VPR Classical Bids Adieu to Cheryl Willoughby

Cheryl Willoughby, long-time VPR Classical host and director of music programming, will be leaving VPR to accept a new position of Music Director at WGBH in Boston. Cheryl will oversee all classical music programming for the station.

During her time at VPR, Cheryl contributed greatly to the formation and growth of VPR Classical. She began hosting her daily morning program just after WNCH 88.1 went on the air in the Upper Valley in 2004.

It was under her leadership as music director that VPR Classical has grown and has steadily increased its local programming and community partnerships, as seen most recently with the month-long 60th anniversary celebration of the Marlboro Music Festival this summer.

Cheryl’s last day at Vermont Public Radio will be this Friday, September 9th. We will miss her but wish her well in her new adventure.

During a transition period, you will hear a new line-up of programming on VPR Classical beginning Monday, September 12. Walter Parker will host from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. time slot, followed by two hours of Performance Today with Fred Child. Joe Goetz will continue to host from 3-7 p.m.

Stay tuned for more details as we work to continue our mission to increase our local presence and content on VPR Classical.

The Performance Studio Is Heating Up For Summertime

From VPR Classical Host Joe Goetz:

As the summer music festival season begins, the VPR Performance Studio is heating up. Today marked the first summer music festival appearance on VPR Classical, as Walter Parker welcomed musicians from the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival to share a preview of their upcoming season. Pianist Paul Orgel shined in two performances: Francis Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, where he was joined by Kevin Lawrence, and the first two movements of Beethoven’s C Major Cello Sonata, Op. 102, No. 1, in collaboration with cellist John Dunlop.

If you missed it, you can listen to the performance again here.

There’s more live music on VPR Classical tomorrow morning, when Walter welcomes the new 802 Quartet to the Performance Studio at 11 a.m.

(Photo from this morning's performance. From left to right: Kevin Lawrence, Paul Orgel, Walter Parker, John Dunlop)

Vermont Mozart Festival Closes Its Doors

Sad news today for Vermont's arts community: The Vermont Mozart Festival is closing its doors next month.

Every summer for 37 years, the VMF featured world-class performances in beautiful and historic locations around the state. But in spite of the great public support for the festival, ticket sales have steadily declined. Two seasons of rain during difficult economic times made the situation worse. And while fundraising has been strong, it wasn't able to make up the difference. You can read the full press release here.

VPR Classical's Cheryl Willoughby had Artistic Director Gil Shohat on her program back in July. You can listen to that conversation here. (Picture above is of Mr. Shohat performing on VPR Classical last year).

VPR Classical Coming to Central Vermont

Vermont Public Radio has entered a purchase agreement to buy WCVR 102.1 FM, based in Randolph.

The new frequency will bring VPR Classical to a large swath of central Vermont centered around Randolph, from Northfield south to Woodstock, from Route 100 in the west almost to I-91 in the east.

Pending approval of the purchase by the FCC, we expect VPR Classical to begin broadcasting on 102.1 FM this summer. WOXM 90.1, a new station based in Middlebury, will also go on the air this summer, bringing VPR Classical to Addison County (coverage map is below).

With these two new stations, more than 150,000 listeners will have now have access to VPR Classical, moving VPR closer to its strategic goal of making this important resource available statewide. VPR continues to assess other areas of the state including Rutland, southern Vermont, and the Northeast Kingdom.

Stay tuned for more details as these new stations get closer to going on the air!

Your Wish Come True

You're in the car, cooking dinner, or getting ready for bed. As usual, VPR Classical is on. A melody catches your ear and captures your heart. You MUST know what it is! But alas, you don't catch the composer or artist. Is the name of that sweet piece you'd love to hear again lost forever? Thankfully, the answer is no.

The new and improved VPR Classical Playlist is now available at VPR.net. All you have to know is the day and time you heard the piece. You can look back at what you've heard today, yesterday, last week - even last month, 24 hours a day. You'll find all the information you need, including a link to ArchivMusic to purchase the CD if you wish.

Please let us know how the VPR Classical playlist works for you. And, as always, we love to receive your comments and requests.

P.S. Remember, copyright restrictions prevent us from publishing playlists before the music is played.

Classical Music Coming to Addison County

I’m pleased to report that we’ve made significant progress on our campaign to bring VPR Classical to Addison County!

We started early this year with $346,000 needed to build a new full-power transmitter at 90.1 FM I am happy to report that we have only $22,000 left to raise before the Vermont Community Foundation will provide the last $10,000. We are so close that we will soon order the broadcast equipment needed to build the station, with the hope of beginning construction in the spring and broadcasting VPR Classical within weeks of that.

Once it’s on the air, the new signal will broadcast VPR Classical to a population of more than 83,000 in an area that stretches from Vergennes to Brandon, and from Port Henry, NY east to the Green Mountains.

I hope you’ll join me for a reception at the Lodge at Otter Creek in Middlebury next Wednesday, November 11. The evening features a performance by pianist Diana Fanning and cellist Dieuwke Davydov (left). And you can learn more about the expansion of VPR Classical. Please RSVP by calling us at 1-800-639-2192.

You can read more about the expansion of VPR Classical here, and click here for a coverage map of 90.1.


Hope to see you there! And please feel free to contact me anytime to learn more about the campaign and how you can help.

Robin

VPR Classical Now Available on Rutland's PEGTV

We are excited to announce that VPR Classical is now available in the evening and overnight to cable customers in the Rutland area!

Cable subscribers can listen to VPR Classical overnight on PEGTV Channel 20 during the overnight and morning hours between 11 p.m and 9 a.m. It can also be heard at other times throughout the day when the station is broadcasting its Bulletin Board. You'll find the full schedule here.

The PEGTV service creates one more way to hear VPR Classical in an area that cannot yet receive the service via analog radio. Securing new radio frequencies can be a long and complex process, so in the meantime we're also working to find creative solutions to make VPR Classical more widely available. VPR Classical is also available in Rutland via streaming at VPR.net, and using an HD radio at 88.7-HD2.

PEGTV is Rutland’s community access television network, reaching 15,000 cable subscribers on channels 15, 20 and 21 throughout Rutland County.

If you live in the Rutland area we hope you'll check it out and let us know what you think!

Expanding VPR Classical

One thing I’ve learned about Vermont Public Radio listeners is that they'll tell me exactly what they think. Last night I heard loud and clear that listeners in Addison County want their classical music back. Bonnie and John McCardell hosted a gathering of listeners at their home in Cornwall to help VPR spread the word about plans to bring VPR Classical to Addison County. We've secured a license to build a new full-power station based in Middlebury and serving an area that reaches from Vergennes to Brandon and from Port Henry, NY east to Ripton. The cost to build the station is $346,000, including first year operating costs. As soon as these capital dollars are raised, the station will be built and begin broadcasting.

Several people mentioned their disappointment that classical music was moved off of VPR back in fall 2007. That was when VPR began broadcasting news and information shows such as On Point, Vermont Edition, and the Story during the middle of the day. Why did VPR make this change?

For years listeners had been asking for more news or more classical, and it was obvious we weren’t serving either audience well. Nationally, “mixed format” stations such as VPR were losing listeners, while news stations were growing and full time classical stations were doing well. VPR was seeing a decline in listeners, and we knew that in order to keep VPR strong it was important to change to a news station, but we were also deeply committed to keeping classical music alive on the radio in Vermont.

In 2004, we launched VPR Classical on WNCH in the Upper Valley region and added several other classical stations over the next three years. After a great deal of thought, research and planning, we made the change on October 1, 2007. Some listeners complained, others celebrated, and the end result is that Vermont Public Radio now serves more listeners than ever before: 182,000 people tune into VPR or VPR Classical each week.

Our top priority is to expand our VPR Classical network to serve more Vermonters. VPR Classical is currently broadcasting to about 60% of the state, and can also be heard on HD radio and VPR.net. The areas that are not covered include Rutland, Montpelier, Randolph, Saint Johnsbury, Middlebury, and Brattleboro.

We are very pleased to have been awarded this Addison County frequency during a rare non-commercial application window. These opportunities don’t come along very often. The only way we can expand VPR Classical is through these FCC windows that granted us this station, or through buying a station from a commercial or religious broadcaster.

If you’re interested in helping to fund the expansion of VPR Classical, please let me know. We recognize that it’s challenging to raise money for any project these days, but this is an opportunity we don’t want to miss. At a time when commercial classical stations are disappearing, we have an opportunity to show the country that Vermonters care about classical music and want it to be there for this generation and generations to come.