Switchboard and Vermont Public Radio
In September 1988 Vermont Public Radio (VPR) resumed airing Switchboard,
a weekly topical call-in show for the station’s listeners. The
show had debuted in 1979 but suspended operations in 1981. With
major support from the Lintilhac Foundation, fueled in large part
by Phil’s deep conviction that there be a genuine statewide forum,
the program was reignited and has broadcast weekly ever since.
“One of Vermont Public Radio’s earliest efforts in public affairs
was Switchboard,” says Mark Vogelzang, VPR president and general
manager, “it was the first place where a truly statewide audience
could participate in these discussions.”
Switchboard often focuses on political questions affecting the
region. Its guests include the Governor (monthly), the members
of Vermont’s congressional delegation (annually), and a legion
of state legislators and policy experts. The program has reported
from the heart of some of Vermont’s most influential stories, including
live coverage of testimony in the civil union debate of 2000 and
a broadcast from Iowa during Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.
One of the most infamous moments in Vermont’s recent political
history occurred in 1998 on Switchboard, when dairy farmer Fred
Tuttle queried Republican senatorial candidate Jack McMullen as
to how many teats a cow had. McMullen’s incorrect answer contributed
to his electoral doom in the primary.
It is the program’s format, however, that is its real strength
and the greatest service to Vermonters. Switchboard revolves around
questions-and-answers between its guests and listeners who call
in. As Vermont’s only statewide call-in public affairs program,
Switchboard is an invaluable resource as an enormous, weekly town
meeting. Elected officials are pressed, issues are argued and explained,
jokes are cracked, and grievances and accolades aired for the tens
of thousands of Vermonters who tune in. “Switchboard has really
become the most identifiable element of VPR’s ongoing effort to
expand the important discussions in the region,” says Vogelzang,
“We’re so grateful to the Lintilhac Foundation for understanding
that dynamic and for supporting it from the very beginning.”
Switchboard has doubled its frequency: it now airs twice a week,
and topics have broadened to include the arts, gardening, a popular
annual bird program, and a year-end review of the best in music.
All of the programs are now archived and available online at vpr.net,
extending Switchboard’s reach and potential further still.
Continuing in its movement to support and promote a balance of
perspectives in the media, the Lintilhac Foundation in 2004 enabled
the broadcast of Amy Goodman’s award-winning, independent news
program Democracy Now! on central Vermont’s WDEV-FM.
Steve Delaney (left) and Bob Kinzel of VPR report on election
night, 2000.
Switchboard, with studio audience.