Come Learn More About VPR Classical In Central Vermont!

VPR Classical will soon be on the air in Central Vermont! VPR will be closing on the purchase of Randolph-based WCVR 102.1 FM this month, and VPR Classical will go on the air as WVXR in early July.


You’re invited to come learn more about this major expansion of VPR Classical at one of the two community gatherings we'll be holding this month. I’ll be at the Vermont Law School on Friday, June 18th at 4 p.m., in the Chase Community Center. And on Wednesday, June 30th at 10 a.m., I’ll be at the Chelsea Town Hall.

I hope you’ll bring your questions and comments about VPR Classical, VPR, and public radio in general! If you can’t make it, you’re always welcome to give me a call at 1-800-639-2192 or send an email. And stay tuned for details about the launch of VPR Classical’s newest station!


At left: VPR listeners and staff with young artists at Chandler Music Hall at a community gathering in May.

Vermont Edition Broadcasts Live From The CBC In Montreal

Hydro-Quebec was designated by the Vermont Legislature as a renewable energy source this spring. But the decision was not without controversy, as critics examine the environmental impact of the utility's plan to generate more power for New England. Tomorrow, Vermont Edition travels to Montreal to find out what Canadians are saying about this issue.

We'll speak with Claude Demers, Hydro-Quebec's science communicator, and Daniel Breton, an environmentalist with the organization MCN21. What's your take on Hydro-Quebec? Let us know at vermontedition@vpr.net, and listen tomorrow at noon and again at 7 p.m.

VPR will be following the Hydro-Quebec issue all summer. Explore our coverage here, and thank you for listening!

Photo: VPR's John Dillon reporting on the Rupert River in Quebec.

And The Winner Is....

This spring, New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss designed a series of cartoons about Morning Edition on VPR. We held a contest for a signed print by Harry Bliss on our Morning Edition page. We just wanted to say a big congratulations to Jim Bunch of Bristol, who won the print. He says,

"My wife and I are big fans of both VPR's morning programming (although there isn't a time of day when I won't turn on VPR) and Harry Bliss."

Check out all of our Morning Edition is Bliss cartoons here, and thanks for making Morning Edition a part of your day!

VPR Classical Is In Addison County!

VPR Classical 90.1 WOXM is now on the air in Addison County! At 9 a.m. this morning, the station went on the air with a broadcast from the Mahaney Center for the Arts at Middlebury College featuring a live performance by pianist Annemieke Spoelstra.

This new station brings VPR Classical to over 83,000 listeners in most of Addison County. Check out a coverage map for WOXM as well as for all of VPR Classical.

The growth of VPR Classical is made possible by the amazing support of our listeners - thank you for making this day possible. Enjoy the music!

Welch, Leahy, and Sanders - Oh My!

By some miracle of scheduling, the Vermont Edition team has managed to schedule ALL of Vermont's congressional delegation - Rep. Peter Welch, Sen. Patrick Leahy, and Sen. Bernie Sanders - within three weeks.

Rep. Welch joined Jane Lindholm last Tuesday and took your questions, and Sen. Leahy (pictured in the studio before the show, at left) was on today's program - you can hear the show again tonight at 7. Bernie Sanders will be our guest next Tuesday, June 8th to complete the trifecta. If you have questions for Sen. Sanders, please email them to vermontedition@vpr.net.

The opportunity to ask questions of our elected officials and other newsmakers is one of the hallmarks of Vermont Edition and public radio. With so much going on in the state and country recently, we are pleased to be able to connect you with all of Vermont's congressional delegation in such a short time. I hope you'll tune in!

VPR prEview: Allen Toussaint, Pulled Pork, Summer Festivals

Sunday was the sixth time I’ve run in the Vermont City Marathon, either as a full marathoner or as part of a relay team. Over the years I’ve come to rely on certain landmarks to keep me going: the solitary bagpiper on Pine Street, the Taiko drummers on Battery Street, the raucous block parties in the New North End, to name just a few. All of them help take my mind off my legs and allow me to enjoy the event that, for me, marks the beginning of summer.

We’ll mark the unofficial start of summer in this edition of prEview with VPR’s new summer music festival map and a Vermont Edition conversation about barbeque and grilling, complete with a recipe for pulled pork. Plus, George Thomas interviews Allen Toussaint in advance of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, and VPR Classical goes “live” in Addison County on June 8.

Continue reading this week's prEview....

(Thanks to Steve Mease for the photo. This was almost at the top of Battery Street!)

VPR Classical Comes to Addison County June 8th

We'll "flip the switch" for VPR Classical in Addison County at 90.1 FM next Tuesday, June 8th, at 9 a.m., and we want you to be part of the celebration! Join us for a community breakfast celebration at the Mahaney Center for the Arts at Middlebury College, featuring a live performance by pianist Annemieke Spoelstra.

The celebration begins at 8:30 a.m. It's free, but reservations are required. Please call us at 1-800-639-2192 to reserve your spot.

The new station will provide a strong signal to a population of more than 83,000 covering most of Addison County, including Salisbury, Cornwall, Shoreham, Addison, New Haven, Vergennes, south to Brandon, and including some towns across Lake Champlain in New York. Click on the map below for a larger version of WOXM 90.1's coverage area.

The VPR Classical launch aside, June 8, 2010 is already a big day here: we're celebrating the bicentennial birthday year of two major classical composers, Robert Schumann and Frederic Chopin. In addition to Annemieke Spoelstra's performance, we'll feature the music of both composers throughout the day, as well local pianists sharing their insights into the legacies and personal meaning of Schumann and Chopin's music.

We are so happy to welcome Addison County listeners to the VPR Classical family. I hope you will join us or tune in next Tuesday!