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.