WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO PROMOTES SEVERAL TO KEY POSITIONS

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Left to right: Meegan Finnegan, Pat Cooney, Alan Chartock, Dona Frank-Federico, Thom Job

ALBANY, NY (06/20/2014)(readMedia)-- Alan Chartock, President and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio, is proud to announce several promotions of staff members to key positions within the organization.

Most recently, Dona Frank-Federico, was named Chief of Staff for the station. A long time WAMC senior staff member, Dona brings 18 years of experience working closely with President and CEO Alan Chartock. As the former VP of Sales & Marketing, Dona's focus on the fundraising teams as well as her overall strong management skills, will continue to be a factor in her new position. Frank-Federico says she's ready to play a larger role for WAMC, "It is an honor to have been taught by the best, Alan Chartock, and to be playing a larger role in helping to continue the tremendous success that he has brought to the station. I look forward to whatever contributions I can continue to make." Pat Cooney, VP of Operations, Joe Donahue, VP of News, and long time WAMC'er and Senior Advisor, Selma Kaplan, join Alan and Dona in supporting the daily operations of the station.

Pat Cooney began his career at WAMC as a board operator over 20 years ago, A life-long resident of the Capital Region and graduate of the College of St. Rose, Cooney is devoted to the station's operations and infrastructure. He will continue to manage the operations of this large regional network and oversee the evolution of our digital radio signals.

Joe Donahue is known to many as host of the daily Roundtable. He has been honored with numerous national and local awards for his interviewing achievements, including the prestigious Scripps-Howard Excellence in Electronic Journalism Award and several Edward R. Murrow awards, which makes his leadership position a natural fit to help bring listeners the best news possible. As VP of News and Programming, he will work closely with News Director, Ian Pickus to ensure that WAMC continues as the region's go-to source for news, commentary, music, and entertainment.

As the network has grown, we've seen an increase in WAMC's membership. Meegan Finnegan was hired as the Membership Director a few months ago and has already been instrumental in developing relationships with new and current members and connecting with listeners on a regular basis and in a variety of ways.

"Member support is where we live," noted Chartock. "Sustaining and growing our membership base will be a focus for the coming years and Meegan is the person to get us there." Meegan has held similar positions for not-for-profits in the area and brings some great development experience to WAMC.

A few other exciting changes have happened at the station this year. Thom Job was named New Media and Communications Manager, Stefanie Abel is now Underwriting Manager and Felicia Berke was promoted to Fund Drive Manager.

Formerly the Web and Marketing Assistant at WAMC, Thom Job is now heading the new media department. Thom is well versed in web development and social media, and has been hard at work coming up with new ways to bring our programming to a tech-savvy audience. He is always working on ways to improve our web site and has already launched WAMC's new mobile app.

For over seven years, Stefanie Abel was an integral member of WAMC's underwriting team as the Marketing Assistant. In her new capacity of Underwriting Manager, she, along with Dona, oversees the whole department, coordinating with the sales reps, sales assistants, and underwriters on a daily basis. Abel holds a BA from University of Albany in Communications.

Felicia Berke has been promoted from Fund Drive Assistant to Fund Drive Manager. After a year in the former position, she was tapped to oversee the year-round task of developing new ways to bring in donations and gifts for the station's tri-annual fund drives. Under her leadership, the station has been very proactive in using technology to help manage the tasks at hand. Berke is a Miami native, and holds a BA from Vassar College.

"I think that our staff is unparalleled in the world of public radio. I'm incredibly proud to lead this talented group of people and feel confident that together, we will bring WAMC into the next stage of its evolution," said Chartock.

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a member of National Public Radio and an affiliate of Public Radio International. The station is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states. Stations and translators are in twenty-five locations throughout the region.

WAMC-FM 90.3 FM, Albany, NY; WAMC, 1400 AM, Albany, NY; WAMK 90.9 FM, Kingston, NY; WOSR, 91.7 FM, Middletown, NY; WCEL, 91.9 FM, Plattsburgh, NY; WCAN, 93.3 FM, Canajoharie, NY; WANC, 103.9 FM, Ticonderoga, NY; WRUN, 90.3 FM, Remsen-Utica, NY; WAMQ 105.1 FM, Great Barrington, MA; WWES 88.9 FM, Mt. Kisco, NY; WANZ 90.1 FM, Stamford, NY; WANR 88.5 FM, Brewster, NY; 103.9 FM, Beacon, NY; 97.3 FM, Cooperstown, NY; 96.5 FM, Ellenville, NY; 102.1 FM, Highland, NY; 97.1 FM, Hudson, NY; 106.3 FM, Middletown, NY; 90.9 FM, Milford, PA; 107.7 FM, Newburgh, NY; 99.3 FM, Oneonta, NY; 93.1 FM, Rensselaer-Troy, NY; 107.1 FM, Warwick, NY; 88.7 FM, Lake Placid, NY; 90.1 FM Oneonta, NY and on-line at www.wamc.org; www.facebook.com/wamcradio; www.twitter.com/wamcradio