WRUN-AM Sold to Digital Radio Broadcast but It's Only the Beginning for WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Utica

ALBANY, NY (12/04/2009)(readMedia)-- WAMC Northeast Public Radio announced this week that WRUN-AM 1150, has been sold to Digital Radio Broadcasting in Middletown, New York.

"When we first acquired WRUN-AM we had no inkling that we would be able to build an FM station in the Utica area, which we completed in late 2008. Now that WRUN-FM is on the air, it makes sense to make this transition" stated Alan Chartock, President and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The existing FM station serves the Utica-Rome area with Northeast Public Radio's programming 24 hours a day. You can continue to tune into the Utica frequency at 90.3 FM. Some listeners in the Utica area can also hear WAMC on 93.3 FM from Canajoharie New York and of course always on line at wamc.org.

The effort to provide the FM service to Oneida County began in 1997 when WAMC applied to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to construct the station. Due to a competing application in the area, the FCC began a comparative process to decide which application to grant. An unrelated FCC case resulted in a court decision mandating a change in the Commission's rules in making its choice in comparative situations like this one. The rewriting of the FCC rules delayed the decision for almost a decade until WAMC's application was finally judged superior and the permit to build the station was granted.

WRUN-FM construction began in the summer of 2008 with the assistance of a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting located on an existing communications tower in Steuben, New York. WRUN-FM, 90.3 commenced broadcasting on December 16, 2008.

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 also a member station of National Public Radio and is affiliated with Public Radio International and American Public Media. http://www.wamc.org/

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