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TAX CHEAT!.
How Alan Chartock conspired with WAMC
to avoid paying IRS.
Failure to report CEO's taxable 'perks'
could leave trustees liable.
Read all about it!

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And by the way, next time you see Rex Smith, 
Times-Union's editor,

ask him why documented tax fraud 
at a public broadcaster 
doesn't merit news coverage in T-U? 
(Better yet, e-mail him!) 
Rex Smith, editor, rsmith@timesunion.com
George R. Hearst III, associate publisher, ghearst@timesunion.com
Mark E. Aldam, publisher, maldam@timesunion.com
David P. White, chairman, dwhite@timesunion.com
T-U's Main Switchboard: (518) 454-5694

Logon to WAMC Pirates' Blog - Post your own comments about WAMC-FM
2007 WAMC Northeast Pirate Network^®/™

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What WAMC doesn't tell its underwriters:
Lower power, weaker signals, less coverage than you thought!
See WAMC's 'claimed' and actual coverage maps and compare!
Click Here!
Logon to WAMC Pirates' Blog - Post your own comments about WAMC-FM
2006 WAMC Northeast Pirate Network^®/™

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Generous?  I'll say!
Look what YOU bought the boss!

This 'loaded' 2006 Subaru Forester^* is
Alan Chartock's 'company car' -- 
a 'perk' courtesy of WAMC's Board of Trustees.^**
(This one replaces the 2004 Forester WAMC got him just 2 years ago.)
And of course, it's only used for 'company business' --
So why does Alan park it at night in his driveway 
in Great Barrington? 
Also don't forget, WAMC-FM listeners pay for this new car's sales tax,
titling fee, annual insurance, annual inspection, annual vehicle tax; 
also its maintenance, gasoline, tolls, and of course,
parking whenever Alan travels to Manhattan.
Ah well, just one more 'must have' for Alan paid for by grateful listeners.
(I mean, you don't expect the CEO of a 'non-profit' charity to walk, do you?
And God forbid he should have to buy his own car!) 
How lucky WAMC members are!

McGuire writes in TU that the ex-SUNY professor told him "the raise has 'not been a secret,' stating he received the salary hike after retiring as a professor from the State University of New York."

Oh really?  Well when, until The Pirates broke the story on this Web site on March 8th, did anyone -- ANYONE -- within earshot of WAMC's seven-state signal ever hear a peep from Mr. Chartock or anyone else on WAMC about the CEO asking for or receiving a raise -- let alone a 45% increase? 

Does anyone recall Mr. Chartock or his trusty WAMC Board of Trustees seeking input from the listening public (whose money subsidizes the station and pays Mr. Chartock's now $166,000 salary) about whether it was a good idea in a year of 2 1/2% inflation for a public charity to give a corporate officer a 45% pay increase? 

Certainly no mention was made during the station's most recent $700,000 'begathon'.  Nor was any given at the fund-drive four months before that, nor at the one before that, nor back before that. 

So in the year-and-a-half since he took the secret raise, when exactly was Mr. Chartock finally going to let the public in on to whom more of its money was now going, and the little secret that he says wasn't a secret. 

My guess is Alan was just waiting for his esteemed Board of Trustees to make the formal announcement, and that in the meantime WAMC's 'CEO for life'  would just laugh all the way to the bank -- but of course, not secretly and not behind closed doors.

Nonprofit Abuses Cost Federal Government Billions of Dollars, IRS Chief Tells Senators
Click Here!

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2005 WAMC Northeast Pirate Network^®/™

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Bloggers! 

The Pirates start listener Web log

The Pirates have established a new Blog site for WAMC-FM  listeners. For the first time in the radio station's history listeners can now give feedback in a public forum for all to read.  Anyone may comment about anything of interest to listeners whether it is station programming, its management, or even office gossip around the water cooler. 

This new Blog site is set up to be an open forum with a no-holds-barred attitude to encourage honest in-your-face commentary and opinions.  In posting to the site, bloggers have a choice whether to use a real name, to sign with a nom-de-plume, or simply to remain anonymous.  By giving such choices, the site encourages maximum public participation. 

Best of all though is that after all these years WAMC-FM  listeners will finally have opportunity to find out just what all those other WAMC-FM listeners are thinking about when it comes to their favorite radio station..

• Prof. Chartock retires just months after UAlbany Prez suddenly quits.
• New head takes charge at UAlbany -- Was Chartock's clock finally punched on the moonlighting issue?
• Was Alan given ultimatum: "Choose SUNY's paycheck or WAMC's, but not both!"?

-- Young female victim was WAMC-FM employee in 1990's.
-- She'd been planning on career at station -- left due to boss's behavior.
-- She was sworn to secrecy as part of 20G settlement.
-- Victim's name is being withheld by The Pirates to protect her privacy.
-- Her Boss's advances were witnessed by staff.
-- Other female employees were also harassed.
-- At least one witness is willing to testify (name also being withheld).

The information contained above has been verified, confirmed, and corroborated by not less than three separate and independent WAMC-FM sources..

A First Amendment Fundfor what?

When was the last time you heard anyone on WAMC utter four-letter words or any other FCC attention-getting expletive for that matter?  In fact, have you heard anyone even suggest that the tightly-muzzled staff at WAMC ever has had a habit of airing obscenities?

And not only that, but now to go so far as to set up in advance a deep-pockets fund the purpose of which is supposedly to defend against litigation with FCC stemming from an anticipated onslaught of complaints from area listeners suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to file charges of obscenity against the station; the fantasy of it all leaves a sense that something is not right, that something else is afoot here. 

Have you heard of any other NPR station anywhere setting up such a fund? 

Then just what is going on?  Why the fuss?  Why this sudden need by WAMC to set aside money for legal defense? 

Why would you do it -- unless, of course, you already knew you'd done something that warranted that kind of response and defensive posture. 

What does Alan Chartock know that he is not telling listeners and the station's membership about?

Is WAMC facing an IRS problem?

Has CEO Chartock used his WAMC soapbox just once too often as his own personal platform by which to lobby on behalf of candidates he favors for public office -- and in opposition to those he is against? 

Has Chartock's lobbying threatened WAMC's cherished tax-exempt status, and is this new defense fund not for anything FCC-related, but actually for fighting the U.S. Internal Revenue Service?  (IRS has stringent, long-standing regulations governing 501c3's and political activities, See below.)

Or maybe it's not at all about preservation of the station's 501c3 status.  Perhaps instead Alan is worried that WAMC failed an IRS audit.  (Just where does $6 million go every year?)

Or it could be that Chartock is afraid that listeners are finally fed-up and on the verge of filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all WAMC dues-paying members -- the purpose of which would be to seek voting privileges for the membership so they can be the ones to elect annually those who would sit on WAMC's board of trustees --- so listeners finally could elect those who would run listener-supported radio. (See related article: Alan Chartock: Selected, not elected -- EVER!!! )

Especially when you hear anythingon WAMC-FM that resembles unbalanced news coverage, lobbying, or anything that you believe is directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of -- or in opposition to -- any candidate for public office.
FIRST, and this is important for you to do, contact the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
     Then demand (yes, demand) that WAMC-FM's tax-exempt status be taken away!
Next, phone WAMC-FM and complain loudly!
Finally, complain to WAMC's advertisers and underwriters -- make yourself heard!
Read the rules governing participation by tax-exempt organizations in lobbying, and political campaigns:

IRS link -- Exempt Organizations and Politics:  Click Here!
IRS link -- Tax-Exempt Organizations and Political Activities:  Click Here!
IRS link -- Charities May Not Engage in Political Campaign Activities: Click Here!
IRS link -- Life Cycle of a Charity - Jeopardizing Exemption:  Click Here!
IRS link -- Where Do You Report Suspected Tax Fraud Activity?:  Click Here!

IRS Albany office: (518) 427-4250
IRS National office: (800) 829-0433

WAMC-FM's Federal Tax ID information:
(Give this information to the IRS employee taking your complaint)
WAMC, Inc. 
318 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206 
Employer ID #22-2400593
Telephone: (518) 465-5233
Web site: www.wamc.org

Complain to WAMC-FM:
Telephone:
Toll-free: (800) 323-9262 - ext. 150
Toll: (518) 465-5233

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his Web site offers alternative viewpoints and opinions to those expressed (ad nauseum) over the WAMC 90.3 FM Northeast Public Radio Network located in Albany, New York.  You can even link to WAMC by clicking on the logo.

This Web site's goal is to let you know what listeners really think, and to provide answers to questions about things you might have wondered, but about which you could never get a straight answer from the powers-that-be at WAMC.

For example, aren't you interested where your "membership" dollars really go?

.....And aren't you curious why dues-paying 'members' of WAMC are not allowed to vote in annual elections for the station's board-of-trustees, nor allowed the 'right' to run for that office?  (Members of most other listener-supported so-called 'public' radio stations have these valuable membership privileges.)

.....And how is Alan Chartock, WAMC's  former board chairman, now its president and CEO, able to surround himself on the WAMC  board with hand-picked trustees who continually rubber-stamp his wishes (and his personal salary increases), a board which never fails every year to elect him chairman, and paid 'executive director'?

.....And how did a valuable FM broadcast license, owned by the citizens of New York State and operated by Albany Medical College, end-up being transferred for free to the literally permanent control of one politically-connected SUNY professor and a small hand-picked group of his buddies?  And all this without benefit of that pesky legal formality -- whenever the State disposes of valuable assets -- of publicly auctioning-off those assets to the highest bidder?

.....And speaking of SUNY, why did SUNY overlook FOR 25 YEARS Alan Chartock's 40+ hours per week 'other' job at WAMC, a glaring breach of its own University Policy (a code-of-conduct which prohibits full-time "moonlighting" by full-time, tenured faculty)?

......And aren't you wondering how Mr. Chartock obtained this sweetheart deal from SUNY which, though full-time "moonlighting" is prohibited, paid him a full professor's SUNY salary package while simultaneously overlooking the professor's WAMC full-time salary package with perks, benefits, pension, travel allowances, and expense account all courtesy of 'public' radio WAMC 90.3 FM?

......And haven't you noticed how news reports and feeds from WAMC 90.3FM rarely, if ever, make it onto National Public Radio's network news coverage or onto NPR's national programming?

......And aren't you inquisitive as to just what percentage of your dollars generated during each of the lucrative thrice-annual WAMC membership drives ends-up in the WAMC CEO's pocket as salary, perks, and pension benefits?

Stay Tuned!!!  As this site evolves and grows, these questions and MORE will be answered!!!

This Web site is dedicated to offering up-to-date, topical material concerning radio station WAMC 90.3 FM.  Feel free to e-mail your submissions for posting on this Web site.

Sincerely yours,

G. M. Heller, Executive Pirate Director, Chair, President, CEO, and Editor 
WAMC Northeast Pirate Network^®/™

P.S.  If you would like to submit comments, opinions, reviews, and/or points-of-view for inclusion and posting on this Web site, please feel free to e-mail material directly to me at editor@wamc.net.  Your material will be posted for all to see.  Should you prefer that your name and e-mail address not be published with your views, please let me know.  This Web site firmly, resolutely, and absolutely protects the privacy and identity of authors, letter writers, and contributors who wish or need to remain anonymous.  Thank you.

Bloggers!  The Pirates have established a new Blog site for those wishing to comment concerning any issues relevant to WAMC-FM.  The Blog is set up to be an open public forum (with the only restriction being that of good taste) -- so blog away!  To access the The Pirates'  Blog, Click Here!

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It is used on this Web site WITHOUT permission. 

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