VPR Offers News and Information along with Entertainment.

VPR Classical Exclusive Home of Classical Music with Walter Parker and Saturday Afternoon of the Opera.

Vermont Public Radio is giving listeners more of what they have asked for.

Beginning Monday, October 1, Vermont Public Radio will offer two distinct programming services.  VPR will add news and information programming each weekday from 9am to 3pm, transforming VPR to a news and information and public radio entertainment service.  VPR Classical, Vermont Public Radio’s all classical music network, will become the exclusive home of “Classical Music with Walter Parker” and “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.”  The new programming schedules for VPR and VPR Classical are available on Vermont Public Radio’s Web Site,  vpr.net.  {Editor’s Note: See attached program schedule.}

“This programming change is one of the most exciting and challenging in our history,” says Mark Vogelzang, President and General Manger of Vermont Public Radio.  “It is a fundamental shift in our approach to broadcasting.  VPR will now enable listeners to follow major stories throughout the day from multiple perspectives – regional, national and international; while VPR Classical provides a full-time classical service. With two services, we have the flexibility to provide more of the programming listeners have told us they want – which means better public service to the region.”

VPR and VPR Classical
VPR’s new lineup features news and information programs from 9am to 3pm designed to spark listeners’ curiosity and expand their understanding of issues affecting their community and their world.  They are programs VPR has consistently heard requests, including On Point, The Story, and BBC Newshour each day at 9am, as well as VPR’s daily regional news magazine Vermont Edition with Jane Lindholm at 12noon.

Weekends on VPR will include even more public radio favorites, including Selected Shorts, World Café, Afropop Worldwide and The Splendid Table.  Weekend mainstays, including A Prairie Home Companion, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, Car Talk and This American Life, remain on VPR as do locally-produced music programs My Place and All the Traditions.  VPR’s locally produced jazz programming is expanding to every weeknight, beginning at 8 p.m.
VPR Classical provides the region with the timeless beauty of classical music 24 hours a day.  Local weekday hosts Cheryl Willoughby, Walter Parker and Joe Goetz share a sense of discovery with listeners, featuring traditional favorites, emerging artists and live performances. Peter Fox Smith and Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, From the Top and Sunday Bach are featured on the weekend. Designed for both a casual and a passionate music fan, VPR Classical features entire works with a broad repertoire that includes vocal (choral and opera) and contemporary music. Live performances of new and established artists are regularly showcased from the VPR Studios, connecting listeners to the thriving arts and performance opportunities our region provides.

VPR’s Evolution to Two Distinct Services
For years, VPR has fielded listener requests for more of their favorite programming – more news, more music, more public affairs, more entertainment programs. With  two services, Vermont Public Radio has doubled the amount of time available to broadcast the programming listeners have told the station they want. This change to VPR and VPR Classical came about only after extensive research and careful strategic planning under the guidance of the VPR’s Board of Directors.

Vogelzang jokes that the programming changes are one of the state’s “worst kept secrets.” He said VPR began sharing with listeners “VPR’s vision for the future” in 2005 when the VPR Board of Directors first adopted a new five year strategic plan that called for transitioning VPR into a news and information service and growing VPR Classical into a state-wide service. Since then, Vermont Public Radio has regularly informed listeners about the plan to evolve into two services, using on-air announcements and updates online and in print and electronic newsletters.  This summer, station officials traveled around the state, talking with listeners in community gatherings about programming.  Listeners were also invited to participate in an online survey in addition to regular requests for feedback via mail, email and telephone.
In August, Vermont Public Radio launched the daily news magazine, Vermont Edition, with new host Jane Lindholm on VPR. The program, airing weekdays 12noon-1pm , grew out of the weekly Vermont Edition which VPR began in 2005.

“Listeners had been asking for a daily regional news program for a long time,” says Vogelzang.  “We took small steps, first launching the five minute Midday Report, then a weekly version of Vermont Edition.  We’re very excited about providing listeners with a robust daily mid-day news magazine.”  

The daily Vermont Edition brings listeners more news and conversation about issues affecting their lives, plus a bit of the unexpected.  The program is broad-reaching, covering issues, art, culture and music in Vermont and the surrounding region.

“We consider the context of current events through conversations with newsmakers and people who make the region buzz,” says Lindholm.  “We go behind the news, diving into what makes this region unique.”

Leading the new VPR mid-day line up at 9am is the BBC Newshour, the BBC’s flagship news program that is essential listening for people who want a fresh and clear perspective of stories from across the globe. Then at 10am, Tom Ashbrooke hosts two hours of passionate discussion about the stories that are at the center of what is important in the world today with On Point.  Vermont Edition follows On Point, keeping listeners abreast of regional news and perspective.  
At 1p.m VPR provides afternoon programming that uses a different kind of story telling. With The Story, veteran CBC journalist Dick Gordon interviews people whose real-life experiences helps listeners better understand the news of the day or ongoing issues of importance. Next up it is NPR’s mid-day news magazine Day to Day. Hosts Alex Chadwick and Madeleine Brand, surrounded by a family of first class contributors, present news of the day filtered through the lenses of ideas, beliefs and behaviors.   Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR's Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, rounds out the afternoon at 3 p.m.

VPR Classical Expands Quickly
At a time when many stations are abandoning classical music, Vermont Public Radio remains committed to broadcasting classical music. “We’re securing its future here in Vermont by going against the trend and creating a state-wide network dedicated to presenting classical music,” says Vogelzang.  

VPR debuted VPR Classical in 2004 on 88.1 in Norwich and quickly expanded with frequencies in Manchester, Bennington, Newbury and Middlebury. It took nearly 30 years for VPR  to grow into the network of stations it is today; VPR Classical is more than two thirds of the way there in just three years. On August 31, 2007 VPR Classical began broadcasting at 90.9 WOXR in the Champlain Valley. Earlier this year VPR Classical began broadcasting in Bennington County at 95.1 FM WVTQ in Manchester, a full power transmitter.  It is available worldwide via a high quality mp3 stream at vpr.net.

The 24-hour classical music service is also available via HD Digital Radio receivers in northern Vermont at 107.9-HD2 and in the Upper Valley at 89.5- HD2. It is streamed worldwide online via a high quality mp3 stream at vpr.net.

VPR Classical is the only state-wide public radio classical music network in the area and one of the few state-wide classical networks in the nation. Local hosts are featured through out the day.  “We think VPR Classical plays an important role in promoting and supporting the cultural arts throughout the region.” Vogelzang continues, “The only way to really do that is to have local hosts throughout the day connecting listeners to the cultural scene and being active participants themselves.”  

The Changing Media Landscape
Vermont Public Radio has been working to evolve into two distinct services for years. At the same time the media landscape has changed immensely.  And listeners have expected VPR to keep up with those changes.

“Quite simply, Vermont Public Radio is dedicated to bringing listeners the best possible programming every single day,” says Vogelzang. “And we want listeners to have access to this programming however and whenever they want it.”  

Vermont Public Radio is providing high-quality live web streaming of VPR, VPR Classical and the BBC World Service 24 hours a day on its Web Site, vpr.net.  In addition, all of VPR’s news coverage and Eye on the Sky forecasts are available both as podcasts and on-demand streams so listeners can access them anytime they’d like.

Vermont Public Radio is also quickly adopting HD Radio technology.  WVPR 89.5 FM in the Upper Valley became the first radio station in Vermont to begin broadcasting in HD digital sound. This new technology enables radio stations like VPR to broadcast programs digitally, alongside existing analog broadcasts.  With analog (radio as you now know it), VPR can broadcast only one program service per frequency. With HD Ditigal radio, VPR can offer more programs on the same frequency, or “multicast.” That means one frequency can transmit up to THREE different services in HD Digital. In other words, VPR, VPR Classical and the BBC World Service can air on the same HD Radio frequency and the analog broadcast is not affected.  To hear HD Radio services, listeners need to buy a new HD radio receiver and also need to be in the range of one of VPR’s analog signal in order to receive the HD Radio signal. Currently in northern Vermont, hear VPR on 107.9 (HD-1), VPR Classical on 107.9 (HD-2) and the BBC World Service on 107.9 (HD-3). In the Connecticut River Valley, hear VPR on 89.5 (HD-1) and VPR Classical on 89.5 (HD-2). Vermont Public Radio expects to continue converting to digital radio throughout 2007 and 2008, adding multicasting capabilities to all of its frequencies. This additional service does not affect Vermont Public Radio’s analog broadcasts, it simply provides more choices for listeners. Vermont Public Radio’s upgrade to HD digital radio is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

A Resource For and By the Community
“VPR has had a wonderful gift of loyal and generous listeners for 30 years,” says Volgelzang. “Many of our listeners understand that VPR, as an independent journalistic and cultural institution, must also save and invest for its long-range future. We are grateful for their ongoing support of both the programming and our capital needs. VPR is what we are today because of our listeners. Together we’ve built this incredible public service called Vermont Public Radio.”

VPR, featuring news and information and public radio entertainment, can be heard at 107.9 FM in northern Vermont, 89.5 FM in the Connecticut River Valley, 88.7 FM in the Rutland region, 88.5 FM in St. Johnsbury, 94.3 FM in Bennington, 92.5 in Manchester, 94.5 in Brattleboro, 95.3 in Middlebury, 94.1 in Montpelier, 101.1 in Rupert and online at vpr.net.

VPR Classical can be heard at 90.9 in the Champlain Valley, 88.1 in the Connecticut River Valley, 95.1 in the Sunderland/Manchester area, 93.5 Bennington, 103.9 Hanover, 106.9 Manchester, 99.5  Middlebury, 99.5  Newbury, 106.9 Woodstock and online at vpr.net.


Addendum:  VPR and VPR Classical Program Schedules