New England Public Radio has hired reporter Adam Frenier to staff its new Berkshire bureau in downtown Pittsfield. The bureau is a partnership with Berkshire Community College and is located in the college’s office space at the Central Station Business Resource Center at 66 Allen Street in Pittsfield.
New England Public Radio will open its Berkshire Bureau with a ribbon cutting Tuesday, August 25 at 3 p.m. Berkshire Community College President, Ellen Kennedy, NEPR CEO, General Manager, Martin Miller, NEPR’s News Director, Sam Hudzik, reporter Adam Frenier, and Claudia and Steven Perles, whose Perles Family Foundation is funding the bureau will be in attendance.
“The hiring of Adam Frenier as our Berkshire reporter represents a significant expansion of New England Public Radio’s news department and a major commitment to expand the station’s news coverage of Berkshire County,” says NEPR’s Program Director John Voci.
With fifteen years of radio experience including five years at NEPR as a freelance reporter, board operator and host, Frenier brings a range of experience to the NEPR news department. He will cover the entire county for NEPR, expanding coverage of Berkshire County news in NEPR’s popular morning and afternoon news magazines, Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
“I’m honored to become a full time member of the NEPR news team and join so many talented journalists, and I’m excited to be reporting in Berkshire County and exploring the wide range of issues and stories from this area of Massachusetts,” says Frenier.
As part of the partnership, NEPR will also offer three internship positions each year to a Berkshire Community College student, one per semester, including the summer. The position and the bureau in Pittsfield are funded by a generous gift from the Perles Family Foundation.
“We are happy to have NEPR, a longstanding media partner, formally join the Berkshire community at the 1Berkshire office,” said BCC President Ellen Kennedy. “BCC students will have the opportunity to learn real-world skills from experienced media professionals through internships with NEPR.”
New England Public Radio has steadily expanded its network to cover Berkshire County over the past decade. A chain of five transmitter stations created in 2007 broadcast New England Public Radio’s WFCR signal – a mix of news, classical and jazz programming – across the entire county (101.1FM North Adams, 98.7FM Great Barrington, 93.3FM Lee, 106.1FM Pittsfield, 96.3FM Williamstown). The NEPR News Network, which broadcasts news, talk and entertainment programming from NPR and other public radio producers, can be heard at 89.5FM WNNU in southern Berkshire County and at 89.9 WNNI in northern Berkshire County.
Press releases, and pitches regarding news from Berkshire County can be sent to news@nepr.net. Follow Adam on twitter at @AdamFrenier and the NEPR Newsroom at @NEPRNews