Transmission Project

Through traditional radio broadcasting on WBTN-AM and through new media such as on-line streaming and the building of on-line community forums, the Shires Media Partnership, a non-profit 501 (c) (3), provides large-voice venues for ordinary citizens. Our programming consists of citizen voices, local news, local sports, music and New England professional sports. We serve Bennington and adjacent New York and Massachusetts communities.

The task of Shires Media is to provide the greater Bennington community with a voice for itself. The air space allotted to WBTN-AM by the Federal Communications Commission is seen by us as a community resource with the potential to express and enhance the lives of the people of the community. Through traditional radio broadcasting and through new media such as on-line streaming and the building of on-line community forums, the Shires Media Partnership provides large-voice venues for ordinary citizens.

We presently have radio programs featuring the voice of the local job service, health care shows, and we provide free air time to a variety of government organizations relating to education, employment and labor issues, and local governance On a regular basis, we instruct listeners to dial 2-1-1 for help in life situations (see http://www.vermont211.org/AN).

As well as providing a constant stream of air time to local NGOs and national NGOs to promote various anti-poverty and employment or employment-training programs, Shires Media Partnership helps to ensure that messages from such organizations get disseminated as widely as possible in ways that even the poorest of citizens can access thus helping to bridge the digital divide.

We also provide outreach to local schools, thus assuring that students from all socio-economic backgrounds develop media literacy (see North Bennington Graded Schools Radio Station).