 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Capital District |
| Frequency | 90.3MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | WAMC, Northeast Public Radio |
| Programming | |
| Format | Public radio |
| Subchannels | HD2: Public radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | WAMC |
| History | |
First air date | October 1958 (66 years ago) (1958-10) |
Call sign meaning | Albany Medical College (original owner) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 70849 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 10,000 watts |
| HAAT | 600 meters (2,000 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°38′14.3″N73°10′5.4″W / 42.637306°N 73.168167°W /42.637306; -73.168167 (WAMC-FM) |
| Translator(s) | See§ Translators |
| Repeater(s) | See§ Repeaters |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WAMC-FM (90.3FM) is anon-commercial educationalradio station licensed toAlbany, New York, United States, featuring apublic radio format. Owned by "WAMC Northeast Public Radio" with alegal name of "WAMC", WAMC-FM's primary signal encompasses theCapital District, along with parts of eastern New York, southernVermont,Western Massachusetts and theLitchfield Hills region as the regional affiliate forNational Public Radio (NPR),American Public Media,Public Radio Exchange and theBBC World Service. The station's reach is extended into west-centralConnecticut,northeastern Pennsylvania and theMonadnock Region,Champlain Valley,Skylands Region andNorth Country areas, along with portions ofQuebec, via a network of twelve full-powerrepeaters and sixteen low-powertranslators.[2][3] One of these satellite stations operates on theAM band,WAMC (1400AM) in Albany.[4]
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 Section501(c)(3) of theInternal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. §501(c)(3))[5] It had total annual revenues for the fiscal year 2010 of $6.36 million. The station operates The Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio, near its Central Avenue studios in Albany. WAMC-FM's corporate officers include Dottie Reyonolds, chair of the board of trustees, andAlan S. Chartock, past president and chief executive officer.
WAMC's current CEO and President is Sarah Gilbert, replacing Alan Chartock, who retired from the station in 2023.[6]
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WAMC signed on the air in October 1958.[7] 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 andAlbany Medical College. Albany Medical Center is a largetertiary-care hospital serving the upperHudson 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 thecall 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 musicradio 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 theBoston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) fromTanglewood and Boston. When the NPR network was founded in 1970, WAMC signed on as one of NPR's original 90 "charter" members.
Around 1980, financial pressures caused the hospital and medical school to begin divesting the station. In 1981, theFederal 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, includingAlan S. Chartock, who became longtime CEO and President, retiring in 2023. WAMC was initially affiliated with theState University of New York andNew 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 nearbySchenectady and its network of repeater stations continues to program classical music in the region.)
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 primaryservice contours covering theCapital District, theAdirondacks section of New York, the outer northern suburbs ofNew York City,Western Massachusetts, SouthernVermont, and parts ofNew Hampshire,Connecticut,Pennsylvania andNew 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" andRay Charles' rendition of "America the Beautiful". The station's February 2017 fund drive raised over $1,000,000 in less than one day.[8]
The main 90.3 MHz signal has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 10,000 watts, which on paper is somewhat modest for a full NPR member on the FM band. However, itsheight 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.
While WAMC-FM is based in Albany, itstransmitter is actually inMassachusetts. WAMC-FM'santenna tower is atopMount Greylock inAdams, in theMount 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 AlbanyABC-TV affiliateWTEN (channel 10) for itssatellite 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 theMassachusetts State Police and a translator station for the AlbanyNBC 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 permanentlysilent 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 onMassachusetts 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.[9]
NPR's official news policy says its affiliate stations should be "fair, unbiased, accurate, honest, and respectful of the people that are covered".[10] A Washington-based NPR news producer, who requested anonymity, stated that Chartock, the station's then-president and a frequently heard voice on the station, presented politically biased commentary.[11]
Chartock responded that WAMC's editorial neutrality is maintained by "including as many conservative commentators on the air as liberal ones".[11]
In 2005, WAMC's board of trustees established a "First Amendment Fund" to promote and preservethe First Amendment and the right offree 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 2006IRS tax forms was $482,577.[12]
Download coordinates as:
WAMC-FM extends its signal throughout much of New York and portions ofPennsylvania,Connecticut,New Jersey,Vermont andMassachusetts, along with portions ofQuebec, via the following network of full-power satellite stations and low-power analog translators:
WAMCsyndicates many of its shows to other public radio stations.[13] These programs include
