A Grateful WAMC Celebrates a Successful Fall Fund Drive

ALBANY, NY (10/11/2010)(readMedia)-- (ALBANY, NY OCTOBER 2010) - WAMC/Northeast Public Radio finished its fall fund drive at 9:25 a.m. on Sunday, October 10, 2010. A total of $800,461 was raised and pledges were still rolling in.

"I have absolutely no idea how Alan does it", said Dona Frank-Federico, VP of Marketing & Development for WAMC, speaking about WAMC's President and CEO Alan Chartock, who spent a record 14 hours straight on the radio just yesterday, and countless hours during the week, "and he is always the first person here to give the credit to everyone else. As the leader of a fund drive team together for years, Alan sets and keeps the pace going for the rest of us. His energy is contagious" The mechanics of how it works is still a mystery. No one ever knows how long it will take; it changes every day and every fund drive. The one thing that remains the same is the passion, dedication and determination of the leadership of WAMC. "I am in constant awe of how people respond to the fund drive. The love and support they give us, and the deep respect they show for Alan is what we mirror and take nourishment from all week long." added Joe Donahue, part of the WAMC fund drive pitch team and host, producer and award-winning interviewer of WAMC's weekday morning show The Roundtable. Along with Selma Kaplan, David Gustina, Ray Graf, Sarah LaDuke and Steve Felano, Alan and Joe sit behind the microphone "until it's over", and they never know when that will be.

In enthusiastic WAMC fashion, the on-air fund drive began at 6 a.m. on Monday, October 4, 2010 and ended in six days and a morning with 6,912 pledges. Dedicated WAMC members and listeners locally and nationally called and pledged on-line all day and into the night and manned phones to help make this happen. Says Alan himself, "Because of the wonderful and generous WAMC audience, we made it with time to spare. "We are immensely grateful to everyone who helped." quoted Alan. "It still amazes me how many members call in each drive to help WAMC stay alive, walk in with pledges, and stay to answer phones. It really is a community effort."

In addition to all the people who pledged during the on-air drive, hundreds of dedicated volunteers from all over the WAMC listening area answered phones, donating their time at the station's Albany studios from 6 a.m. to midnight every day. Also, hundreds of regional businesses and organizations donated items, services, and food to the drive, wanting to be a part of the WAMC community. WAMC's fund drives are never possible without the combined efforts of all the contributing sponsors and supporters. For a listing of supporters, visit online at www.wamc.org.

WAMC's fund drives help support the station's award-winning local and regional reporting, membership to NPR and network programming as well as all of the station's other day-to-day operations. WAMC Northeast Public Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day with information and cultural programming from stations reaching parts of seven Northeastern states. WAMC is an award-winning producer of regionally based programming. WAMC is a member station of National Public Radio and is affiliated with Public Radio International and American Public Media. www.wamc.org

WAMC-FM 90.3 FM, Albany; WAMC, 1400 AM, Albany; WAMK 90.9 FM, Kingston; WOSR, 91.7 FM, Middletown; WCEL, 91.9 FM, Plattsburgh; WCAN, 93.3 FM, Canajoharie; WANC, 103.9 FM, Ticonderoga; WRUN, 90.3 FM, Remsen-Utica; WAMQ 105.1 FM, Great Barrington, MA; 93.1 FM, Troy; 99.3 FM, Oneonta; 97.1 FM, Hudson; 107.1 FM, Warwick; 107.7 FM, Newburgh; 103.9 FM, Beacon; 96.5 FM, Ellenville; 106.9, Middletown; 102.1, Highland, NY and 90.9 FM, Milford, PA.; 97.3 FM, Cooperstown and on-line at http://www.wamc.org/.