For some time the words on this page spoke of WVIA’s promised Transformational Change; the result, we said, of fortunate timing, talent and technology. To that we might now add the “t” word, “treasure,” for without many very generous gifts and matching grants to our Capital Campaign we’d still be yesterday’s analog broadcaster, a high-definition TV wannabe, and have a cluttered warehouse where our new theater now lives. Thank you!

You kept your pledges and we kept our promises! Now, more than ever in almost half a century, WVIA is nationally respected and recognized, making documentaries and programs of unprecedented quality and importance. In just the last year we’ve won Emmys, been lauded at national PBS programming conferences and welcomed senior executives of PBS’ and other American television syndication firms to these facilities.

But at our core and no matter how great the opportunities beyond these counties, WVIA will always be foremost a regional institution, a citizen, a friend, a convener. A building that once housed just sophisticated equipment now is home to thousands of visitors like you who come here each year for meetings, premieres, classes, concerts, political debates and news programs. And isn’t it a sweet irony that as your channel choices have multiplied so many times, often there is “nothing to watch” and WVIA is here with something special, often about you, your neighbors, community and issues that challenge and reward your mind?

Likewise WVIA-FM has become all one could ask of public radio. In an era of national radio by automation and satellite, WVIA is still entirely local, with music programs hosted by people you know well, capturing superb regional concerts and lectures, originating many in our own facility, and interviewing regional leaders whose only passion is the quality of your life. Like public broadcasters have been saying from our earliest days, who else will do this?

But the paragraphs above speak of services that once were your only definition of media. For years WVIA has been building a wvia.org that alone can do what was once literally the rationale for PBS and NPR; “educate, enlighten and entertain.” Instead our website is a multiplier of TV and FM where you Interact with our staff; be part of our live programs; see and hear shows that you missed; customize your experience with us; learn about our history and future and cease forever considering your PBS and NPR stations one-way communications.

And these thoughts too will likely be obsolete in the not-too-distant years ahead. Change is media’s one constant, and WVIA has never been better positioned to embrace it thanks to you.

Members, underwriters, donors and volunteers make WVIA all we can be. We’ll never take you for granted!