WAMC

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"WANZ" redirects here. For the American singer, see Wanz.
WAMC-FM
WAMC Flagship Station
Logo wamc.png
CityAlbany, New York
Broadcast areaPrimary: 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]
Frequency90.3 MHz (HD Radio)
BrandingWAMC, Northeast Public Radio
Programming
FormatPublic Radio
SubchannelsHD2: Public Radio
Ownership
OwnerWAMC
History
First air date
October 1958 (63 years ago) (1958-10)
Call sign meaning
Albany Medical College
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID70849
ClassB
ERP10,000 watts
HAAT600 meters (2,000 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
42°38′14″N 73°10′7″W / 42.63722°N 73.16861°W / 42.63722; -73.16861 (WAMC-FM)Coordinates: 42°38′14″N 73°10′7″W / 42.63722°N 73.16861°W / 42.63722; -73.16861 (WAMC-FM)
Translator(s)See § Translators
Repeater(s)See § Repeaters
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.wamc.org

WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. The network has 12 broadcast radio stations (transmitters) and 16 broadcast relay stations (translators, repeaters).[2] The two flagship stations in the WAMC network are WAMC-FM 90.3 MHz and its simulcast AM station WAMC AM 1400 in Albany.[3] The organization's legal name is "WAMC" and it is also known as "WAMC Northeast Public Radio".

WAMC is a member of NPR and network affiliate of Public Radio Exchange and American Public Media. Unlike many NPR stations around the U.S. which use mostly outside programming, much of WAMC's schedule is produced in-house. 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))[4] It had total annual revenues for the fiscal year 2010 of $6.36 million.

The station operates The Linda/WAMC Performing Arts Studio, a performance venue in Albany located near its Central Avenue studios. The station's corporate officers include Anne Erickson, chair of the board of trustees, and Alan S. Chartock, president and chief executive officer (since 1981).

History[]

Albany Medical Center[]

WAMC signed on the air in October 1958 (63 years ago) (1958-10).[5] Albert P. Fredette served as the first general manager. WAMC was put on the air by 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 is one of the country's ACGME-accredited medical schools. The affiliation with Albany Medical College was the source of the call sign WAMC. In 1981, the station became an independent institution, no longer associated with the medical school.

In its early days, WAMC had a mostly classical music radio format. The earliest years also included broadcasts of health information and lectures from visiting medical 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 90 "charter" members.

Separating from the medical school[]

Around 1980, financial pressures caused the hospital and medical school to begin divesting the station. In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license on 90.3 FM was transferred to a 501c3 tax-exempt entity, WAMC, Inc., which had been set up by a group of five corporators, including the current CEO and president, Alan S. Chartock. WAMC was initially affiliated with the State University of New York and New York State government.

In the years since the transfer, the station has eliminated classical music, except for live BSO concerts. It has become 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. (WMHT-FM in nearby Schenectady and its network of repeater stations continues to program classical music in the region.)

Expanding the network[]

Listener contributions (often obtained during periodic pledge drives) and corporate contributions have helped the original single station grow over the years into a network of 22 facilities with large primary service contours covering the Capital District, the Adirondacks section of New York State, Western Massachusetts, Southern Vermont, and parts of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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". The station's February 2017 fund drive raised over $1,000,000 in less than one day.[6]

The main 90.3 mHz signal has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 10,000 watts, which on paper is somewhat modest for a full NPR member on the FM band. However, its height above average terrain (HAAT) of 600 meters (2,000 ft) gives it one of the largest coverage areas of any NPR station in the Northeast. It provides at least grade B coverage to most of east-central New York (including the Capital District), southwestern Vermont, western Massachusetts, southwestern New Hampshire, and northwestern Connecticut.

Mount Greylock[]

While WAMC-FM is based in Albany, its transmitter is actually in Massachusetts. WAMC-FM's antenna tower is atop Mount Greylock in Adams, in the Mount Greylock State Reservation. It is the tallest mountain in Massachusetts. The transmitter had formerly been a tenant on the tower, which was built and maintained by the Albany ABC-TV affiliate WTEN (channel 10) for its satellite station for the Berkshire region and Pittsfield, WCDC. WCDC had broadcast on channel 19 but that signal was shut down in 2017. The tower also features a radio facility for the Massachusetts State Police and a translator station for the Albany NBC affiliate, WNYT (channel 13).

On December 22, 2017, WAMC entered into an agreement to purchase the Mount Greylock WCDC transmitter and tower from the owner of WTEN/WCDC, Nexstar Media Group, for just above $1 million. WCDC-TV had gone permanently silent on November 19, 2017, two weeks ahead of a planned December 1 shutdown amid declining over-the-air viewership, following damage to the station's transmission line in a storm. The TV station license was surrendered for cancellation on February 12, 2018, as a result of the FCC's 2016 spectrum auction for $34.5 million in compensation. Due to the tower sitting on Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation land, as well as WTEN's lease on the land having expired two years prior, WAMC-FM could have been taken off the air if it had not purchased the facility. WAMC now owns the tower itself, but not the land beneath, which is under lease with the MDCR until 2025.[7]

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".[8] A Washington-based NPR news producer, who requested anonymity, stated that Chartock, the station's president and a frequently heard voice on the station, presents politically-biased commentary.[9]

Chartock responded that WAMC's editorial neutrality is maintained by "including as many conservative commentators on the air as liberal ones".[9]

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 tax forms was $482,577.[10]

Other stations[]

Repeaters[]

Call sign Frequency City of license State Facility ID Class Power
(W) 		ERP
(W) 		Height
(m (ft)) 		Transmitter coordinates Call sign meaning
WAMQ 105.1 FM Great Barrington Massachusetts 70847 A — 730 280 m (920 ft) 42°09′36″N 73°28′48″W / 42.16000°N 73.48000°W / 42.16000; -73.48000 (WAMQ) variation of WAMC
WAMC 1400 AM Albany New York 4683 C 1,000
(unlimited hours)		 — — 42°41′21″N 73°47′37″W / 42.68917°N 73.79361°W / 42.68917; -73.79361 (WAMC) Albany Medical College
WANR 88.5 FM Brewster New York 174780 A — 235 44 m (144 ft) 41°23′04″N 73°31′57″W / 41.38444°N 73.53250°W / 41.38444; -73.53250 (WANR) —
WCAN 93.3 FM Canajoharie New York 70503 A — 6,000 82 m (269 ft) 42°53′46″N 74°35′45″W / 42.89611°N 74.59583°W / 42.89611; -74.59583 (WCAN) Canajoharie
WAMK 90.9 FM Kingston New York 70502 B1 — 940 453 m (1,486 ft) 42°04′35″N 74°06′26″W / 42.07639°N 74.10722°W / 42.07639; -74.10722 (WAMK) WAMC Kingston
WOSR 91.7 FM Middletown New York 70848 B1 — 1,800 192 m (630 ft) 41°36′4″N 74°33′17″W / 41.60111°N 74.55472°W / 41.60111; -74.55472 (WOSR) —
WWES 88.9 FM Mount Kisco New York 176621 A — 200 35 m (115 ft) 41°14′20″N 73°42′48″W / 41.23889°N 73.71333°W / 41.23889; -73.71333 (WWES) Westchester County
WCEL 91.9 FM Plattsburgh New York 44032 A — 380 260 m (850 ft) 44°46′27″N 73°36′48″W / 44.77417°N 73.61333°W / 44.77417; -73.61333 (WCEL) Clinton, Essex, Lake Champlain
WRUN 90.3 FM Remsen New York 87836 B — 1,200 204 m (669 ft) 43°20′47.8″N 75°13′58.8″W / 43.346611°N 75.233000°W / 43.346611; -75.233000 (WRUN) Rome-Utica News (former call sign for 1150 AM)
WANZ 90.1 FM Stamford New York 176616 A — 230 −103 m (−338 ft) 42°22′10″N 74°39′54″W / 42.36944°N 74.66500°W / 42.36944; -74.66500 (WANZ) variation of WAMC
WANC 103.9 FM Ticonderoga New York 70842 A — 1,550 116 m (381 ft) 43°49′55″N 73°24′28″W / 43.83194°N 73.40778°W / 43.83194; -73.40778 (WANC) Adirondack North Country; also a variation of WAMC
WQQQ 103.3 FM Sharon Connecticut 54785 A — 1,500 186 m (610 ft) 41°55′8″N 73°34′2″W / 41.91889°N 73.56722°W / 41.91889; -73.56722 (WQQQ) randomly assigned

Translators[]

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license State Facility ID Rebroadcasts
W280DJ 103.9 Beacon New York 147411 WAMK
W247BM 97.3 Cooperstown New York 140147 WCAN
W292ES 106.3 Dover Plains New York 147759 WAMK
W243BZ 96.5 Ellenville New York 141863 WOSR
W271BF 102.1 Highland New York 147233 WAMK
W246BJ 97.1 Hudson New York 147822 WAMC-FM
W299AG 107.7 Newburgh New York 70850 WAMK
W257BL 99.3 Oneonta New York 157957 WCAN
W226AC 93.1 Troy New York 70843 WAMC-FM
W296BD 107.1 Warwick New York 156156 WOSR
W215BG 90.9 Milford Pennsylvania 92758 WOSR

Programs[]

WAMC syndicates many of its shows to other public radio stations.[11] These programs include...

  • Legislative Gazette
  • Women's news show 51% with Jesse King
  • Environmental news show Earth Wise
  • Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
  • The Academic Minute with Lynn Pasquerella
  • Ideas show The Best Of Our Knowledge with Bob Barrett
  • Author interview program The Book Show with Joe Donahue
  • The Capitol Connection with Alan S. Chartock
  • Media criticism show The Media Project.

See also[]

  • Alan S. Chartock
  • David Guistina

References[]

  1. ^ "Coverage Map | WAMC". Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Frequencies". Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  3. ^ "Coverage Map | WAMC". Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  4. ^ "GuideStar Exchange Reports for WAMC". GuideStar. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  5. ^ Information from Broadcasting Yearbook 1961-1962 page B-108
  6. ^ "Thanks to anti-Trump sentiment, WAMC meets goal in 12 hours". Times Union. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  7. ^ Fanto, Clarence (22 December 2017). "WAMC purchases radio tower atop Mount Greylock". Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  8. ^ "NPR Ethics Handbook | How to apply our standards to our journalism". NPR. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b Dechter, Gadi (July 13, 2005). "Locally Grown". Baltimore City Paper. Archived from the original on December 25, 2005. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  10. ^ "WAMC's IRS Form 990 for Fiscal 2006 (page 35)" (PDF).
  11. ^ "WAMC Distribution –". Retrieved 2019-08-24.

External links[]

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