To our community:
This is an exciting time in our station’s history. We have undergone a number of changes over the last year that have made us an even stronger public media station. Our PBS footprint stretches across Central Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg. In radio, we now have dedicated news and music stations in Richmond, and we have mixed format stations in Chase City and the Northern Neck. We just launched this new dynamic website designed to showcase our offerings and enhance your online experience.
To unify all of our stations and media offerings across platforms and simplify our message in a crowded media landscape, on August 5 we changed our name to VPM, which represents Virginia’s home for Public Media. While this has been a dynamic time, the one constant is our mission to use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire. Our newly crafted brand promise is to be Virginia’s trusted source for lifelong learning that is entertaining, objective and locally relevant. To fulfill this promise, we will produce more local storytelling across platforms and connect that content to the community through outreach and engagement.
Building on our over 50-year legacy, we hope to have an even greater impact in the next 50 years.
I appreciate your support and enthusiasm for this next chapter.
Jayme Swain, President, VPM
So what does this mean?
Will there be changes in TV programming?
We are standardizing our main PBS schedule in Harrisonburg, Richmond and Charlottesville to make it easier for audiences to find what they want to watch. Some shows will change days and times.
Has your mission changed?
Our mission remains the same, as does our commitment to the communities we serve. Our mission is to use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire.
Did you do research to see what the community thought of changing your name?
We held focus groups with the Virginia Foundation for Public Media and Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation Boards, our Community Advisory Boards, supporters, community members and our staff. We also surveyed nearly 38,000 people, including donors, email subscribers and the general public. A statistical sample would have been a 1% response rate -- we received an amazing 7.6% response rate. 74% of those who responded thought changing our name was either a good idea (43%) or responded that a name change wouldn’t alter how they felt about us (31%).
Is your website changing?
After August 5, you can find us and the content you love online at VPM.org.
You will also be able to find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube at @myVPM.
Please note: if you're already following us, you don't need to do anything! Just continue to like and follow WCVE and on August 5, our name will simply change.
We can’t wait to share our new look with you!
