WAMC

WAMC

WAMC logo
Albany, New York
Broadcast area	Primary: Eastern New York; Western Vermont, Western Massachusetts, Northwestern Connecticut Secondary: East-Central Connecticut, southwestern New Hampshire, northwestern New Jersey, northeast Pennsylvania, a small portion of Quebec.[1][2] See: Two differing coverage maps: Coverage Maps, Service Contour Maps section.
Frequency	90.3 MHz
Branding	WAMC, Northeast Public Radio
Programming
Format	Public Radio
Ownership
Owner	WAMC, Inc.
History
First air date	1958 (Original licensee Albany Medical College)
Call sign meaning	W Albany Medical College
Technical information
Class	A: WAMQ, WANC, WCAN, WCEL; B: WAMC, WRUN; B1: WAMK, WOSR; C: WAMC-AM
Links
Website	www.wamc.org

WAMC is a public radio station out of Albany, NY, broadcasting on the 90.3 FM frequency. The organization's legal name is 'WAMC, Inc.' and is also known as 'WAMC Public Radio' or 'WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network'. It runs the Northeast Public Radio network of stations.

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 wamc.net (not affilated with WAMC). 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.

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 afficionados. 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 became one of its earliest affiliates. Around 1980, financial pressures caused the hospital and medical school to look to unload the station. A group of five corporators affiliated with the State University of New York and New York State government set-up the 501c3 tax-exempt entity, WAMC, Inc., to receive the FCC license. Since then, the station has dramatically cut back on most classical music programming (live BSO concerts are still broadcast) whilst simultaneously becoming an active producer of non-music-related programs, providing a variety of information-based shows to radio stations across the country via its in-house production 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 primary service contours covering New York's Albany capital district, western Massachusetts, southern Vermont (and parts north), and parts of counties in three other northeastern states. See Actual Coverage Map. WAMC-90.3-FM's main transmitter and antenna are atop Mount Greylock in Adams, Massachusetts, giving the flagship 90.3 signal a relatively large reach for a transmitter of its size.

Criticism and views

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', principles that some senior NPR officials think are not always followed with non-syndicated WAMC reporting.

For example, Jonathan Kern, the NPR official who leads NPR's anti-bias workshops, expressed concern with what he views as political bias in WAMC news reporting stating that "Our code of ethics says, if you’re in the news division, you do not express opinions on the air, and I think that’s a good measure for any station." In another case, a NPR producer visiting the WAMC listening area expressed surprise regarding the "outspoken political commentary" of WAMC news coverage. It was station CEO and in-house political 'commentator' Alan Chartock's political commentary that most caught the attention of the NPR producer, who labeled it left-of-center "ranting" that, as a news professional dedicated to center-of-the-road balance at NPR, really "freaked [him] out".

Support for Chartock's programming

Stephen Yasko, manager of WTMD (89.7 FM), an NPR member station in Towson that plays mostly adult-alternative music states that quality-control challenges NPR’s decentralized nature might create 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.”

Original programing

WAMC produces many programs of their own. These include:

• Capitol Connection
• Hudson River Sampler
• In Our Backyard
• The Legislative Gazette
• Tim Coakley Jazz
• Midday Magazine
• Northeast Report
• The Roundtable
• Vox Pop
• WAMC Bluegrass Time
• Weekly Rundown

Former programs

• The Environment Show
• Me and Mario

National Productions

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

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

Podcasts

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

Technical data

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 60dBu - 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."

Stations, wattage, service contour maps

Call Sign	Frequency	Location	Effective Radiated Power (ERP)	Service Contour Maps
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

Translators

Call sign	Frequency	Location	Effective Radiated Power (ERP)	Service Contour Maps
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

See also

• Alan S. Chartock

External links

• WAMC Homepage
• The WAMC Performing Arts Studio-- A WAMC-owned venue in downtown Albany adjacent to their studios.
• WAMC Northeast PIRATE Network -- A Web site containing articles and exposés generally critical of WAMC and its management.