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WCNY Board of Trustees names WCNY headquarters as Robert J. Daino Broadcast and Education Center
by
January 18, 2020
The WCNY Board of Trustees named the WCNY Broadcast and Education Center headquarters in honor of Robert J. Daino in recognition of his extraordinary service. Daino served as WCNY President & CEO for 13 years, and currently serves as Director Emeritus for the WCNY Board of Trustees.
The building was officially named as the Robert J. Daino Broadcast and Education Center at a private event Oct. 30 at WCNY. Also at the event, WCNY unveiled a new interactive display wall acknowledging support from WCNY members, donors, foundations, volunteers, and community partners.
“In 2008, Bob made a promise to the community to create a new WCNY—a new Broadcast and Education Center on Syracuse’s Near Westside,” said WCNY Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Scheer. “Now, 12 years later, WCNY is an anchor of the Near Westside, with the extraordinary ability to hyper serve communities across the region. The Robert J. Daino Broadcast and Education Center is a physical structure that is reflective of Bob’s innovative spirit, his drive to make the unthinkable happen, and the desire to bring new services and programs to the community.”
Daino, WCNY President & CEO (2005–2018) created a legacy of extraordinary service, fueled by his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to excellence on behalf of WCNY and the community. Core to Daino’s belief that WCNY is a driver of the economic development engine of the community, he led WCNY’s move to Syracuse’s Near Westside and the construction of this state-of-the-art energy and environmentally efficient LEED Platinum certified facility making WCNY the first media company in the world to receive this prestigious certification. WCNY’s new home became a gateway and symbol of support to the neighborhood’s revitalization.
Daino’s passionate leadership and zeal for true partnerships resulted in a myriad of other WCNY milestones including:
• Expansion of its broadcast services to five digital TV channels and three digital radio stations offering new WCNY-produced award-winning local, state, and national content.
• Becoming the only public media station to be free of pledge interruptions on all its TV and radio stations.
• Building of the first fiber optic interconnect linking all nine NYS PBS stations with WCNY as the network hub.
• Creation of several new business ventures including Joint Master Control Operating Co. Inc. which provides master control services on behalf of Centralcast LLC, a content management and distribution model he created and housed at WCNY to serve America’s PBS stations.
• New innovative educational programs including Enterprise America and the two-year Media Marketing Communications Career and Technical Education high school program, both focused on preparing students, through hands-on real life learning experiences at WCNY, for academic, career, and life success.
• Creation of WCNY’s CONNECT brand reinforcing WCNY’s commitment to be a community connector and the new CONNECT magazine reflecting expanded membership services.
• Increased community and civic engagement with WCNY’s service as a sanctioned community voter polling location, live streaming of city and county government meetings, and outreach events across the region.
Through these contributions and more Bob established WCNY as a broadcast leader and an invaluable community asset.
About WCNY
WCNY was founded in 1965 as The Educational Television Council of Central New York. Today it is a community-owned media company that produces content across multiple platforms, including television and radio programs, dynamic web and targeted email content, the WCNY CONNECT member magazine, and social media. Through online stream technology, WCNY has a global broadcast audience of viewers and listeners throughout the United States and 17 countries. WCNY operates five digital, pledge-free broadcast channels and three radio stations. Towers are located in Watertown and Utica, and WCNY’s radio programming extends into Canada. Classic FM is one of a few radio stations in the world dedicated to locally programmed music.
Educational services include workshops; a 10,000 square-foot building with dedicated Education Center; Read Out, a radio reading service for the visually impaired; Enterprise America for middle school students; and a media and marketing communications program for high school students.
WCNY is LEED® Platinum Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest certification level achievable in Leadership, Energy & Environmental Design. Other achievements include Business of the Year in the nonprofit category in 2014 by CenterState CEO.
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