Two Vermont-owned media companies have formed a partnership to share award-winning local content, according to a Jan. 16 announcement on the Vermont Business Magazine website. Last fall, WCAX-TV, based in South Burlington, began working with the state’s largest newsweekly, Burlington-based Seven Days.
Each Wednesday and Friday, Seven Days’ reporters and critics appear on WCAX’s 5:30 news show, “The :30,” to talk with hosts Kristin Carlson and Mike McCune about local news, arts and entertainment. Recent topics have included the Burlington mayor’s race, Vermont’s growing electronic music scene and Seven Days food critic Alice Levitt’s 2011 pick for best new restaurant of the year.
Every Thursday on “The :30,” WCAX airs an abbreviated version of the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” a web video series hosted by Seven Days multimedia producer Eva Sollberger.
Twice a month, staffers from Kids VT, Seven Days’ free monthly parenting publication, appear on the morning news to discuss events and issues of interest to Vermont families.
In exchange, WCAX provides a weather forecast for Seven Days’ “Daily 7” email newsletter, which delivers the top seven Vermont stories each weekday afternoon. The station also contributes an extended forecast for Seven Days’ “Notes on the Weekend,” a Thursday-afternoon email that helps subscribers plan weekend fun.
“We are delighted with this local partnership,” said WCAX-TV news director Anson Tebbetts. “The response already has been outstanding from our audience.”
“It’s a natural fit,” says Seven Days publisher and co-owner Paula Routly. “Seven Days provides in-depth local content, and we’re excited to expand our reach. We feel fortunate to work with a locally owned media company that we trust and respect.”
Family-owned WCAX was the first television station to broadcast local programming, and has been operating for 55 years. Its news team has won multiple New England Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. Seven Days, founded in 1995 by Pamela Polston and Paula Routly, has garnered numerous awards from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and been named the state’s best non-daily newspaper by the Vermont Press Association for the past seven years in a row.
