Dear Mr. Shubart and respected members of the VPR Board,

We would first like to express our sincere gratitude to VPR for the quality of programming you have offered the people of Vermont since your inception. Many of us now greatly rely upon you for keeping us informed and educated on issues of deep public concern. Considering that reliance and the increasingly threatening world we all face today, we are also writing to ask you to expand the scope of your endeavors. Specifically, we would like to request more diversity in the range of voices and information you offer, a diversity we now desperately require to understand our current plight and options.

Our invasion of Iraq, our increasing involvement in Columbia, the terrorist menace, our precarious economy, threats to our civil liberties, and other issues are all causes for legitimate concern and demand open intelligent debate. Against this background, we feel the need for more varied perspectives and in-depth reporting on the fateful events now occurring domestically and throughout the world.

We believe the quickest, least costly and most effective way to accomplish this would be to include the Pacifica network's Democracy Now! show in your broadcast lineup. Those who live near Montpelier can hear the show on WGDR, We know that many Vermonters listen to show on the internet (www.democracynow.org) or watch it on cable TV. But we believe the rest of Vermont also deserves easy access to hear this extraordinary program.

Although many journalism schools still teach that one of the profession's highest callings is "to monitor the centers of power," we find that Democracy Now! is one of the rare programs today that puts this ideal into practice. The DN! staff has won wide professional recognition for their courageous coverage and investigations, including the George Polk Award for Journalism, the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Armstrong Award, and the Radio/Television News Directors Award, as well as awards from AP, UPI, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Democracy Now! not only enjoys critical acclaim, 120 stations now carry the show across the country and all agree that it has developed a broad and devoted audience. A number of NPR affiliates carry Democracy Now!, including KUNM in Albuquerque ("the VPR of New Mexico"),WSQX in Binghampton/Corning, KRCB in California, and many others. We would be proud to have VPR join that list, and sincerely believe the program will boost the network's audience, membership, and reputation in Vermont civil society. Furthermore, Democracy Now! has proven to be a potent fundraising tool for the stations that carry it, at times outpacing Morning Edition and All Things Considered in donor support (see testimonials on attached ad running in Current).

This request is submitted on behalf of a diverse range of VPR listeners and members. Some of us are unaffiliated, while others are members of religious, political, environmental, labor, educational, and peace groups from across the State. The list of supporting individuals and organizations continues to grow.

We look forward to your positive response to this appeal and to your continued leadership in providing Vermont's people with the range of news and views we so urgently need to inform ourselves, comprehend our times, and preserve our own democracy here and now.

Sincerely,