Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) March 26, 2022
April Program at the Grange!
Central Vermont Community Radio–the story of starting a brand-new, 49-year old radio station
For almost 50 years, these stations were Goddard College Radio–until last year. The curious chicken (see below) has adorned their schedules and fundraising “merch”. The staff (also pictured below) has been an eclectic mix of community members for years, with nearly 30 volunteer programmers producing the extremely diverse mix of free-form music shows and locally made program on local, national and international topics, combined with “curated national programming” like “Democracy Now”. You can check out the whole schedule on their website: WGDR Schedule.
At our program on Saturday April 2nd, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm, we’ll hear from Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, station manager since fall of 2021. Community ownership has meant dealing with all the issues of a start-up non-profit, while maintaining a nearly 50-year old radio station.
Llu joined WGDR/WGDH during the community ownership transition, becoming station manager in the fall of 2021. During their talk at the Grange, Lllu will share: how the station has turned a number of challenges into celebrations, explain how community radio is more important than ever for our communities, and provide a larger context on the state of this vital media format here in Vermont.
Llu started in community radio with their own WGDR show at the age of 13, co-founded a low-power community radio station in Burlington (99.3 FM, WBTV-LP), and has been a weekly programmer on WRUV, the UVM college/community station since 2004. With over 20 years of non-profit and public sector leadership, Llu brings a great mix of perspective and experience to CVCR as they embark on this important next step for the station.
All Grange programs are free and open to the public!
Zoom link information:
To join the Zoom meeting starting at 5:00 from your computer or smart-phone, use this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
To join the meeting, audio only from your phone, dial this number: 646 558 8656
Password: 624628
We ask un-vaccinated people who come to the program–or the Grange meeting–to wear well-fitting masks. We continue to take a conservative approach to protect everyone we can. Recently, COVID-19 positive test percentages have started climbing again–not steeply, but enough to make us avoid any feeling of complacency.
Furnaces aren’t supposed to be cool…
But ours is, right now. Regular readers will remember that when our annual furnace service happened on March 2nd, the heat exchanger was found to have holes in it. This shut it down, of course–neither we, nor our oil burner service company will mess around with the chance of carbon monoxide getting into our Hall. Since our furnace is probably 50 years old, there are no parts available to repair the heat exchanger.
Our renters have been extremely understanding during this somewhat chilly time. The 6 electric heaters which we got from the service company have been deployed upstairs or in the lower level, to take the chill off. We’ve encouraged groups to meet downstairs, if possible, to take advantage of the great insulation we installed in our big 2020 project–we’ve been extra glad to have that!
Meanwhile, we (primarily me, Patty and Kurt Giavara) started doing some fast, but thorough research into our choices for a new heating system. We did not assume that we would just install another oil furnace. We decided that we would check out all the options, but would make our decision based on both the installed costs and long-term fuel cost We also wanted to consider ways to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. We expect the next furnace to last for decades, so we have to think long-term.
We ended up getting quotes for: regular oil furnaces, propane furnaces, electric heat pumps, oil furnaces that burn B99 bio-fuel, and wood-pellet furnaces. We spoke with Efficiency Vermont engineers, and found out what rebates are available for energy-efficient heating systems. We did calculations for the heating load of our building, as it is now insulated. We are speaking with the VT State Grange, to find out if they can help us out with this major purchase. We’ve spoken with a good number of our Capital City Grange members, to make sure that we have consensus on our choices.
By the time we meet on April 2nd, we expect to have placed an order for a heating system–because we’re waiting for some final information about how we can finance the purchase. I’m reluctant to promise something before I’m sure that we can deliver it!
Our meeting on April 2nd will be short–just from 4:30 to 5:00 PM. Besides the meeting itself, we’ll have time to talk more at the Community Potluck Dinner which we’ll have following the program. See below for a few details on the potluck!
Potluck time again! Join us at 6 PM on April 2nd.
We’ll have another Community Potluck dinner together in the lower level, following the Grange meeting and the Program. As usual, we’ll have no idea what to expect for food–but as usual, we are confident we will have a variety of main courses, salads, soups, breads, beverages, desserts, and much more! The 30 or so people who came to our March potluck shared lots of great food, so come and see what’s on the counters!
We do ask that only people who are vaccinated join us for this event, as we continue to be conservative about our group events–especially when we know we won’t be able to wear masks.