The first time I was Alan Chartock’s guest on WAMC’s airwaves more than a decade ago, I was so deferential that I kept saying “to a certain extent” whenever I disagreed with one of his points. By the end of this episode of “The Capitol Connection,” I think I had used the phrase about 10 times. My wife and I listened in the car, and she cackled every time I said it.
In my defense, I was at that point this paper’s recently installed Capitol Bureau chief and he was, well, a colossus bestriding the region’s media, the three-decade architect of the public broadcaster’s relentless expansion. Today, its radio signal can be heard in parts of seven states; according to its most recent tax filing, WAMC’s annual revenue is north of $7 million and its net assets hover around $11 million.
The 81-year-old’s sudden retirement last month from the helm at WAMC came after years in which he grappled with physical challenges as well as complications presented by the pandemic and the fact that he lives in Great Barrington, Mass. I had been critical of him in recent years, primarily for his courtier-like treatment of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in interviews that felt like a parody of Chartock’s vintage exchanges with Mario Cuomo back in the day.
This tendency reached its apotheosis in March with a truly terrible column in which he brushed off the allegations of sexual misconduct that ejected the younger Cuomo from office: “Andrew, it has been alleged, likes the ladies. I respect that — so do I.” The fact that some editor (or several, since the piece ran in multiple papers) didn’t drop-kick that article into outer space could be seen as a sign of Chartock’s mojo even as it was fading.
Which begs a far more consequential question: What’s next for his former kingdom?
While the answer will be provided in the months to come by the…
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