WAMC

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WAMC
City of license	Albany, New York
Broadcast area	Primary: Albany Capital District of New York; parts of Eastern New York ; Southern Vermont, Western Massachusetts, Upper Northwest Connecticut Secondary: West-Central Connecticut, southwestern New Hampshire, northwestern New Jersey, northeast Pennsylvania, a small portion of Quebec.[1][2]
Branding	WAMC, Northeast Public Radio
First air date	1958 (Original licensee Albany Medical College)
Frequency	90.3 MHz
Format	Public Radio
Class	A: WAMQ, WANC, WCAN, WCEL; B: WAMC, WRUN; B1: WAMK, WOSR; C: WAMC-AM
Callsign meaning	Albany Medical College
Owner	WAMC, Inc.
Website	www.wamc.org

WAMC is a public radio station out of Albany, New York, broadcasting on the 90.3 FM frequency. The organization's legal name is "WAMC, Inc.", and it is also known as "WAMC Public Radio" or "WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network". WAMC runs the Northeast Public Radio network of stations. In addition, the station operates the WAMC Performing Arts Studio, a venue in Albany located near its Central Avenue studios.

The NPR affiliate is registered with IRS as a 501c3 charitable, educational, non-commercial broadcaster. The organization's IRS Form 990 - 'Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax' can be accessed at Guidestar.org or at wamc.net (site not affiliated with WAMC or Guidestar). Total annual revenues (Fiscal 2005): $6 million.

Present corporate officers include Thomas S.W. Lewis, chairman of the board of trustees; Alan S. Chartock, president & chief executive officer (since 1981).

Contents 1 History 2 Criticism and views 2.1 Accusations of bias 2.2 WAMC's Website 2.3 Support for Chartock's programming 2.4 Network expansion 3 Original programing 3.1 Former programs 4 National Productions 5 Podcasts 6 Technical data 6.1 Coverage maps 6.2 Stations, wattage, service contour maps 6.3 Translators 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] 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 the 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 quite popular amongst regional 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' affiliates. Around 1980, financial pressures caused the hospital and medical school to seek to divest the station. In 1981, the FCC license on 90.3FM was transferred to a 501c3 tax-exempt entity, WAMC, Inc., 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 dramatically cut back on most classical music programming (live BSO concerts are still broadcast) whilst simultaneously becoming an active producer of information-based, non-music-related 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 nine stations and five translators with large primary service contours covering New York's Albany capital district, western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and targeted smaller contours in those states and parts of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey. See WAMC's Actual Coverage Map (site not affiliated with WAMC). WAMC-90.3-FM's main transmitter and antenna are atop Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts, the highest mountain in the state, giving the flagship 90.3 signal a relatively large radius for a transmitter of its size.

[edit] Criticism and views

[edit] Accusations of bias

NPR's official news policy states that its affiliate stations should be 'fair, unbiased, accurate, honest, and respectful of the people that are covered', ^[1].

A Washington-based NPR news producer, who requested anonymity, was "driving through upstate New York and listening to the local public radio station, and there was this guy on the air ranting.” ^[2] “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 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.’” What the NPR producer was hearing was a pledge drive hosted by (WAMC CEO) Alan Chartock." ^[2]

“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.”^[2]

Chartock claims that any liberal commentary he issues is balanced by conservative commentary on WAMC^[2].

[edit] WAMC's Website

Chartock publishes a blog on WAMC’s web site.

Chartock says he is concerned about governmental restrictions on free speech.^[3] He is dismayed by what he calls the proliferation of corporate run radio stations, which he believes express extreme right-wing views without giving opposing viewpoints.^[4]

[edit] Support for Chartock's programming

Stephen Yasko, manager of WTMD (89.7 FM), an NPR member station in Towson, MD which plays mostly adult-alternative music, contends that any quality-control challenges which might be created by NPR’s decentralized nature are outweighed by the advantage of unique local programming.

“Public radio stations reflect the values and texture of the communities they serve,” says Yasko, who has also worked in the NPR member services department. “If NPR or any national organization had too much control or input into every station’s local personality, then you would lose the very thing that makes us what we are. So if Alan Chartock is what Albany and upstate New York created and what works for them, that’s a beautiful thing, no matter what some outsiders might say.”^[2]

[edit] Network expansion

WAMC has grown into a network of fourteen stations serving portions of seven New England and Middle Atlantic States, bringing news, information and cultural programming to what WAMC claims is an audience of nearly 400,000 monthly listeners (though that figure is not officially certified by Arbitron nor by any other audience ratings service). The station's most recent fund drive (as of March 2007) raised over $700,000 in just over four days.

Though the original expansion of the WAMC network starting in the mid 1980s was done to serve areas that had previously lacked NPR service, many of the station's expansions since then have been into areas that either had service from a WAMC signal or where an established NPR network was already on the air. Two examples of this were WAMC's purchase of WAMQ (then WBBS), a signal whose coverage area is near enveloped by other WAMC signals, and in 1992 WAMC outbid SUNY Plattsburgh for the then-WCFE-FM in 1995 to serve an area with two established NPR stations.

[edit] Original programing

WAMC produces many programs of its own. These include:

• Capitol Connection
• Hudson River Sampler
• In Our Backyard
• The Legislative Gazette
• Midday Magazine
• Northeast Report
• The Roundtable
• Tim Coakley Jazz
• Vox Pop
• WAMC Bluegrass Time
• How to Save Your Life

[edit] Former programs

• The Environment Show
• Knock on Wood -- with Steve Charney and 'Harry'
• NPR News mid-day reports
• NPR 'Overnight Service' -- Midnight to 5 A.M.
• Me and Mario -- discontinued after a public falling-out between former Governor Mario Cuomo and program host Alan Chartock)[3]
• Music Through The Night -- Midnight to 5 A.M.
• Rachael's Place
• Weekly Rundown
• Zucchini Brothers show

[edit] National Productions

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

• 51%
• The Best of Our Knowledge
• The Book Show
• The Health Show
• The Media Project
• Word for the Wise

[edit] Podcasts

WAMC also podcasts their original programs. They offer a version of pubcatcher to manage their podcasts.

[edit] Technical data

[edit] Coverage maps

Two maps -- two differing interpretations:

1. WAMC's published coverage map showing counties that are covered in whole or in part
2. FCC-based coverage map - using WAMC's map above overlaid with FCC 60 dBu - industry standard - service contour maps for comparison. (Site not affiliated with WAMC.)

Please note FCC's disclaimer: "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."

[edit] Stations, wattage, service contour maps

Call Sign	Frequency	Location	Effective Radiated Power (ERP)	Service Contour Maps[5] [6]
WAMC	90.3 FM	Albany, NY	10.0 kW ERP (10,000 watts)	Map
WAMK	90.9 FM	Kingston, NY	0.94 kW ERP (940 watts)	Map
WOSR	91.7 FM	Middletown, NY	1.80 kW ERP (1,800 watts)	Map
WCEL	91.9 FM	Plattsburgh, NY	0.38 kW ERP (380 watts)	Map
WCAN	93.3 FM	Canajoharie, NY	6.0 kW ERP (6,000 watts)	Map
WANC	103.9 FM	Ticonderoga, NY	1.55 kW ERP (1,550 watts)	Map
WAMQ	105.1 FM	Great Barrington, MA	0.73 kW ERP (730 watts)	Map
WRUN	1150 AM	Utica, NY	5.0 kW ERP Day (5,000 watts) 1.0 kW ERP Night (1,000 watts)	Map Map
WAMC	1400 AM	Albany, NY	1.0 kW ERP Day (1,000 watts) 1.0 kW ERP Night (1,000 watts)	Map Map

[edit] Translators

Call sign	Frequency	Location	Effective Radiated Power (ERP)	Service Contour Maps[7]
W205AJ	88.9 FM	Oneonta, NY	0.003 kW ERP (3 watts)	Map
W220CE	91.9 FM	Southington, CT	0.001 kW ERP (1 watt)	Map
W226AC	93.1 FM	Rensselaer-Troy, NY	0.05 kW ERP (50 watts)	Map
W246BJ	97.1 FM	Hudson, NY	0.05 kW ERP (50 watts)	Map
W299AG	107.7 FM	Newburgh, NY	0.01 kW ERP (10 watts)	Map

[edit] References

1. ^ NPR News Code of Ethics and Practices..
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Locally Grown by Gadi Dechter, 7/13/2005..
3. ^ Alan Chartock, The Daily Freeman, The long view on "security", 08/01/2005. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
4. ^ Alan Chartock - Blog, Save public radio from government censors, June 20, 2005. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
5. ^ FCC Audio Division Home Page.
6. ^ Radio-Locator.com.
7. ^ FCC Audio Division Home Page.

[edit] See also

• Alan S. Chartock

[edit] External links

• WAMC Homepage
• The WAMC Performing Arts Studio-- A WAMC-owned venue in downtown Albany adjacent to their studios.
• Alan Chartock - Blog -- 'Alan Chartock shares his thoughts for today....'
• WAMC Student Town Meetings
• WAMC Northeast PIRATE Network -- A Web site containing articles generally critical of WAMC and its management.

v • d • e AM radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market (Arbitron Market #62)
Capital District	590 · 810 · 980 · 1160 · 1240 · 1300 · 1330 · 1400 · 1460 · 1540
Outside the Metro	560 · 930 · 1230 · 1340 · 1440 · 1490 · 1570
New York State Radio Markets Albany (AM) (FM) · Binghamton · Buffalo (AM) (FM) · Elmira-Corning · Ithaca · Jamestown-Dunkirk · Long Island New York City (AM) (FM) · Newburgh-Middletown · Olean · Plattsburgh · Poughkeepsie · Riverhead Rochester (AM) (FM) · Saratoga · Syracuse (AM) (FM) · Utica (AM) (FM) · Watertown See also: List of radio stations in New York and List of United States radio markets

v • d • e FM radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market (Arbitron Market #62)
Capital District	88.3 · 89.1 · 89.7 · 90.3 · 90.7/94.9 · 90.9 · 91.5 · 92.3 · 93.7 · 94.5 · 95.5 · 96.3 · 96.7 · 98.3 · 99.5 · 100.9 · 102.3 · 103.1 · 103.9 · 104.5 · 104.9 · 105.7 · 106.5 · 107.7
Saratoga Springs/Glens Falls and Vermont	94.7 · 95.9 · 97.5 · 98.5 · 100.3 · 101.3 · 101.7 · 102.7 · 107.1
Mohawk Valley	97.3 · 97.7 · 101.9 · 103.5
Columbia/Greene Counties	93.5 · 97.9 · 98.5
New York State Radio Markets Albany (AM) (FM) · Binghamton · Buffalo (AM) (FM) · Elmira-Corning · Ithaca · Jamestown-Dunkirk · Long Island New York City (AM) (FM) · Newburgh-Middletown · Olean · Plattsburgh · Poughkeepsie · Riverhead Rochester (AM) (FM) · Saratoga · Syracuse (AM) (FM) · Utica (AM) (FM) · Watertown See also: List of radio stations in New York and List of United States radio markets

Radio stations in the Saratoga Springs / Glens Falls market (Arbitron #unranked)

AM Stations 590 | 810 | 980 | 1160 | 1230 | 1250 | 1300 | 1330 | 1340 | 1400 | 1410 | 1450 | 1460 | 1540

In-Market FM Stations 89.7 | 90.3 | 90.9 | 91.1 | 91.9 | 92.3 | 92.7 | 94.1 | 94.7 | 95.5 | 95.9 | 96.7 | 97.5 | 98.5 100.3 | 101.3 | 101.7 | 102.3 | 102.7 | 103.9 | 104.5 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.1 | 107.7

Out-of-Market FM Stations serving/available in Saratoga 88.3 | 89.1 | 91.5 | 93.7 | 98.3 | 99.5 | 100.9 | 103.1 | 103.9 | 104.9 New York State Radio Markets Albany (AM) (FM) · Binghamton · Buffalo (AM) (FM) · Elmira-Corning · Ithaca · Jamestown-Dunkirk · Long Island New York City (AM) (FM) · Newburgh-Middletown · Olean · Plattsburgh · Poughkeepsie · Riverhead Rochester (AM) (FM) · Saratoga · Syracuse (AM) (FM) · Utica (AM) (FM) · Watertown See also: List of radio stations in New York and List of United States radio markets