 | |
| Predecessor |
|
|---|---|
| Formation | June 30, 2021 |
| Headquarters | Colchester, Vermont |
| Products | Public radio and television broadcasting |
President and CEO | Scott Finn |
| Endowment (2021) | $71.9 million |
| Website | vermontpublic |
Vermont Public Co. is the public broadcaster serving the U.S. state of Vermont. Its headquarters, newsroom, and radio studios are located in Colchester, with television studios in Winooski. It operates two statewide radio services aligned with NPR, offering news and classical music, and the state's PBS service. It was formed by the 2021 merger of what had been previously separate organizations, Vermont Public Radio and Vermont Public Television, which were both renamed Vermont Public in 2022.
The services were separate organizations prior to 2021. The first to be founded was Vermont Educational Television (Vermont ETV), originally a service of the University of Vermont, in 1967; the network's four main transmitters were completed in March 1968. Originally mostly funded by the state of Vermont, Vermont ETV began fundraising in the community and developed a substantial audience in the Canadian province of Quebec, which has historically accounted for a significant portion of viewer donations and where a related charity once operated to process Canadian viewers' donations. Vermont ETV was separated from the university in 1989 and later renamed Vermont Public Television and Vermont PBS. In addition to public television programming from PBS and other distributors, Vermont Public produces TV programs of local interest.
Vermont Public's radio operation began broadcasting in 1977 as Vermont Public Radio (VPR). The first transmitter served southern Vermont; coverage of the northern half of the state was added in 1980 and extended by the construction of new stations as well as the acquisition of several existing commercial radio stations. Beginning in the 2000s, VPR established a second radio programming service with a classical music format, which also now has statewide coverage; the existing programming was shifted to an all-talk format with shows from NPR and other public radio distributors as well as local programming focusing on Vermont issues and musical artists.