational Television (Vermont ETV), a service operated by the University of Vermont on behalf of all educational interests in the state. [5] This culminated six years of efforts to set up the service, including two defeats in the 1963 and 1965 sessions of the General Assembly. [6] Broadcasting began on October 16, 1967, from WETK (channel 33) atop Mount Mansfield. [7] Three more transmitters went on air in the months that followed: WVTB (channel 20) on Burke Mountain, serving St. Johnsbury, WVTA (channel 41) on Mount Ascutney, to serve Windsor and southern Vermont, and WVER, broadcasting from Grandpa's Knob to serve Rutland. [8] Delays in completing WVTA, which did not start until March 18, 1968, also held up the activation of WVER. [9] [10]
In 1975, the network began fundraising from the community, having been initially financed 90 percent by the state and later also receiving federal funds. [11] [12] 1979 saw a 57-day strike by production personnel; [13] the next year, the St. Johnsbury and Rutland transmitters narrowly avoided closure when the university voted to allow the installation of remote control equipment, allowing operators to control the facilities from the Mount Ascutney site. [14] [15]
The 1989 session of the General Assembly authorized Vermont ETV's separation from the university. [16] However, funding continued to be a concern. In 1996, the Vermont Senate Appropriations Committee proposed cutting ETV's state funding to $1; ETV eventually was able to restore some of its allocation but still lost about half of its state grant. This was in contrast to Vermont Public Radio, which was not funded by the state and had more corporate contributors. [17]
In 1997, Vermont ETV began 24-hour broadcasting; [18] the name was changed to Vermont Public Television on January 1, 1998, [19] and again to Vermont PBS in 2014. [20] On February 17, 2009, the four main Vermont Public Television transmitters converted to digital broadcasting; in converting early, they joined most of the state's major commercial stations. [21]
On February 17, 2017, Vermont PBS announced that it had sold the WVTA broadcast license for $56 million in the FCC's spectrum auction. In a statement, the network said that its other signals would be upgraded to cover the area served by WVTA. [22] [23] The WVTA license, which continued on the WVER multiplex, was then surrendered for cancellation on November 23, 2022. [24] $52 million of the auction proceeds constitute the majority of Vermont Public's endowment, which stood at $71.9 million in 2021. [25]
Shortly before the merger with Vermont Public Radio, Vermont PBS relocated from Fort Ethan Allen, where both organizations had maintained separate offices, to facilities in Winooski. [26]
The flagship local television program from Vermont Public is the weekly Vermont This Week, which features a rotating panel of Vermont political reporters. Another regular local program is the outdoors program Outdoor Journal. [27]
Public television in Vermont has had a long history with viewers in Montreal, where its signal is received and widely distributed on cable and has been since April 1968. [28] [29] The large audience in Greater Montreal has been a major source of donations: in 1979, Vermont ETV received 60 percent of its donations from Quebec. [30]
In 1989, Vidéotron, one of Montreal's major cable providers, removed Vermont ETV from its channel lineup and replaced it with WCFE in nearby Plattsburgh, New York, to save on copyright fees; at the time, WCFE did not run the entire PBS schedule in order to provide a differentiated service from Vermont ETV. However, the move threatened the financial viability of Vermont ETV because, at the time, as many of 15,000 of the 40,000 Vermont ETV contributors were Montreal-area Vidéotron customers who represented 25 percent of the network's fundraising revenue. [31] Donations to Vermont ETV's March 1990 fundraising drive fell 27 percent. [32] Vidéotron restored Vermont ETV to its lineup in 1991 after a year's absence. [33]
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the status of the Public Television Association of Quebec, a charitable organization in Canada that had supported Vermont PBS's Canadian efforts, in 2013. The CRA decision was unsuccessfully appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal, which ruled in 2015 that the association had "failed to maintain direction and control over its resources as it did not devote all its resources to its own charitable activities" and was only used to generate charitable tax receipts for Canadian donors. [34]
Vermont Public holds three full-service television station licenses, one of which (WVER) is broadcast as a four-site distributed transmission system. WVER also has two separately licensed translators in Manchester and Pownal.
Station | City of license | Facility ID | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates | First air date | Public license information | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WETK | Burlington | 33 (32) | 69944 | 90 kW | 830 m (2,723 ft) | 44°31′32″N72°48′51″W / 44.52556°N 72.81417°W | October 16, 1967 | |
WVER [lower-alpha 1] | Rutland | 28 (10) | 69946 | 15 kW | 425.6 m (1,396 ft) | 43°39′31″N73°6′25″W / 43.65861°N 73.10694°W | March 18, 1968 | |
Mount Ascutney | 5 kW | 648.9 m (2,129 ft) | 43°26′15″N72°27′6″W / 43.43750°N 72.45167°W | |||||
Brattleboro | 0.32 kW | −142.9 m (−469 ft) | 42°51′6.1″N72°33′38.8″W / 42.851694°N 72.560778°W | |||||
Mount Pleasant | 0.1 kW | 204.3 m (670 ft) | 44°7′28.7″N72°28′52.2″W / 44.124639°N 72.481167°W | |||||
WVTB | St. Johnsbury | 20 (28) | 69940 | 75 kW | 590 m (1,936 ft) | 44°34′16″N71°53′39″W / 44.57111°N 71.89417°W | February 26, 1968 |
Call sign | City of license | Channel | Facility ID | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W20EH-D | Pownal, VT | 20 | 189111 | 1.26 kW | 367 m (1,204 ft) | 42°51′49.8″N73°13′57.1″W / 42.863833°N 73.232528°W |
W30DM-D | Manchester, VT | 30 | 189112 | 0.796 kW | 702 m (2,303 ft) | 43°09′57.2″N73°06′55.3″W / 43.165889°N 73.115361°W |
All transmitters broadcast the same four subchannels.
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
xx.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | VPBS | Main programming / PBS |
xx.2 | VPBS+ | PBS Plus/World | ||
xx.3 | 480i | CREATE | Create | |
xx.4 | KIDS | PBS Kids |
In 1975, two groups—the Champlain Valley Educational Radio Association and Vermont Public Radio—were formed by local residents to seek funds to plan a new non-commercial radio station for Vermont. The Champlain Valley group proposed starting with one station in Burlington, while the Vermont Public Radio application focused on statewide coverage, in order to meet requirements from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for minimum population thresholds. [36] [37] In October, Vermont Public Radio received a $25,000 CPB grant, [38] and two months later, the University of Vermont, which at the time administered Vermont ETV, approved the group to share some of its facilities. [39] The existing public television system also shared a founder with the radio network: Raymond V. Phillips, who was considered "the father of public television in Vermont". [40] While Phillips had long expressed interest in public radio, funding did not come until three local ministers objected to a local station's switch to a rock format; one of them later joined the Vermont Public Radio board. [41]
The first transmitter to go on air was WVPA-FM 89.5, [lower-alpha 2] licensed to Windsor and broadcasting from Mount Ascutney, on August 13, 1977. [43] Serving northern Vermont took longer because Vermont Public Radio's application was placed into comparative hearing with several commercial applicants, having filed for the non-reserved frequency of 107.9 MHz. [44] [45] The FCC approved VPR's request to move the frequency from Newport to Burlington despite opposition from a commercial broadcaster in Newport, [46] [47] [48] and WVPS atop Mount Mansfield was activated on October 31, 1980. [49] The Mount Ascutney and Mount Mansfield transmitters gave VPR coverage of 92 percent of the population—greater than Vermont ETV's reach at the time—as well as in northeastern New York, New Hampshire, and Montreal. [50]
Over the years, Vermont Public Radio added transmitters by construction as well as purchases of former commercial stations. WBTN-FM in Bennington was acquired as part of a package with its AM counterpart, WBTN, in 2000; the AM station briefly simulcast VPR programming with local news inserts and death notices until being sold and returned to commercial use. [51] In 2006, VPR purchased the former WJAN in Sunderland, transmitting from Mount Equinox; it is now WVTQ. [52]
In 2004, VPR started WNCH in Norwich, its first dedicated classical music station, and in 2007, it completed its split into two program services. [53] After VPR entered into discussions to purchase WWPV-FM in Colchester from Saint Michael's College in 2007, resistance from student and community groups led to the college refusing to sell. [54] [55] Instead, VPR purchased WAVX, a Christian radio station licensed to Schuyler Falls, New York, [56] and relaunched it as WOXR. [57] [lower-alpha 3] When Saint Michael's obtained a low-power station construction permit in 2015, it then sold the high-power WWPV-FM facility to VPR for integration into the classical network as WVTX. [58]
The VPR studios at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester were expanded in 2015, nearly doubling the size of the facility. $8 million was raised to finance the addition, which included a newsroom three times the size of the previous space—a converted storage attic—and a studio large enough to accommodate an audience. [59]
In December 2022, Vermont Public announced it would acquire WWLR, which had been the student-run station at Northern Vermont University's Lyndonville campus, for integration into the classical network. Trustees of the university had been attempting to sell the license for months and nearly surrendered it in 2021. [60] The purchase, at a price of $80,000, was consummated on April 25, 2023, and the station was taken silent; Vermont Public would rename the station WVLR-FM. [61] A report by VTDigger suggested that the university may not have been legally empowered to sell WWLR without General Assembly consent. [62] The statute in question was repealed weeks later by governor Phil Scott; in early August, the assembly's Joint Fiscal Committee granted the Vermont State Colleges system, to which Northern Vermont University belonged, retroactive approval to sell WWLR and for the 2019 closure of WIUV at Castleton University. [63]
The news service airs major public radio news programs from NPR and other producers, including All Things Considered , Morning Edition , Here & Now , and Marketplace . Four days a week, Vermont Public produces its flagship radio program, Vermont Edition ; currently hosted by Connor Cyrus and Mikaela Lefrak, the show was hosted by Jane Lindholm from 2007 to 2021. [64]
The classical service offers blocks of classical music, some with local hosts and others from Classical 24. [65]
Transmitters are arranged alphabetically by call sign. All full-power transmitters broadcast in HD Radio, carrying the News and Classical services and the BBC World Service as subchannels. [66] A blue background indicates a low-power translator of the full-power transmitter preceding it or, at the end of the table, an HD Radio subchannel of a transmitter in the other network.
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located 45 miles (72 km) south of the Canada–United States border and 95 miles (153 km) south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It is the least populous city in the 50 U.S. states to be the most populous city in its state.
Essex Junction is a city in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 10,590. It was incorporated as a village on November 15, 1892. Essex Junction became Vermont’s 10th city on July 1, 2022.
WSRE is a PBS member television station in Pensacola, Florida, United States, owned by Pensacola State College (PSC). The station's studios are located at the Kugelman Center for Telecommunications on the Pensacola State main campus, and its transmitter is located near Robertsdale, Alabama.
KVCR-DT is a PBS member television station in San Bernardino, California, United States. It is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District alongside NPR member KVCR. The two stations share studios at the San Bernardino Valley College campus on North Mt. Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino; KVCR-DT's transmitter is located atop Box Springs Mountain.
Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, an agency of the Kentucky state government, which provides more than half of its annual funding. KET is the dominant public broadcaster in the commonwealth, with transmitters covering the vast majority of the state as well as parts of adjacent states; the only other PBS member in Kentucky is WKYU-TV in Bowling Green. KET is the largest PBS state network in the United States; the broadcast signals of its sixteen stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The network's offices, network center, and primary studio facilities are located at the O. Leonard Press Telecommunications Center on Cooper Drive in Lexington; KET also has production centers in Louisville and at the Kentucky State Capitol Annex in Frankfort.
WITF-TV is a PBS member television station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region (Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York). It is owned by WITF, Inc., alongside the area's NPR member, WITF-FM (89.5). The two stations share studios at the WITF Public Media Center in Swatara Township ; WITF-TV's transmitter is located in Middle Paxton Township, next to the transmitter of CBS affiliate WHP-TV. WITF's programming is relayed on low-power digital translator station W20EU-D in Chambersburg.
WLJT-DT, branded on-air as West TN PBS, is a PBS member television station licensed to Lexington, Tennessee, United States, serving western and northwestern Tennessee. The station is owned by the West Tennessee Public Television Council and maintains studios in Martin on rented space at the University of Tennessee at Martin; its transmitter is located on U.S. Route 412 midway between Jackson and Lexington.
KVPT is a PBS member television station in Fresno, California, United States, owned by Valley Public Television, Inc. Its studios are located on Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street in downtown Fresno, and its transmitter is located on Bear Mountain, near Meadow Lakes, California. It is also broadcast in Bakersfield on translator K18HD-D.
WXZO is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Willsboro, New York. Owned by Vox AM/FM, it primarily serves the Champlain Valley, including Burlington, Vermont, and Plattsburgh, New York. Its studios are located in Colchester, Vermont. The station broadcasts a soft oldies radio format using the syndicated music service known as "MeTV FM." In morning drive time, the station carries Intelligence for Your Life with John Tesh.
WVTX is a radio station in Colchester, Vermont, just outside Burlington owned by Vermont Public. The station, established in 1974 by Saint Michael's College as the original FM home of its campus radio station WWPV-FM, currently airs a classical format from the Vermont Public Classical network.
The Vermont Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Vermont and has been active since its foundation in the 1860s. The party is the second largest in the state behind the Vermont Democratic Party, but ahead of the Vermont Progressive Party. The party historically dominated Vermont politics until the mid-20th century, but was replaced by the Vermont Democratic Party. The party currently has very weak federal electoral power in the state, controlling none of Vermont's federal elected offices. The only statewide office that the party currently controls is the governorship, held by Phil Scott.
WVTQ is a radio station licensed to Sunderland, Vermont, United States. The station is owned by Vermont Public as part of its Classical network, airing classical music. WVTQ broadcasts from atop Mount Equinox in Manchester.
WVLR-FM is a station that, as of May 1, 2023, is currently silent. Licensed to Lyndonville, Vermont, United States, the station is owned by Vermont Public Co.
WCVT is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format, branded as "101.7 WCVT Classic Hits Vermont". Licensed to Stowe, Vermont, United States, the station serves Northern Vermont including the Burlington metro area, along with Montpelier and St. Johnsbury. It is owned by the Radio Vermont Group, which was formerly controlled by NASCAR broadcaster Ken Squier.
WNUB-FM is a radio station licensed to serve Northfield, Vermont. It is the radio station of Norwich University, airing a college radio format from studios and transmitter on the university campus.
WETP-TV and WKOP-TV, together branded as East Tennessee PBS, are public television stations serving Knoxville and the Tri-Cities in East Tennessee, United States. The stations are owned by the East Tennessee Public Communications Corporation and broadcast from studios and offices on East Magnolia Avenue in downtown Knoxville. WETP-TV, licensed to Sneedville, Tennessee, is broadcast from a transmitter atop Short Mountain near Mooresburg, while WKOP-TV's transmitter is situated on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville.
The 1983 Burlington mayoral election was held March 1, 1983. Incumbent Mayor Bernie Sanders won with 52.12% of the popular vote against Democratic nominee Judith Stephany and Republican nominee James Gilson.
VTDigger is an investigative online newspaper that reports on the state of Vermont in the United States. Founded in September 2009 by Anne Galloway, the newspaper has grown to have an average monthly audience of 730,000.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. state of Vermont is part of an ongoing worldwide viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Michael S. Pieciak is an American politician from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, Pieciak has served as Vermont State Treasurer since January 2023.