VH1 Radio Host to Welcome MCLA Class of 2012

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Maria Chambers
NORTH ADAMS — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will welcome back alum and MTV Networks radio director Maria Chambers as this year's convocation keynote speaker.

She will speak to the class of 2012 at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Church Street Center. The event is open to the public.

Chambers, who graduated from what was then known as North Adams State College in 1991, began as an afternoon disc jockey before becoming one of the first women to host a morning radio show. She's hosted morning shows on WEQX in Albany, N.Y., and later for WLIR on Long Island, N.Y., broadcasting to New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut.

She'd planned to return home to the Boston area but in 1999 was offered the premiere hosting spot of VH1@Work, VH1's online radio station. Since then, she's risen through the ranks of MTV Networks, taking on the role of program director to launch VH1's Satellite Radio station, which was carried on XM radio for four years.

Chambers was the on-air host for VH1 and Westwood One's live broadcast of "The Concert for New York City," carried in every major market nationwide, in more than 13 countries, online and on Armed Forces Radio. She is in
charge of developing radio programming for several MTVN brands, and hosts VH1’s nationally syndicated "Best Week Ever" radio program.

On television, she narrated VH1's "Don't Quote Me" for two full seasons, and made appearances on several VH1 shows, including "100 Awesomely Bad Diirty Songs," "VH1's Top 20 Countdown" and its top 40 year-end
countdown shows.

Chambers has ventured outside radio with a recurring role as a reporter on the ABC soap opera "All My Children" and is the character voice of DJ Toni for the "Grand Theft Auto" video game series, including the latest "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories."


Chambers is the first in a series of speakers scheduled at the college this year. She will be followed as part of "First Days" events by writer and musician James McBride on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Church Street Center. McBride, writer-in-residence at New York University, will discuss his memoir, "The Color of Water." The saxophonist and composer also will perform with this band.

The Vadnais Lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. in Murdock Hall Conference Room 218 will be given by Scott Weidensaul, author of more than two dozen books on natural history, including Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds."

The Hardman Lecture Series, held in the Church Street Center, includes columnist and commentator David Brooks on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. and former vice presidential and presidential candidate John Edwards on Thursday, Nov. 22, also at 7.

The academic convocation on Sept. 2 is open to the public. First-year students, staff, faculty and administrators will take part in a convocation processional and recessional through the campus' symbolic gates on Church Street. MCLA's gates only are opened twice each year — to welcome new students during convocation and at commencement as graduates conclude their academic careers.

For more information, contact the office of academic affairs, 413-662-5242.


 
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Golden Bamboo Opening in North Adams

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A city restaurant will open with a new name but familiar faces. 
 
Meng Wu "Jason" Wang and Yaling "Joy" Wang are opening the Golden Bamboo in the Berkshire Plaza on Main Street. 
 
They were approved for liquor license by the License Commission this week and expect to open April 15. 
 
The couple has operated three restaurants in the plaza, including the China Buffet and, separately, the Sushi House. Those were consolidated in 2017 as Meng's Pan-Asian.
 
They sold the restaurant business in early 2024, intending to retire, but the purchasers fell afoul of health ordinances and closed. 
 
Leah King, a friend and former owner of the Wigwam, represented the Wangs during the hearing. 
 
"The corporate structure is slightly different," she said. "Certainly the No. 1 thing is there was a need to rebrand and change the name for very obvious reasons."
 
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