The purpose of Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company is to inspire, entertain, and educate our listeners and to amplify the voices of our community.
Work began in 2001 with the filing of an application for a Low Power FM Broadcasting Permit (CP) that was finally granted on February 28th of 2004. Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company was established as a Vermont Non-Profit Corportation on April 20, 2004 and was granted 501(c)(3) status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in early 2005. As of January 2010, more than 400 people and 30 organizations have contributed financially to the early growth of our community radio station.
WOOL's first studio at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls is equipped for both broadcast and production. Training on the broadcast equipment commenced in May 2005 for any member interested in becoming a Black Sheep Radio DJ or Program Host. More than 120 people have aleady been trained, certified, and many are producing shows featuring music, news, sports, talk radio, community forums, religious and spiritual programming, and live local cultural events.
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company's antenna is on the tower atop Mount Kilburn (Fall Mountain) and the signal reaches people from Ascutney to Brattleboro, from Charlestown to Keene, from Grafton to the Connecticut River, and from the Connecticut River all the way to Marlow, NH. Within the bounds of our license we still have a powerful "footprint" and a broad region for our listening audience. We are entirely supported by contributions, air no advertising, and have only recently begun accepting underwriting, and are 100% propelled by the good will of our community. Our first five years have been profoundly successful and the future could not be brighter. We are in the process of obtaining a new full power NCE license that will vastly change our fortunes and impact.
Our bylaws were ratified in June of 2004, with the most recent amendments on 29 June 2008. They define our operational methodology and, to some extent, the philosophy behind this organization.
Minutes of every meeting of the board of directors and many other committee meetings are archived on this site. Generally, minutes are posted shortly after the meeting to which they apply and are amended or approved at the subsequent meeting. Notes of board meetings and other committee meetings after January 1, 2005, are available as PDF files by clicking here. You'll be shown a list from which to choose the files for download.
[An html version of minutes prior to 2005, viewable on-screen without download, can be found by clicking here. ]
WOOL is managed by the coordinated effort of its board and committees. At the moment, our governing structure relies heavily on the activity of the board od directors and of ad hoc committees arising in response to the ongoing needs of the station.