WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO

The station I start my day with every morning. News, human interest stories, weather, sports… intelligent content

WAMC — Alan Chartock
The two go together like peas in a pod. You cant drive near Albany without hearing Alan Chartock on the local public radio station.
They can be heard in 7 states actually, NY, NJ, MA, RI, CT, NH, PA on various different stations. Like most radio stations, its on 24 hours a day for 365 days a year. While many are paid employees, there are lots of volunteers that help keep the station going. Like all public radio, it depends on donations from the listener to keep going. Every so often they will be running a drive to raise funds.
Alan is not the only person on air, they do get their programming from NPR national and play a lot of that. But he does do a lot of local coverage and has a lot of locally focused shows on air. ITs great if you are local or care about some fo the various state issues. However, if you are in the area from say, California, you might get a little irritated if you catch it at the wrong moment.
All in all this is a great example of what a local NPR station can offer, especially one with a leader as dynamic as Alan.

I love WAMC, dont get me wrong. Like any relationship you begin to see the faults with something you love in time and here are mine.
For a non-​profit public radio there are obsessed with money, fund raising and let’s face it it advertising! I know you call it underwriting but it’s advertising. They pay you and you talk about them. It’s advertising. And 3 fund drives per year! WTF? The last one lasted almost 2 weeks and the bar is always getting raised on how much they have to get. I know all the content they have costs money, and to their credit they come up with original content all the time. The Heath show and the media Project are examples of shows that have a broad reach beyond our region. But I feel their priorities have shifted from a public partner to being a smoker who only bums cigarettes.
Speaking of beyond our region, there seems to be a conquest drive for WAMC to take over as many other public radio stations as they can. The call letters go on for ever and are always changing. I’m glad it’s a popular station, but maybe there should be some competition. A different radio station that maybe played more music and supported art too… Oh wait, there is !
I’m a member, but I never contribute to all three pledge drives. The third one feels greedy.
The other star is lost for the fact that at 9am exactly I change the channel. The Roundtable used to be cool, but now it’s crap. There is some milky banter that is lame and boring and consists of Joe asking somebody how they are doing. Who gives a shit! Really, does anybody care about this needless drivel in the morning. Susan was sweet and interesting and made Joe look good. That’s not happening anymore, lets move on.
Joe is pretty good with interviews, and if he had some more guts to ask tougher questions could be fantastic. but the chat has to go. He says Uh… way too much to be on the radio.
I like Ray and Ian, mostly because they aren’t boring.
Anyway, I love you WAMC. I’ll pledge in the next drive because I don’t know what I’d do without you. I just want you to hear my voice this time.