WAMC

WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. As of April, 2011, the network comprised 11 transmitters and 11 translators. The organization's legal name is "WAMC" and it is also known as "WAMC Public Radio" or "WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network."

In addition, the station operates The Linda, WAMC Performing Arts Studio, a performance venue in Albany located near its Central Avenue studios.

A member of NPR and affiliate of Public Radio International and American Public Media, WAMC is a charitable, educational, non-commercial broadcaster meeting the requirements of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. §501(c)(3))^[3] It had total annual revenues for the fiscal year 2009 of $6.49 million.

Its corporate officers include Anne Erickson, chair of the board of trustees and Alan S. Chartock, president & chief executive officer (since 1981).

History

WAMC started in 1958 as a radio station for the local hospital and medical school, Albany Medical Center and Albany Medical College. Albany Medical Center is a large tertiary-care hospital serving the upper Hudson Valley, and the medical school (with which it is affiliated) is one of the country's ACGME-accredited medical schools. The affiliation with Albany Medical Center was the source of the call letters "WAMC."

The station's 24/7 non-commercial classical musical format served a large listener base and was popular amongs music aficionados. The earliest years also included broadcasts of health information and lectures from visiting professors. Early on, part of WAMC's regular programming was the broadcast of live concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra from Tanglewood and Boston. When the NPR network was founded in 1970, WAMC signed-on as one of NPR's original ninety 'charter' members. Around 1980, financial pressures caused the hospital and medical school to divest the station. In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license on 90.3FM was transferred to a 501c3 tax-exempt entity, WAMC, which had been set up by a group of five corporators (amongst them the current CEO and president, Alan S. Chartock) affiliated with the State University of New York and New York State government. In the years since the transfer, the station has cut back on most classical music programming (live BSO concerts are still broadcast) while becoming a producer of information-based, non-music programming, providing a variety of interview-format programs to radio stations across the country via the station's in-house subsidiary, National Productions.

Community and corporate contributions (often obtained during regular fund drives) have helped the original single station grow over the years into a network of 22 facilities with large primary service contours covering New York's capital district, western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and parts of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey. WAMC-FM's main transmitter and antenna are atop Mount Greylock in Adams, Mass., the highest mountain in the state, giving the flagship 90.3 MHz signal a large radius for a transmitter of its size.

It has been a custom on WAMC to play two songs to mark the end of every fund drive: Kate Smith's "God Bless America" and Ray Charles' rendition of "America the Beautiful".

Criticism and views

Accusations of bias

NPR's official news policy says its affiliate stations should be "fair, unbiased, accurate, honest, and respectful of the people that are covered." ^[4]

A Washington-based NPR news producer, who requested anonymity, stated that Alan Chartock, the station's president and a frequently heard voice on the station, presents politically-biased commentary.^[5] The producer stated that he was "driving through upstate New York and listening to the local public radio station, and there was this guy on the air ranting."^[5] "He was talking about the war in Iraq and how wrong it was and how we’re being held hostage as a country by this right-wing administration." The NPR producer assumed he had tuned into a Pacifica radio station, one of a small network of community radio stations that broadcast left-of-center advocacy-journalism programs. "But then I nearly couldn’t believe it when this guy said, ‘In just a few moments we’ll be returning to NPR’s All Things Considered.’ The NPR producer was listening to a pledge drive hosted by (WAMC CEO) Alan Chartock.^[5]

"If you took a photo of me in the car,” says the NPR producer, “my jaw would have been on the floor. It really freaked me out. As a producer, I want NPR to be viewed as middle-of-the-road. I want people to think that NPR is fair. But when someone like Chartock gets on the air, it makes us look like a left-of-center organization, just as we believe Fox cable news is a right-wing organization because they mix commentary with news. And I guarantee you that Joe Listener out there is not making a distinction between the crazy local guy and the reasonable national organization."^[5]

Chartock responded that WAMC’s editorial neutrality is maintained by "including as many conservative commentators on the air as liberal ones".^[5]

Network expansion

WAMC has grown into a network of eleven stations and eleven translators serving portions of seven New England and Middle Atlantic States, bringing news, information and cultural programming. The station's fund drive in March 2011 raised over $1,000,000 in nine days.

Miscellaneous

First Amendment Fund

In 2005, WAMC's board of trustees established a "First Amendment Fund" to promote and preserve the First Amendment and the right of free speech by providing a source of funding "to support WAMC if special situations or needs should arise". The contributions in this "unrestricted, board designated" fund reported on WAMC's 2006 IRS Form was $482,577. "WAMC's IRS Form 990 for Fiscal 2006 (page 35)". http://www.wamc.net/WAMC990-2006.pdf. 

Original programming

WAMC produces many programs of its own. These include:

• The Academic Minute
• The Best of Our Knowledge
• The Book Show
• The Capitol Connection
• Dancing on the Air (monthly presentation of Live at the Linda)
• 51%
• The Health Show
• Hudson River Sampler
• The Legislative Gazette
• Live at the Linda
• The Media Project
• Midday Magazine
• Northeast Report
• Performance Place
• The Power of Words
• The Roundtable
• Tim Coakley Jazz
• Vox Pop
• WAMC Bluegrass Time

Former programs

• The Environment Show -- name was dropped, format changed, and program morphed into "In Our Backyard," with NYS wildlife expert Ward Stone.
• Knock on Wood -- with Steve Charney and Harry
• Me and Mario
• Music Through The Night -- Midnight to 5 A.M.
• Rachael's Place
• Weekly Rundown
• Zucchini Brothers show

National productions

WAMC also produces programs that are distributed under the name "National Productions". These include:

• The Academic Minute
• The Best of Our Knowledge
• The Book Show
• The Capitol Connection
• 51%
• The Health Show
• The Legislative Gazette
• The Media Project

Podcasts

WAMC also podcasts their original programs.

Technical data

Stations, wattage, service contour maps

Translators

WAMC-FM

WAMK

WOSR

WCAN

Other

Coverage maps

1. WAMC's published coverage map showing counties that are covered in whole or in part
2. Old service contour map - created with the intent of discrediting WAMC's coverage claims, using the map above (an outdated version predating WAMC's most recent network expansions) overlaid with FCC service contour maps (again, predating expansions) for comparison. When viewing this map, the following FCC disclaimer should be taken into consideration: "Often stations may be received at locations well beyond the displayed service contour, depending on the location of other stations on the same or adjacent channels."

See also

• Alan S. Chartock
• David Guistina

References

External links

• WAMC Homepage
• The WAMC Performing Arts Studio -- A WAMC-owned venue in downtown Albany adjacent to their studios.
• WAMC (Inside) -- Web log at timesunion.com
• WAMC Student Town Meetings
• WAMC Northeast PIRATE Network -- A Web site critical of WAMC and its management.

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WAMC
• Radio-Locator information on WAMC
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WAMC