VPR Wins Two Gracie Awards For Tropical Storm Irene Coverage

Vermont Public Radio has been honored with two 2012 Gracie Awards® for its coverage of Tropical Storm Irene. The Vermont Edition staff was recognized in the public media category for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage following Tropical Storm Irene. Reporter and Vermont Edition Producer Samantha Fields was recognized in the Outstanding Hard News Feature category for her story, “Town Rallies Around Residents Who Lost Homes,” in Plymouth.

In the days following Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont Edition provided critical information to people in need, including breaking news about washed out roads and bridges, utility outages, and emergency food and shelter resources. The program broadcast updates from emergency management officials, and state and local officials, assisted with inquires about missing persons, and provided extensive resources online for those affected, and for those looking to volunteer. Vermont Edition expanded its broadcast format to provide two-hour live programs twice a day, focused on storm response and relief efforts.

Managing Producer Patti Daniels said, "those were long days, but the awful circumstances that were enveloping so many towns drove us to keep providing as many resources and services as possible. We're honored to be recognized, but our real motivation is the faith and reliance that listeners placed in us during and after the storm."

The Gracie Awards are presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, for excellence in programming created for women, by women and about women. The Gracies strive to encourage the realistic and faceted portrayal of women in entertainment, commercials, news, features and other programs. A full list of 2012 Gracie Award winners can be found here.

Montpelier's Change In Power

There’s always a sense of excitement and anticipation in Montpelier early in January when the Legislature is preparing to go back into session.

It’s heightened in odd-numbered years like this, following an election, when an entirely new House and Senate are seated.

But for people who follow politics, it doesn’t get much more exciting than this. There’s a new governor for the first time in eight years. Power is shifting from one party to another.

Plus, when the oaths of office are administered on Thursday, there will be a new secretary of state and lieutenant governor.

Even as preparations are finalized for all of this, there’s a bittersweet nostalgia as Gov. Jim Douglas packs up the memories of a 38-year career in state politics.

VPR is your home for coverage of this change in power. This Wednesday, January 5th at noon, Vermont Edition will broadcast live from the Statehouse just hours after the opening gavels fall. Later that afternoon, at 2, tune in for Gov. Douglas’ farewell address.

On Thursday, we’ll have special coverage again beginning at 1:30 p.m. when Peter Shumlin takes the oath to become governor, and then sets out his vision in his first inaugural address.

And finally, Gov. Shumlin will take your questions when he appears on Vermont Edition on Friday at noon, with a rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Email us at vermontedition@vpr.net to ask a question in advance.

You can follow the legislature throughout the session with VPR's live audio stream from the Vermont House and Senate. You can listen to the Legislature in action, follow the progress of important legislation and listen in on the proceedings while they are happening.

Accepting VPR's PRNDI Awards

VPR News was recognized over the weekend by our public radio news colleagues for some of our best work in 2009.

Public Radio News Directors Inc. met in Louisville, Ky. The conference was capped by an annual awards banquet, where VPR News took home three honors in the large-station category.

VPR’s Lynne McCrea took a first place for “Homeless family puts down roots.” It was the final installment in a moving series that followed a family’s search for a home. Listen to the winning story and the entire series here.

VPR’s Nina Keck won second place in the spot news category for “Olympian Andrea Mead Lawrence Succumbs To Cancer.”

And VPR commentator Jay Parini also got a second place for his thoughts “On Cosmic Ambiguity.”

We also want to congratulate our neighbors and friends across Lake Champlain, North Country Public Radio, for three awards: NCPR took a first place for enterprise/investigative reporting: “Hackett's Underwater;" second place for interview: "Dede Scozzafava on the Heart and Soul of the GOP;" and second place for continuing coverage: "A Year of Hard Choices."

Photo: NCPR News Director Martha Foley and me at the awards banquet.

VPR News Link, A Broadcast Companion

Have you ever wished you could capture the best news stories, feature stories and the main points from the interviews on Vermont Public Radio really quickly and in one place?

As a loyal listener we know your radio is always on and that you never miss a newscast...right? Even still, many VPR fans have been asking us for a comprehensive round-up of the news to browse via email.

You know where this is going, right? Now you can!

When VPR News Link began last week, it was so fulfilling to have a capsule of these top stories arrive in my inbox. In just one News Link email, I had an "at-a-glance" of the day. Nina Keck told us about the spread of (ugh) bedbugs in Vermont, John Dillon reported on the effect of climate change on Lake Champlain, Jane Lindholm gave us a close look at 14 Superfund sites, there was a profile of Sterling College from Charlotte Albright, and Cheryl Hanna had commentary and advice for aspiring Supreme Court judges.

On another day, I enjoyed Mitch's interview on baseball cards during Morning Edition, but I was getting a cup of coffee when Susan Keese's feature on the circus on Brattleboro aired, so News Link was my reminder that I didn't want to miss that story and it also gave me the summary. News Link is like having a conversation at the water cooler every single day!

Sign up for VPR News Link here!

The Story Behind NPR's Haiti Coverage

In the wake of disasters, news organizations must instantly shift staff, equipment, and resources to cover the event. In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti last week, NPR News Director of Operations Charlie Mayer fills in on the behind-the-scenes factors at play in NPR's coverage.

Q: Given the huge difficulties of air travel into and out of Haiti, how is NPR getting reporters on the ground to do their work?

This is thanks entirely to the resourcefulness, leadership, and dedication of National Desk Assistant Producer Gisele Grayson and Morning Edition Senior Editor Maeve McGoran who have wrestled us on to all manner of charter flights out of Miami. The best story (and I don't know the details) is Morning Edition Senior Producer Tom Bullock. He arrived in Port au Prince on a King Air plane owned by Ted Turner. No kidding.

Q: With electricity down, how are reporters powering their equipment?

NPR correspondent Carrie Kahn charged her Iridium satellite phone at a medical tent on Wednesday night. NPR is now set up at a hotel where there is power.

Q: Are they using sat phones to file stories? Some of them sound a little garbled - is that the satellite interference?

The garbled sound comes from a handheld satellite phone called an Iridium. When Carrie Kahn departed Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, this was the only satellite phone she could take. There was no room for producer Amy Walters or the larger Nera sat phone that we are used to hearing.

Now that everyone has arrived, we have six sat phones on the ground: Two Hughes 9201, one Explorer 110 and three Neras (including Neras 1 and 4, which are both 8.5 years old). We will now use those sat phones to file stories, so the garbled Iridium sound will become less present on the air. Some of these sat phones can be used to access the Internet, as well.

We have four Iridium handheld sat phones, which are useful because the local mobile network is not totally working. Our Verizon international Blackberries are not working at all.

Q: With such a wide-scale disaster, how do NPR staff on the ground in Haiti taking care of their basic needs for shelter, food, and water?
This is the primary responsibility of producer Tom Bullock. He filled up a Pelican case (a water-tight hardcase we use to transport equipment) with camping and survival gear that we keep on hand for this kind of operation. Huge credit on this goes to Logistics Manager Bill Craven. We've got a mini REI and CVS that Bill has kept stocked for years. This is all Bill. This time last year, that stash kept us going through the frigid Obama inauguration. Yesterday we cleared the shelves in support of the Haiti operation.

Here’s what we sent from Bill's depot:

2 or 3 sleeping mats
Bungee cords
Two first-aid kits
2 rolls duct tape
Flashlight
Masks
1 boss light
8 packs matches
1 headlamp
Cable & safety pins
2 packets wipes
1 box non-lubricated Trojan condoms (These are standard field equipment – they go over the microphones if it rains.)
2 energizer LED lights
2 inverters
2 tarps
2 sunscreens
2 afterbite
1 baggie full of mosquito spray wipes
2 large raincoats
1 sleeping shell
2 water purification pumps
1 laptop
Batteries

This was supplemented by the following supplies Maeve bought in Miami, and stowed in one large duffle bag, which she bought at Target. Everything below fit in it, except for 4 dozen of the water bottles which were carried separately by Tom on Ted Turner’s King Air.

5 dozen 12 oz. bottles of water
2 gallon jugs of water
Trail mix in many flavors
Beef jerky (flavors including Teriyaki and Kansas City BBQ)
Dried Fruit (including raisins, apricots, cherries, blue berries, and cranberries)
Tuna in a Pouch
Cooked Chicken in a Pouch
Crank Flashlights
A huge bottle of Purell
Smaller bottles of Purell
Heavy duty leather work gloves
Small cans of fruit including mandarin oranges and peaches
Power Bars (many dozens in many flavors)
Granola Bars

Deputy Director of Operations Sharahn Thomas, NPR's Operations Desk, and NPR's Information Services division have scrambled to activate and deploy mobile devices and extra reporting gear.

Q: What kind of transportation do NPR staff members have in Haiti? How did you get it for them -- or did they get it themselves?
They have hired a car and driver. They are also walking. Fuel is in short supply.

Q: How will you get them out, with flights restricted?
Flights are restricted. But our charter wranglers are somehow getting our people on the flights that are going. We have considered chartering our own plane, but have not had to do that.

Q: On the Information Services side, what happens if they have computer issues? Do they carry backups?
We haven't heard of a single computer problem. Why? Because we put our people in the field with hardware that works. The best kind of support is preparation. Huge credit on this goes to Information Services Manager Oumar Sall, the Information Services Help Desk, and Bob Duncan. We did send a spare laptop with Bullock. If anybody were to have trouble, Bullock would be the first line of defense. If that doesn't work, then the IS staff hotline and Bob Duncan are standing by to help. Bob was been working with our sat phone provider this morning to fix one issue with Jason Beaubien's sat phone, and reports it's now back in action.

Q: Do Blackberries work on the island? How are the reporters keeping in touch?
Not at this point. The mobile network seems to be coming back to life, but our Verizon gear is not working. This is because the Haitian provider that handles Verizon traffic was hit hard and their network is saturated. We're hopeful that this will improve. Oumar is working with Verizon. In the meantime, handheld Iridium phones are being used as we would normally use our BlackBerries.

Q: What other behind-the-scenes work is underway?
Nothing happens without money and NPR Finance has done an amazing job with the cash. This started before the banks opened on Wednesday. NPR Accounting Manager Susie Julbe and her team expedited wire transfers for Amy and Carrie early Wednesday and have since moved wire transfers for numerous other people. It is a cash economy at this point, so the availability and security of our cash is a top priority. Fortunately, Tom Bullock is an expert at this after years in Baghdad, Kabul, and other garden spots.

Some of our first responders on this were our engineers Melissa Marquis and Michael Cullen. They scrambled in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake to get Newscast set up with Skype.

Social Media and Haiti Coverage
NPR's Senior Strategist for Social Media Andy Carvin shares insights into how NPR is using Twitter and other social media tools in our Haiti coverage in this MediaBistro article. His work was also featured on DCFox5 TV news. (See 2:23 into the video.)

How Can I Help?
Below is a list of links VPR has mentioned in our own coverage of the Haiti earthquake and relief efforts.

Rep. Peter Welch

Senator Bernie Sanders

City of Burlington

American Red Cross Vermont

National American Red Cross

VPR Newsroom Visitors

Although VPR's news team has grown exponentially since 2001, the VPR newsroom remains one of the least-traveled parts of our main studios here in Colchester. Located upstairs from the rest of VPR's offices, it's not part of the main tour and even out of the way for most other staffers, although though we're always told we're welcome upstairs anytime. The Vermont Edition crew has even thrown parties (complete with invitations and snacks!) in order to lure colleagues to check out the space.

Today, however, we were thrilled to welcome a journalism class from Mount Mansfield Union High School for a tour of VPR, including the seldom-seen but always-heard newsroom. News Editor Ross Sneyd answered questions about news and radio from these future journalists, and they got a glimpse of the kind of place they might work someday.

Hitting Home: How the Recession is Affecting Vermont

A lot of people were surprised last fall at how swiftly the economy turned. By midwinter, it was clear this was going to be a deep recession that would affect people across the economic spectrum.

VPR News had been telling the story all along. But by the first of the year, it was clear that a larger project was warranted to capture the enormity of the steep decline. And so we organized a series of stories that examined the situation through personal stories.

We found factory workers, farmers, retirees, shopkeepers, auto dealers, a homeless family, and the experts who were trying to help them. It pretty quickly became clear that there was a common theme among all of the stories: The economic downturn was hitting home for all of them. That seemed to sum up the series for us, and so we dubbed our ongoing stories “Hitting Home.”

Here we are six months later and there’s a sense that maybe things aren’t as bad as everyone had predicted. So we decided to revisit some of the people we talked to in February and update their stories. We're doing that on Mondays all this month as we continue with our Hitting Home stories.

In coming weeks, we’ll visit the Northeast Kingdom to examine what happens when the largest employer in a region drastically cuts back. We’ll look in on the banking industry to find out whether it can help power an economic recovery. And we’ll even check out the business of weddings for an idea of how a small but lucrative part of the region’s economy is faring.

I hope you'll tune in and share your own stories as well. You can learn more online here.

Listen to Vermont Edition at Noon and 7 p.m.

Beginning next Monday, you will be able to hear VPR's Vermont Edition twice each weekday, live at noon, with a rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Vermont Edition began broadcasting daily two years ago, and since then it has grown in popularity and has become essential listening for folks across the region. As a result, many requests have come in to VPR to add a broadcast of the program in the evening so it would be available to a wider audience.

Here's the new evening lineup: Vermont Edition is at 7, The World moves to 8 p.m., and George Thomas continues his two-hour jazz show beginning at 9 p.m. On Fridays, legend Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz airs at 9 p.m., followed by George Thomas until midnight.

As with any program change, we've been getting questions from listeners about how we came to this decision. Visit our website for answers to some frequently-asked-questions, and for a printable version of the new schedule.

Your Pledge Dollars at Work: Champlain 400

VPR's special series, Champlain 400, is truly an organization-wide project combining the efforts of VPR News, Commentaries, Music, and Online.

You may have heard this piece by John Van Hoesen, VPR's VicePresident for News & Programming, where he describes some of the "behind the scenes" work that went into the 10-part series Champlain 400: Stories from the Lake. VPR producers traveled to more than 15 locations, interviewed more than 20 people, and recorded 15 hours of sound - all to bring you the kind of stories and history and reporting you expect from Vermont Public Radio.

"Stories from the Lake": just one part of our multilayered coverage of Champlain 400, and just one more example of your pledge dollars at work for you.

NPR's Juan Williams Visits VPR

We were pleased to welcome NPR News Analyst Juan Williams to VPR yesterday for breakfast with VPR staff and guests. He was in town for a speech to the Vermont Business Roundtable in the evening.

Juan drew on his more than thirty years' experience as a reporter, commentator, and author in a lively conversation about media and the news it covers.

Here are some photos from the event. Also, don't miss Mitch Wertlieb's interview with Juan, which aired yesterday morning.



UPDATE: Listen to the keynote address by Juan Williams to the Vermont Business Roundtable, part of the VPR Presents series.

VPR Wins Four National PRNDI Awards

Over the weekend in Portland, Oregon, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) honored VPR's news coverage with four national awards.

We won first place awards for its coverage of the death of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett and subsequent reporting on Vermont’s sex offender laws; and for Philip Baruth's commentary on Vermont’s low birth rate.

We received second place awards for the documentary “Those CCC Boys,” and for Jane Lindholm's interview on raising pigs.

The awards were presented in the large-station category, which means our entries into the contest were considered alongside those from the largest public radio stations in the country. Only Chicago Public Radio won more awards than VPR in this division.

You can hear the award-winning stories here.

Jane Lindholm interviews Robert Siegel and Dina Temple-Raston

We were thrilled to welcome NPR's All Things Considered Host Robert Siegel and National Security Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston to Vermont last weekend to celebrate VPR's successful Creating a Sound Future endowment campaign. Visit our website for audio of Jane Lindholm's interview with Robert and Dina.

Interning for Vermont Edition

UVM journalism student and Vermont Edition intern Jason Bushey is wrapping up his work at Vermont Public Radio, and he shared his thoughts about working at VPR:

On my first day as an intern at VPR, I came in expecting to do stereotypical “intern work”– making photocopies, answering phones, you know, the dirty stuff. However, almost right away I came to realize that this would not be the case when Vermont Edition host, Jane Lindholm, asked me if I wanted some coffee. (My response: “Isn’t that supposed to be my job?”) Instead, I was given real work in the office and out in the field, and I got to have an impact on some of the broadcasts. Here are a few projects I worked on over the past few months with Vermont Edition.

Recording “man on the street” audio:
Like most first-timers, I was a bit nervous to go up to random strangers on the street and ask them for their opinions on issues. However, once I got my first rejection, I realized that this would be the worst-case scenario – a simple “no.” Soon my nerves subsided and I felt comfortable talking with all kinds of people (including one man outside of City Hall in Burlington who had just left a child support hearing). With some practice, I got some pretty good tape of everyday people whose voices were heard on the air by listeners.

Research:
One crucial aspect of my interning experience was background research on future topics for the program. When I was given a topic to research, I worked to include as many sides of the story that I could find. This practice is definitely helpful for an aspiring journalist like me because it got me to dig deeper and farther on particular subjects that I may have not have thought to look at.

Voicing stories:
Honestly, when I first got the internship at VPR, I didn’t even dream of getting on the radio (and yet, anytime I told someone I interned at VPR, their first response usually was, “no way, you’re on the radio?!”). But VPR’s Newscast Editor, Ross Sneyd, heard the audio I collected for a debate over driving while talking on cell phones, and he asked me to write a newscast story and voice it for air. My greatest fear about getting on the radio was, “will I sound smart enough to be on VPR?” Ross, Jane and Production Engineer Chris Albertine gave me great advice on delivery and how to connect with a radio audience, and with their help I was able to get a brief spot on the air. Now, when someone assumes I was on the radio because I interned at VPR, I can at least answer, “well, not really. But there was this one time…"

Learning how to produce a radio show:
Finally, one of the most valuable experiences I took away from my internship at VPR was learning the day-to-day process of putting together a daily radio program. I had never worked in radio before my time at VPR, but I was an editor at UVM’s student newspaper. What I learned is that the two processes – putting together a radio show and creating a newspaper section – have something in common: both require several people working together in close orchestration to produce a high-quality result. The demands of a daily show require focus both in preparation and while Vermont Edition is on the air. I got to see how the process develops from an idea to a live broadcast by producing my own show (with, of course, the help of Vermont Edition’s producers) on magnet schools. Everything from research to booking guests to rescheduling guests when something comes up is required of producers, and my experience at VPR gave me really good behind-the-scenes insight into how challenging (and fulfilling) the job of a producer can be.

So, while I am trying to be a journalist and am always looking to be objective on a particular subject, I really have nothing but good things to say about working as an intern at VPR. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in journalism, so long as they’re ready to do real journalistic work, as opposed to making copies and coffee – I’m really glad I got to avoid that.

If you're interested in interning for Vermont Edition? Visit our website to learn how to apply.

UPDATE: Click here to listen to "Many drivers say they'd welcome a cell phone ban", by Jason Bushey, April 13, 2009.

Covering the marriage debate

Covering same-sex marriage has given VPR News an opportunity to use all of our different media to tell the story.

We've had plenty of pieces on the air, of course, from legislative debates to personal stories. But we also took advantage of online.

We streamed legislative hearings and debates when we could. We posted to VPR.net when there were developments. One day, when Gov. Jim Douglas announced he'd veto the bill, Bob Kinzel put his cell phone on the podium next to his microphone.

We recorded the governor's statement in Colchester and posted the audio -- even though it wasn't quite of broadcast quality -- online until we could get the good material from Bob's recording.

And on that critical day when the Legislature voted to override the veto, we Twittered and updated and posted and aired every minute.

It's always exciting to be in the news business when a big news event is unfolding. It's even more fun when there are so many different means to get the news to listeners and readers almost instantly.

And our coverage continues. I recently went to a seminar at Dartmouth College during annual Law Week observances and recorded justices from three New England state supreme courts that have dealt with the issue. Audio of that session is online. And there's a story there, too.

VPR's World Channel: A Terrific 10-Year "Experiment"

This week, we concluded 10 years of the VPR World Channel on WWPV 88.7 FM in Chittenden County. VPR worked with Saint Michael's College to air the BBC World Service whenever students were not producing local programs.

It started off as a five-week experiment in December 1998, but the World Channel has been on the air ever since with a somewhat regular schedule during the school year, and expanded broadcasts when school was out of session. Here's a link to a story about WWPV in The Echo, a student publication at St. Mike's.

There are a few reasons for the change. The media landscape has changed drastically over the last ten years, and the BBC World Service is now widely available. Plus, maintaining the World Channel required a considerable investment of time and resources by VPR. As we continue looking for ways to keep expenses in line during this difficult budget year, we feel it's important to focus on our main services: VPR, VPR Classical, and VPR.net.

You can hear the BBC World Service overnight on VPR. It’s also available full-time via our HD-3 channels and streaming at VPR.net. Click here for all of your BBC options.

Howard Dean on Here and Now

In case you missed it, Howard Dean was a guest on Here and Now this afternoon. Click here to listen to the program.

VPR Wins Nine Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

The Radio-Television News Directors Association has honored Vermont Public Radio with nine regional Edward R. Murrow awards for its news coverage, including the top award for Overall Excellence. 

It's the most awards VPR has ever won in the competition, which includes all of the New England states. The other awards were for Best Documentary, Continuing Coverage, Best Feature Story, Hard News Feature, Use of Sound, Investigative Reporting, Broadcast Writing, and Website.

You’ll find links the award-winning coverage at our website.  Thank you for making this kind of award-winning news coverage possible!

Women of the Lake

Betty Smith is VPR's Commentary Series Producer. She offers this reflection of this week's Vermont Women series:

Although we've always made a conscious effort to offer individual commentaries on women's issues during the month of March and year-round, our annual, week-long focus on Vermont Women as a Women's History Month feature grew out of our work with regular commentator, Cyndy Bittinger.

In 2005, Cyndy offered to help identify five contemporary Vermont women to tell the stories of five historic Vermont women, and we haven't missed a year since. Along the way, Cyndy enlisted the help of the Vermont Women's Commission and the Vermont Women's History Project. VPR edits and produces the series, based on suggestions from Cyndy and the VWHP.

We've heard from Cyndy, Liz Jeffords, Deborah Clifford, Cathi Wendling, Marcelle Leahy, Ann Lawless, Edith Hunter, Deb Markowitz, Amy Cunningham, Barbara Snelling, Deborah Luskin, Diana Wright, Christine Smith and Galen Beale.

We've heard about Consuelo Baily, Esther Sorrell, Sally Experience Brown, Annette Parmalee, Lenore McNeer, the sisters of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, Caroline Ardelia Yale, the women of Springfield's Machine Tool Industry, Ann Story, Winnie Perkins, Aschsa Sprague, Edna Beard, Sylvia Bliss, Hazel M. Weil, Clarina Howard Nichols, Grace Coolidge, Dorothy Thompson, Donella Meadows, Shirley Jackson, The Women's Relief Corps, Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer and Sister Jane Blanchard.

This year we add the stories of Fanny Allen, Philomene Daniels, Florence Weld, Sadie White and Grandma Lampman as told by Cyndy Bittinger, Julia Lewendoski, Joan Curtis and Louise Lampman-Larivee.

From pioneers and Abenaki healers to nuns, politicians, teachers, historians, factory workers and steamboat captains - these women's stories are rarely found in textbooks, but they reflect the history, culture and identity of our region. And understanding our past helps inform our future.

Here and Now Added to VPR's Schedule

Next Monday, we'll begin airing the news magazine program Here and Now weekdays at 1 p.m. The Story with Dick Gordon has moved to 2 p.m. It's replacing Day to Day, which ended production last Friday due to budget cuts at NPR. 

Hosted by broadcasting veteran Robin Young, Here and Now combines the best in journalism with intelligent, broad-ranging conversation for a fast-paced program that updates the news from the morning and adds important conversations on public policy and foreign affairs, science and technology, and the arts: film, theater, music, food and more. The program has been produced by WBUR/Boston since 1998. Originally a local news magazine, it is now distributed nationally by Public Radio International.  

How did we pick Here and Now? Over the last several months we listened to and analyzed the field of available programs to replace Day to Day. The analysis included an informal survey of VPR's Community Forum and data from previously-held focus groups.  We listened to hours of different programs and examined how they  performed in other regions. We were looking for a program that  would serve VPR listeners with strong content and strong presentation - one that we hope has even more promise for the future.

Why Here and Now? Well, we've found that VPR listeners especially enjoy news magazine-style programs, and Here and Now is one of the strongest news magazine programs we've heard. Since it feeds live at 1 p.m., the program provides an update on the developing news of the day and fits well in the midday lineup, following Vermont Edition and preceding The Story. The program is broad and features technology, finance, culture, theater and music.  Based in Boston, we also liked it because it sometimes provides listeners with a Northeastern perspective. Additionally, Here and Now has seen an increasing amount of interest from public radio stations around the country. We believe you'll find the program matches the depth, values, and variety you appreciate from VPR.

You'll find daily program descriptions and audio archives online here. We hope you'll listen and let us know what you think!

Listen to the Gay Marriage Hearing Wednesday Online and on HD3

VPR will broadcast Wednesday's public hearing on gay marriage online via our stream from the Vermont House and our HD-3 channel. Coverage begins Wednesday, March 18 at 6pm.

Connect to the stream here. And, as always, thank you for making this important service possible!