WAMC's The Roundtable

WAMC's The Roundtable is an award-winning, nationally recognized three-hour eclectic talk program. The show airs from 9AM - noon each weekday and features news, interviews, in-depth discussion, listener call-ins, music, and much (much) more! Hosted by Joe Donahue and produced by Sarah LaDuke, The Roundtable tackles serious and lighthearted subjects, looking to explore the many facets of the human condition with civility, respect and responsibility. The show's hallmark is thoughtful interviews with A-list newsmakers, authors, artists, sports figures, actors, and people with interesting stories to tell. Since hitting the airwaves in May of 2001, The Roundtable has interviewed the likes of Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, Madeleine Albright, Jimmy Carter, John McCain, Bob Dole, Bill O'Reilly, Steve Martin, James Taylor, Bill Cosby, Stephen King, Melissa Etheridge and lots of other really cool people. Plus, Wilco does our theme song. What more can you ask for?

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Questions? Feedback? E-mail us: roundtable@wamc.org

Roundtable segments via podcast

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Tablers:

Joe Donahue - Host - Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Sophie. And yes, he reads every single book.

Sarah LaDuke - Producer - Sarah grew up in Saranac Lake, NY where she worked part time at Pendragon Theatre all through high school and college (primarily backstage as she is a truly superficial [read: bad] actress. She graduated from SUNY Albany in 2006 with a BA in English and started at WAMC a few weeks later as a part-time board-op in the control room. Through a series of offered and seized opportunities she is now the producer of The Roundtable, and host/producer of Performance Place.

Ray Graf - Our News Guy - In his nearly 25 year radio career, Ray Graf has done it all. At one time or another he worked as an overnight board operator, a commercial copywriter, and a voiceover announcer. For several years - a lifetime ago - he was a morning drive disc jockey. For the past 13 or 14 years, Graf has been a member of the WAMC News Team. These days, he finds himself as The Roundtable's news anchor - and occasional foil to Roundtable host, Joe Donahue. "Radio news is not always easy," said Graf of his most recent radio vocation, "but it's not nearly as difficult as spinning a Michael Bolton record at 5:45 in the morning and pretending you're happy about it."

Dr. Alan Chartock - As WAMC President and CEO, Alan wears a lot of hats - and even more ties! For The Roundtable, he often sits in as commentator for our Poll Question and he hosts Congressional Corner and Classical Music According to Yehuda. In addition to these regular tasks, he conducts and contributes countless other interviews, guest suggestions and connections, and joins The Tablers whenever they bring the show on the road. He is kind enough to share his dog, Murray, with all of the WAMC staff. The dog has a particular affinity for kissing Joe on the mouth.

Daily Segments:
Editorial Nook - Every morning at about 9:20 an editor or reporter from one of the many newspapers in our region talks about the headlines with us.

Bureau Chief - One of WAMC's intrepid reporters checks in to give us a preview of one of the stories they are working on for WAMC News programming that day.

Poll Question - We ask you to weigh in via phone, e-mail, blog comment, or tweet, on the question of the day. The questions broach various topics of import. We typically wrap up the week with a light question on Friday.

Congressional Corner - At about 10:50 every day our President and CEO, Alan Chartock, speaks with either an elected official in our region or a political scientist about the most current governmental issues.

Performance Place - A 22 minute segment devoted to music.

Other Regular Segments:

Book Picks - Independent booksellers are tops at suggesting excellent titles to their customers - that is why each Tuesday after news in the 10 o'clock hour a bookseller from a store in our region joins us with their list of suggested books. They each have their particular areas of expertise and passion - mystery, history, picture books, etc. - and together they cover it all!

The Linda - Howard Glassman, General Manager of The Linda, talks about what is coming up at WAMC's Performing Arts space.

Metroland Preview - Shawn Stone, Arts Editor of Metroland, tells us what events are not to be missed in NY's Capital Region.

Classical Music According to Yehuda - In the middle of the 11 o'clock hour on Fridays, Alan Chartock sits down with cellist, Yehuda Hanani, and poses questions about the world of classical music. The questions run the gamut: Who are the best composers? How should we behave in the audience at the orchestra? What are blind auditions? Is the voice a musical instrument? As many of you know - Alan will ask anything that occurs to him - and does in this segment - with the goal of making Classical Music accessible for all.

Jesse Feiler - Jesse is the Roundtable's Tech guru and one of our most reliable guests. He provides consulting services to small businesses and non-profits and is the author of a number of books on FileMaker and Mac OS X as well as on new technologies such as Mashups, Facebook, and Bento. Active in the community, he serves on the boards of HB Studio and HB Playwrights Foundation; he previously served on the board of the Mid-Hudson Library System (including three years as president), founded the Philmont Main Street Committee, and chaired the village's Comprehensive Plan Board. His website is northcountryconsulting.com.

Rich Honen - Rich is the partner in charge of Philips-Lytle LLP. He focuses his legal practice in corporate and venture capital law, and commercial litigation. We like him because when he addresses these complicated issues, we actually understand what he is talking about. Honen provides corporate counsel to a broad spectrum of companies with a particular emphasis on emerging growth and start-up companies. Rich is also acknowledged to be one of the early practitioners of nanotechnology law in upstate New York. In 2009, he was named to Upstate New York's Super Lawyers list, which recognizes lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. We would like to hang out with him more, but it cramps his style when it comes to billable hours.

Regular Contributors:

Katie Britton - Programming and News Director - Katie grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and is a graduate of the University at Albany. In her final semester of college she had an internship in the WAMC News Department, and refused to leave ... so we put her to good use, and she has worked her way into our hearts and your programming. Katie currently oversees the News Department and programming schedule; produces The Book Show; and contributes content to The Roundtable and National Productions. She also has a cat who stops meowing when he hears News host Brian Shields' voice.

Ian Pickus - A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian has been with WAMC as a producer since late 2008. He began working on Morning Edition and now produces The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and various other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard filling in as Morning Edition and Weekend Edition anchor. An avid fan of sports and music, Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany.

The theme music for The Roundtable is the last minute of Wilco's "Pieholden Suite" (Track 7 on their album, Summerteeth) re-worked by Audio Engineer extraordinaire - Stu Kennedy. The incidental music on the show is often selected by our board op - Dave Hopper. If you like a song that you hear, e-mail us and we'll do our utmost to let you know what you heard.