'W-2' Documents Chartock Chauffeur's WAMC Employment

Document Source: Joshua Cohen
(Click on Image to Enlarge)

The pictured IRS Form 'W-2' is conclusive proof that Joshua Cohen was employed at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Inc. as documented in the article entitled, "Tax Cheat! - How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC to avoid paying IRS".

Amongst his many tasks at WAMC, Mr. Cohen was assigned the duty of being CEO Alan S. Chartock's personal chauffeur, all at company expense.

Please note that the Employer Identification Number shown for WAMC on Mr. Cohen's W-2 Form -- "No. 22-240059300" -- matches the employer ID number found on WAMC's latest filed IRS Form 990 - 'Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax' , available for viewing on Guidestar.org.
SEE: WAMC's Fiscal 2010 - IRS Form 990

Also please note, Mr. Cohen's street address at the time in Albany, New York has been blurred by the editor at Mr. Cohen's request.

"It's like income tax evasion. I am scared to death that if I were to do anything wrong, I would be the one guy in a million who got caught, despite the fact that I believe I ought to pay my share of our taxes. We all know that very few tax cheats get caught." --- Alan S. Chartock - Blog, June 20, 2005.

WAMC Now Seeking $1 million Every Fund Drive

Local blogger, Dan Valenti, who punches out broadsides almost daily on his Planet Valenti Web site, opened up the other day with this:

“While the Boring Broadsheet (Valenti's pet name for The Berkshire Eagle) was telling you about such vital page 1 news as Alan Chartock’s grimy grab at a million bucks for WAMC in the latest stickup by Northeast Public Radio, The Planet was dishing news and views, news that matters and views that exercise your gray matter.”

What Mr. Valenti calls a 'grimy grab' may in fact be grimier than what at first it appears.
WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Inc.'s board of trustees could save $500,000 annually right now if it just engaged in a little belt-tightening by drastically cutting the top salaries.
Why does WAMC need a $200,000 CEO?
Is there no one around who could (and would) do the same job for, say, $75,000?
One of the main problems with the way WAMC is run is the station’s total lack of fiscal transparency.
If the extra $200,000 per fund drive is so very necessary, why doesn’t WAMC open its books to public inspection to prove it?
Further, WAMC's publicly expressed rationale for the 25% increase is, according to Alan S. Chartock, WAMC's CEO and president, "the expected effort by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to reduce or eliminate funding for public broadcasting."
Mr. Chartock, as usual, plays fast and loose with the truth.
Fact is, no cut-off has yet occurred.
Further, Barack Obama has not signed-off on any such cut-off, and WAMC is still getting as much from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and from federal and state government grants as before.
It is far more likely that additional revenues raised from now on during WAMC beg-a-thons will be used to give salary increases to a favored few in WAMC's bloated bureaucracy, but primarily to Mr. Chartock.
(One might recall the $52,000 raise — a salary hike of 45% — that WAMC’s ever-compliant board of trustees granted to Mr. Chartock back in Fiscal 2005.)
In addition, the added revenue will likely be used to reinforce WAMC’s present (and substantial) pension obligations (again with Mr. Chartock and a very few others in the organization set to receive the lion's share in retirement).
Anyone wanna make book on whether the WAMC board ups Mr. Chartock’s salary in his final years at the public broadcaster specifically in order to maximize his pension payout?
Where is that money to come from if not from WAMC’s generous (and seemingly gullible) listeners?
Here is just a partial list of WAMC’s bloated bureaucracy:

Abel, Stefanie
Sales, Marketing and PR Coordinator

Ambuhl, Victoria
Marketing Coordinator for National Productions

Aronson, Abbe
Regional Account Executive, Hudson Valley Region

Augar, Shawn
Facilities Engineer

Barnett, Susan
Producer/Host of 51%

Barr, Nick
Bluegrass Music Host

Barrett, Bob
Producer/ Host of The Health Show

Bohen, Michael
Control Room Operator

Boivin, Christine
Sales Support and Special Projects Coordinator

Brady, Nell
Project Manager and Grants Assistant

Bradley, Pat
North Country Bureau Chief

Britton, Katie
News/Program Director

Busby, Glenn
Manager of National Productions/
Producer/Host of The Best of Our Knowledge

Chartock, Alan
President & CEO

Clairmont, Adam
Live Events Engineer

Coakley, Tim
Jazz Music Host

Cooney, Pat
VP of Operations

Deitz, Charles
Berkshire County Bureau Chief

Dewitt, Karen
NYS Capitol Correspondent

Donahue, Joe
Associate News Director/Co-Host of The RoundTable

Elisha, Paul
Host of The Poetry Forum/ Commentator

Federico, Dona
Director of Sales, Marketing & PR,
Managing Director, The Linda

Felano, Steve
Assistant News Director

Fischer, Wanda
Folk Music Host

Fry, Greg
Hudson Valley Bureau Chief

Gilbert, Kristin
Traffic Manager

Glassman, Howard
General Manager, The Linda

Golding, Mary
Regional Account Executive

Graf, Ray
Director of New Media/News Anchor

Guistina, David
Director of Special Projects/News Anchor/
Internship Coordinator

Gross, Hank
Hudson Valley Correspondent

Hopper, David
Control Room Operator

Horn, Katie
Fund Drive Coordinator

Job, Thomas
New Media/Marketing Assistant

Kaplan, Selma
VP for Administration and Development/Director
for The Linda

Laduke, Sarah
Producer, The Roundtable

Lescak, Sharon
Membership Director

Livingston, Kara
Membership Assistant

Lucas, Dave
Capital District Bureau Chief

Lynch, Jessica
Control Room Operator

Malloy, Zachary
Control Room Operator

Martin, Mick
Video Producer

McKenna, Graeme
Associate General Manager, The Linda

Migliorisi, Matthew
Control Room Operator

Morse, John
Regional Account Executive

Norman, Brian
Regional Account Executive

Perry, Stacey
Chief Master Control Operator

Piccolo, Anne
Regional Account Executive,
Saratoga County North Country
Hudson Valley/areas south

Pickus, Ian
Producer/Assistant to the President

Rosen, Leah
Regional Account Executive

Saglimbeni, Debera
Senior National and Regional Account Executive,
Capital District

Sax, Dr. Nina
Co-Host of The Health Show

Schaeffer, Paul
Underwriting Office Manager (Accounts Receivable)

Shaw, Heather
Control Room Operator

Shields, Brian
Senior Correspondent/News Anchor/Midday Magazine

Slavinski, Josie
Senior National and Regional Account Executive,
The Berkshires/Pioneer Valley

Straight, Darryl
Business Manager

Tuthill, Paul
Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief

Wilson, Jennifer
Fund Drive Coordinator

Wise, Marian
Grants Director

Zubroff, Betsy
Regional Account Executive

And this is an incomplete list.

So what happens if (and when) WAMC has all these hardworking souls expecting to get pensions upon retirement, but the station is unable to raise enough funding from the public to keep that pension plan solvent, in addition to paying the station’s actual operating expenses?
This is the problem with these bloated bureaucracies with bloated budgets being financed and subsidized with public monies.
Eventually that money runs out.

Alan S. Chartock, 1993 Recipient of the Toastmasters Communication and Leadership Award

Alan S. Chartock, President & CEO,

WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Inc.

Consider hiring Alan Chartock as toastmaster for your next family function.

Which Guy is Having the Orgasm in this Picture?

Left: U.S. Senator Charles E. "Chuck" Schumer;
Far Left: WAMC CEO Alan S. "Honest Al" Chartock.
Photo credit: WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Inc.

Alan's Wheels (courtesy WAMC's listeners)

WAMC's CEO, Alan Chartock, drives this late-model SUV, a Subaru Forester - L.L. Bean edition. Note the New York State license plate -- CJC1731 -- registered to WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Inc.. (Click image to enlarge.)

Thanks to an observant Pirate, Alan S. Chartock's WAMC-owned SUV, a late-model Subaru Forester - L.L. Bean edition, was recently spotted parked at the Austerlitz Blueberry Festival where Alan's musical group The Berkshire Ramblers were reported to have made an appearance.

If you see this car around the Berkshires -- or at night parked in The Chartocks' Hollenbeck Avenue driveway in Great Barrington -- please feel free to say hi to the driver (or, if parked, just leave a note on the windshield or on The Chartocks' front door).

Another view of the same Subaru Forester parked in the 'Performers' Parking' area at the Austerlitz Blueberry Festival where Alan Chartock and his musical group, The Berkshire Ramblers, were reported to have played. Note the Subaru dealer's name on the license plate frame, GoldsteinAuto.com, which is located at 1754 Central Avenue, Albany, just down the street from WAMC Northeast Public Radio's 318 Central Avenue studio. (Click image to enlarge.)

Politely remind 'Herr Doktor' that this vehicle is supposed to be garaged 42 miles away in New York State, where it is registered to WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Don't forget also to ask the free-loading little ex-professor just who is paying for his ride, and for the $4 per gallon gasoline used to drive it around to blueberry festivals, on personal errands, and for all that other non-WAMC-related monkey business!

See related article:
"Tax Cheat! How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC to avoid paying IRS"

WAMC to buy 'The Mount' in $8.7 million deal.

NPR affiliate to take over Wharton mortgage debt

Albany, New York -- WAMC Northeast Public Radio announced today it will buy The Mount in an $8.7 million transaction intended to take over the debt of the financially-ailing literary arts institution and keep the famous estate and library collection intact.

The tax-exempt NPR affiliate announced it would be purchasing all debt obligations of Edith Wharton Restoration, Inc. from local banks and individuals currently holding notes on the property, and that the public radio station will be taking possession as soon as the paperwork is signed.

The former Edith Wharton estate, WAMC's latest purchase to be used as the NPR affiliate's Lenox branch office, and as summer residence for its CEO Alan Chartock.-- Credit: Kevin Sprague, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved.

WAMC, in a press release, says it intends to refit the estate, change its name to the Alan S. Chartock Museum of Northeast Public Radio Arts, Sciences and First Amendments, in honor of the station's longtime CEO, and set aside the entire third floor wing of Edith Wharton's former dwelling for use by Mr. Chartock as a Lenox branch office and summer residence.

WAMC says the new acquisition, with its manicured lawns and gardens, will offer Mr. Chartock the peace, quiet, open space, and sweeping vistas necessary to enable its CEO, like Edith Wharton before him, to compose the riveting prose and illuminating commentary that readers and listeners have come to expect from the well-known political commentator and former SUNY professor.

WAMC's Chartock said, "The acquisition of Edith Wharton's home along with the estate's extensive acreage and out buildings will be a fitting memorial to public radio and to WAMC's lifelong commitment to promoting liberalism, democratic values, social justice, and a more civil society."

WAMC's long-time CPA, William M. Kahn, managing director with UHY LLP in Albany, gives the deal thumbs up, saying, "Yeah, I guess. Who wants to spend summers on Central Avenue?"

Mr. Chartock also noted, "WAMC is asking listeners to give what they can so this fragile experiment in public radio will never go out and the fire of our commitment so WAMC listeners can hear different points of view will be the candle that lights the voices that will forever hear truth in our hearts and not die and not be afraid to take on the Bushies and their minions the Cheneys and attacking our Constitutional rights, our First Amendment, and the good Lord willing will make WAMC's newest goal a reality."

Mr. Chartock also said that tax-deductible contributions should be made to the 'WAMC Museum Fund' in care of the station.

The Mount's manicured lawns and gardens will offer Mr. Chartock the peace, quiet, open space, and sweeping vistas necessary to enable him to compose prose and commentary.-- Credit: Kevin Sprague, Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved.

A special four-week, on-air fund drive to raise the $8.7 million is set for the beginning of the summer tourist season and will culminate with 'WAMC Day' at Tanglewood, an all-day affair which will include a gala black-tie, invitation-only dinner followed by a concert in the Koussevitzky Music Shed and fireworks.

Former New York State Democratic Governors Mario M. Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer will make special guest appearances at WAMC Day at Tanglewood.


The concert will feature performances by James Taylor, Pete Seeger, Jay Unger and Molly Mason, with special guest appearances by 'Prairie Home Companion' host Garrison Keillor, and two former New York State Democratic Governors, Mario M. Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer. <<<<<

Listener Charges WAMC With Censorship

CEO Chartock's control-style censors progressive viewpoints!
by Gregory G. Lewis, The Newsketeer!

I have noticed WAMC has drifted significantly to "main stream," where station CEO Alan Chartock exerts such a micro-managing control style, that more progressive viewpoints are censored. I have actually seen or heard this done on multiple occasions.

Although listeners commonly think WAMC represents the liberal media, which is true in the broad scheme of things, closer scrutiny of what does not get aired at the local level strongly suggests a lot of otherwise important viewpoints are quashed at the executive level.

Some examples:

• Dion Robbins-Zust, who had recently lost in his run for Massachusetts State Senate in 2006, was abruptly cut off by The Roundtable hostess Susan Arbetter. Robbins-Zust was trying to make the point that the media was giving selective attention to two other candidates, one of whom (Benjamin Downing) did win. While I have doubts that Robbins-Zust would have won with fairer treatment, the fact is his treatment wasn't fair. Arbetter more eloquently made Robbins-Zust's point when she hung up on him.
  
• WAMC recorded an opinion piece I wrote on the recent beef recall. The opinion's angle had to do with humane treatment of animals, rather than the food safety issue to humans. After all, everyone was talking about food safety, but nobody paid much attention to the animals. In my one sentence bio, I referred to myself as "heretic and iconoclast". The opinion strangely never aired. (Read it here: http://blog.newsketeer.com/ 'Sick food, sick society')
  
• In a case involving a teenager who was arrested for selling Marijuana within a so-called school zone, the teen blundered yet again, but was additionally charged with selling the psychedelic mushroom known as Psilocybe, which Chartock rather cavalierly stated as, "even more dangerous." But, his saying it does not make it true. I have heard many equally valid opinions that Psilocybe, and the whole US DEA Scheduling structure should evolve to a more enlightened decriminalization approach, rather than harsh punitive measures for drugs that have never actually been proven dangerous, except by popular media anecdote. Whether Psilocybe is more dangerous than Marijuana, or perhaps neither are dangerous, we won't hear on WAMC, which has given its moral imperative on the subject. Decriminalization not being a popular view, WAMC is de facto being mainstream by not airing it! Not liberal, and hardly objective.

On other occasions, I've known people who sent letters to his weekly show The Media Project. Where such letters might be seen to favor the print media (Times-Union) represented by editor Rex Smith, over the radio media or Chartock's own station (case in point had to do with the subject of blog libel on the Times-Union web site), Chartock will consistently overlook letters critical of his own radio station (or, letters that question whether WAMC is equally liable where call-ins might make slanderous statements).

Of course, listeners would never know this was happening. After all, do you know what letters Chartock is reading, and which he is not reading? I would suggest that WAMC simply post all letters to their own web site, that way we, the public, can draw our own conclusions.

The problem becomes conspicuous once you learn that not all voices and opinions are allowed air time. Not all should, as we know, but certainly Chartock is hiding the most embarrassing to himself.

Chartock maintains his status quo by sticking to safe and popular opinions, while avoiding those views that could be regarded unfavorably by a large number of WAMC's donors. I think he is a cunning fellow who knows how to preach to a target choir.

In conclusion, I think what is lacking is a more democratic content management. Chartock does give one the sense of being the little dictator, at the expense of what a broader base of listeners would like to hear. I don't think this was always true, but sadly, it becomes increasingly apparent.

These are all little things, perhaps, I realize. But they are only a few of lots of little things that are adding up. I like listening to WAMC, but I think it could be more fairly managed.

More and more I find myself tuning the dial to competitor radio station WFCR (Amherst) or WRSI (Northampton) when I've had enough of the whining and ranting. Truthfully, one grows weary of being bombarded with one man's ego. <<<<<

by 'MARQUIL' aka Mark Wilson
Reprinted from Hill Country Observer and EmpireWire.com
(Click on image to enlarge.)

Chartock Folds! Withdraws Competing FCC Application Against NCPR.

In the end, WAMC's 'Little Big Man' folded like a cheap umbrella on a rainswept Albany street.
No doubt as a result of the storm of negative publicity that swept in from Lake Placid.
That, and the risk of alienating too many prospective listeners (and underwriters) were WAMC to end-up with even a small translator in that part of the Adirondacks.
And after all that tall talk of just a few news cycles ago.
This ought to be a big lesson for all those other locales where WAMC is trying to encroach in a predatory way on established public radio entities.
It pays to fight back.
All this proposed expansion by WAMC into territories already serviced by other public radio entities doesn't come cheap.
The Pirates are thus left wondering just how much all this expansion is costing?
The expense for making a single application to FCC for a full-power FM license involves not only engineering, but also administrative and legal expertise.
For the Lake Placid application, as with each of the other full-power applications, an engineering study was required to create a service contour map outlining primary and secondary signal coverage areas.
At Lake Placid, that study proposed a 6,000 watt transmitter and tower.
Apart from Lake Placid, there are now seven other communities where WAMC is seeking to expand with full-power licenses which, according to a report in Boston Business Journal, include: "..... Brewster; Cooperstown; .... Norwich and Stamford in New York; Vergennes, Vt.; Manchester, Conn., and West Swanzey, N.H.. There are rivals for all but the Stamford and West Swanzey frequencies."
Two of those competing rivals are Vermont Public Radio and St. Lawrence University.
Bottom line: What's the total cost to WAMC's listeners and underwriters for all these proposed expansions, including the aborted Lake Placid application?
Why is it even necessary to expand into communities already serviced by public radio?
One other question: Is the expense of all this proposed expansion the impetus behind raising target goals for WAMC's thrice-annual fund-raisers to $800,000 per week-long beg-a-thon?

WAMC, NCPR, Cash Flow, and Power

Call me crazy, but do you really think FCC would grant WAMC's (or Northeast Gospel Broadcasting's) competing full-power application over North Country Public Radio's full-power application?
I doubt it.
Not least because it would cause irreparable harm to the legacy broadcaster -- NCPR -- which already inhabits the frequency (albeit with a translator).
This doesn't mean NCPR won't have to go through all the motions, the paperwork, the presentations, a possible hearing, and of course, a bankroll in legal fees.
It will.
It does mean, though, that when it's all over, all things being equal, NCPR will likely end-up with the full-power license while WAMC and NGB will likely drop their respective applications in exchange for something of equivalent value.
There may even be need to call upon Congressman John McHugh (Republican) to have a long talk with Congressmen Maurice Hinchey and Michael McNulty (both Democrats -- Hinchey is also a WAMC Trustee).
Remember, this is all just business and politics -- the quest for listeners' ears, their wallets, the underwriters that cater to those wallets, and votes.
This has nothing to do with public radio, and everything to do with cash flow and power.

Imperialist Radio: A Hostile Takeover of North Country Public Radio by WAMC?

Recommended reading:
Imperialist Radio: A Hostile Takeover of NCPR?
by Adirondack Almanack Editor
WAMC declares war on fellow public radio station.
by Brian, editor
Musings of a (Fairly) Young Contrarian

Blog Editor's Note:
Author Adirondack Almanack Editor in his list of what listeners can do, recommends this:
"Begin advocating for the removal of Alan Chartock as head of WAMC. He's been unaccountable for far too long."
It's good finally to know others are now saying what the WAMC PIRATES have been advocating FOR YEARS!!!

Use of the term "Tax Cheat"

Alan S. Chartock

Dear Mr. Weaver,
Concerning Mohawk Valley blog which today discusses e-mails between Times-Union columnist Mark McGuire and myself dealing with WAMC, Alan Chartock, and an Income Tax Evasion Scheme.

Please note the oath printed prominently above the signature panel on IRS Form 990 - "Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". It reads: "Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return, including accompanying schedules and statements, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, it is true, correct, and complete."
SEE: http://www.wamc.net/WAMC990-Sign.html

You state: "I would not go to the extreme that Heller does in calling Alan Chartock a tax cheat. The fact that he signs tax returns doesn‘t mean he reads them. That may not legally excuse him from responsibility for any errors in returns, but it doesn’t necessarily make him a cheat."

Sorry Mr. Weaver, but words mean something, most especially the words in a signed oath to IRS. The fact that Mr. Chartock is chief executive officer of a tax-exempt charity, and signs that charity's annual IRS return means that he better read that return -- every line of it! Otherwise, what is his purpose as the salaried $150K per year CEO of the organization?

Pardon me if I am less than sympathetic concerning any notion that this CEO, at the helm of this multi-million dollar tax-exempt org for more than twenty years (and who is acknowledged by friend and foe alike to be the ultimate micro-manager), would somehow not know the IRS rules governing how executive compensation at tax-exempts is to be accounted for, including how fringe benefits paid to org officials are to be calculated and reported to Uncle Sam.

At minimum, Mr. Chartock has got to suspect that somebody was paying for those new WAMC cars he's been driving these past twenty years, and that somebody was footing the bill for his chauffeur, for his use of furnished intown hideaways, and for his myriad other org perks so delightfully within easy reach these many oh-so-flush years at the helm.

Calling Alan Chartock a "tax cheat" isn't extreme, it is calling a spade, "a spade!"

G. M. Heller, editor
WAMC Northeast PIRATE Network

ALSO SEE: "TAX CHEAT! - How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC to avoid paying IRS."

TAX CHEAT! How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC to avoid paying IRS.

The story the Times-Union

WON'T publish!!!

Failure to report CEO's taxable 'perks'

could leave trustees liable.

Listener $$$ lavished on public radio CEO's 'perks':

Cars, Chauffeur, Intown apartments!

Cuomo book cost WAMC!

By G.M. Heller
Washington, D.C.
Originally published: Thursday, May 11, 2006.
For more than two decades, radio station chief executive Alan S. Chartock has been the recipient of expensive fringe benefits provided by his employer, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, benefits that consistently went unreported to IRS apparently in an effort by the public broadcaster to shield its CEO from having to pay income taxes on their value. (continued)

Read : TAX CHEAT! How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC to avoid paying IRS.
Please post comments and opinions here.