About the station

MEET THE RADIATOR: 100 WATTS OF FURY!

WOMM-LP ‘The Radiator’ is a licensed noncommercial low power FM radio station located in Burlington Vermont. The station began broadcasting with 100 watts in the autumn of 2007 on the frequency of 105.9FM with an effective broadcast range of approximately five miles from the antenna site, located in the center of Burlington’s downtown. In-between local DJs who produce an eclectic variety of shows, Big Heavy World plays Vermont-made music from its huge music archive.

Burlington Vermont is our home, and one of our favorite places in the whole world. It’s Vermont’s biggest city, for what that’s worth — there’s around 42,000 of us. Burlington has a vibrant arts community and legions of friendly hippies, snowboard manufacturers and craft breweries, rock-ribbed Republican woodchucks and one of the most active Progressive movements in the country. The Radiator’s programming shows off our diverse and creative community.

OUR MISSION

The Radiator’ is a nonprofit listener-supported media center generating and transmitting programming that fosters community awareness and civic engagement; encourages and promotes the creative public of the Burlington area; and provides a platform for multigenerational technical education and personal empowerment.

Be A DJ

The door is open here to bring your personal radio vision to our listeners — music, talk, poetry, theater, variety, or whatever you want to jam into a radio broadcast! The Radiator doesn’t syndicate shows from outside Vermont or have shows that duplicate the programming of other local commercial radio stations. We’re hyper-local, like you. Time slots are one or two hours weekly; see the current schedule.

To become a DJ there’s two steps: Get in touch to schedule a conversation about the history and policies of the station and the FCC rules we all have to follow, then shadow a DJ/mentor to learn how our studio operates. DJs have been as young as ten years old and everyone is welcome, whether you have experience or not! If you haven’t been a DJ before, it will be a treat for us to teach you, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to jump in.

To get started, email us to learn more and include your full name, DJ name, proposed show title with a one-sentence description, and your phone number. If you just want to peek in at the station as a first step, stop by any Wednesday at 6pm when the office and our Tiny Museum of Vermont Music History are open to the public — the radio station is wide open to try on for size then! Find directions here.

Vermont-Based Bands: Send Your Music!

Bands based in Vermont are welcome to send music for inclusion in rotation on The Radiator! Address albums to The Radiator c/o Big Heavy World, P.O. Box 428, Burlington, VT 05402-0428 and give us a heads-up if any individual songs aren’t radio-safe. Big Heavy World plays Vermont-made music on 105.9FM The Radiator 24 hours a day, between local DJs. The music plays randomly so everyone — and all genres — gets heard.

Big Heavy World pays licensing fees to public performance rights organizations ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), and SESAC who collect publishing royalties (performance royalties) for the public performance of musical works as required by the U.S. Copyright Act. Licensing fees are also paid to SoundExchange, a US public performance organization who collects royalties for digital public performance of sound recordings required by the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recording Act of 1995 and Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Vermont musicians get all the expected benefits of radio airplay on The Radiator.

The station logs the music it broadcasts to Spinitron.