After 25 years at the station he refers to simply as “the NYC station at 105.1 MHz,” Jim Stagnitto has a new gig — director of engineering for WNYC Radio.
“I refer to my old station that way because it’s been so many different formats and call letters. I started there in 1983 when it was Bonneville’s Beautiful Music station WRFM, and left it as Clear Channel’s Hip Hop Power 105,” Stagnitto wrote in an e-mail to Radio World. “… I’ve been there so long and through so many changes, that the electricians at [the Empire State Building] and [4 Times Square], who normally label the power panels with the stations call letters, simply labeled them ‘STAG 105.’ I was the only constant!”
Stagnitto’s new responsibilities include overseeing all the technical operations of WNYC-FM-AM. He is reporting to Steve Shultis, the former DOE at WNYC, who was promoted to chief technology officer.
He joins WNYC Radio at an exciting time as the broadcasting is moving from its studios at the New York city Municipal Building on Centre Street to new state-of-the-art facilities in SoHo, on Varick Street. The new facility will have five studio clusters, including a performance studio and a 3,500-square-foot auditorium, as well as production facilities for some network shows that originate at WNYC, such as “On The Media” and “Studio 360.”
“I’m proud and very happy to be joining an extremely talented group of people at a very exciting time,” Stagnitto wrote.
