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| Chris Wienk |
Chris
Wienk is probably smiling today.
One of the two stations he programs in Albany, WEXT The Exit, has doubled its coverage area
in the Albany metro with the addition of translator 106.1 FM.
The 250-watt
translator, licensed to Albany and located near Troy, fills a part of the metro
not covered by WEXT’s primary signal at 97.7 FM.
Wienk,
who is VP for Radio for WMHT, also programs Classical music on WMHT-FM.
Like a proud papa, Wienk enthusiastically
announced the addition of 106.1 FM just before the holiday break:
“You're the first email.
We just went on with the signal!”
The Exit [link] has been looking
for ways to expand its signal since it signed on over 10 years ago. The Albany-Schenectady-Troy
metro is a tough market to cover because of terrain issues and an
over-abundance of stations. 106.1 FM will bring additional listeners in
Rensselaer County including more folks in Albany, Troy, Latham, and Clifton
Park.
WMHT
Public Media, the licensee of WEXT, purchased 106.1 FM for $250,000 last fall. WEXT
97.7 FM, broadcasting from suburban Amsterdam, serves Schenectady and most of
the city of Albany. According to Nielsen there are approximately 813,000 people 12+ in the 66th largest metro.
The Exit has had notable success
as a hyper-local Triple A station, a unique voice in the market. It is an
ardent supporter of the “518 music scene.” 518 is the primary area code for the
Albany area.
Signature
local programs include Live at EXT, 518 Sessions, Local 518 Show, Bluegrass
Around the Bend, The Peanut Butter
Jam, Rock N Soul, and the
nationally distributed The Latin Alternative.
Albany
listeners have a long tradition of supporting progressive rock stations. For
many years WEQX, an out-of-market signal, had a large Albany listening base. In
a press release, Wienk credits The Exit’s
listeners for the station’s success:
"WEXT Radio is able
to exist and create the distinctive programming that we do because of our
listeners. It's our listeners' commitment to us and the incredible musical
artists of our region that enables us to deliver a truly distinctive sound
that's reflective of our dynamic region."
LARRY JOSEPHSON NEEDS OUR
HELP!
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| Larry Josephson |
Friends
and associates of noncommercial radio pioneer Larry Josephson have turned to
GoFundMe [link] to raise financial support for the ailing 79 year-old storyteller. Josephson suffered injuries in a fall in 2017
that resulted in spinal fusion surgery.
Following
over two months in physical rehab, Josephson returned to work at his Manhattan
apartment where his nonprofit company, The Radio Foundation [link], operates a
recording studio that is popular with the public radio community.
Jennie
Josephson, Larry Josephson’s daughter, left her job as a producer at Marketplace
in Los Angeles to help him adjust and continue to operate the foundation.
Jennie Josephson is also starting a podcast venture.
Larry
Josephson told Current recently:
“As long as I can
function as a producer and as the manager of the Radio Foundation, I’m going to
keep doing it. To me, retirement is death.”
When
we made a contribution to the fund on Tuesday (1/1/19), $17,429 of the $40,000
goal had been raised.
NPR PODCASTS CONTINUE
DOMINATION OF PODTRAC RANKINGS CHART
Podtrac
released the rankings for the Top 20 podcasts just prior to the holidays.
The chart on the left shows the November 2018
list.
Fourteen
of the Top 20 (70%) are published by organizations with ties to public media.
NPR publishes 8 of the Top 20 (40%).
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