A new job for the new year
Radio: It's the sound salvation
I am starting 2025 with a new job – as a reporter for WNYC, the century-old public radio station based in New York City and its news site Gothamist.com. I’ll be covering New York state issues as part of an expanded public media bureau at the state Capitol in Albany, but hopefully moving around Upstate New York to tell stories about how policies impact people.
I’m incredibly grateful for a wonderful six years at The Wall Street Journal. I worked with tremendous reporters and editors, many of whom morphed from colleagues into friends and mentors. I went to Germany in 2023, and spent the last 12 months traveling the country for two podcast series — Chasing the Base and Chasing the Vote — that shared the voices of voters ahead of the presidential election.
But I’ve always felt it was a special privilege to report on my home community. I grew in Upstate New York and, until 2023, I had never spent more than two consecutive weeks outside the state. I’ve been a reporter at the state Capitol since 2008, and I’m excited to again focus on New York ahead of what is shaping up to be a very interesting gubernatorial election in 2026.
While national outlets like the WSJ have figured out a way to stay viable amid the industry changes rocked by the Internet, many local news sources have not. More than 3,200 print newspapers have disappeared since 2005, according to the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. Some communities are considered news deserts.
My new position is supported by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to fuel more enterprise and investigative journalism on key topics including education, taxes, transportation, and housing, along with how statewide policies affect the lives of New Yorkers.
I’ll work alongside Jon Campbell and Jeongyoon Han in a bureau that’s part of the New York Public News Network. My reporting will be broadcast and published on outlets around the Empire State including WSLU (Canton); WAMC (Albany); WBFO (Buffalo); WJFF (Liberty); WLIW (Long Island); WRVO (Oswego); WSHU (Connecticut/Long Island); WSKG (Vestal); WXXI (Rochester); WAER (Syracuse); WCNY (Syracuse); and WMHT (Albany), in addition to WNYC.
I hope you’ll read and tune in. Excelsior!
SOME OTHER UPDATES:
++ Democratic Assemblyman D. Billy Jones said late last week that he wouldn’t be a candidate for the expected special election to succeed U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican who has been nominated to be Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. (Click here for my last missive about the race.)
++ Congestion pricing has actually started. There was some last-minute drama about a court case in New Jersey, but no injunction was issued and it now costs $9 to drive a passenger car into Manhattan south of 60th Street. (Click here for my big story about this over the summer, when it looked dead.)
THE QUESTION: Who was mayor when WNYC was founded?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Jimmy Carter lived in Rotterdam and studied physics at Union College as he trained to operate nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy. The Albany Times Union has more details here.