News Champion
WCCH station manager Pat LaBelle named news champion
The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont has named Holyoke Community College radio station manager Patrick LaBelle of Northampton as a community news champion for 2026.
LaBelle is one of 150 journalism leaders from colleges across the country who will be part of the organization’s 2026 class of Faculty Champions. These individuals, which include college faculty and staff members, are being recognized for their efforts to start or expand college-led reporting programs in their region, and their contribution to a national movement of student-powered community reporting.
“Nowadays, there’s been such a reduction in newsroom staff that they can’t get to report all the stories that they used to,” said LaBelle. “So, the purpose of CCN is to take college students, give them opportunities to report stories and then work with area media to get those stories published or broadcast. So that’s going to be one of my goals for this year, building a program at HCC where we connect with news organizations here in western Massachusetts.”
LaBelle, who grew up in Canton and now lives in Northampton, comes from a community news background. He received his bachelor’s degree in communications and mass media from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has worked for three community access media stations, Canton Community TV, Hadley Media, and Frontier Community Access Television. He is also a former DJ on WMUA 91.1 FM at UMass.
Since coming on board as manager of the HCC radio station in 2024, WCCH 103.5 FM, LaBelle has launched a number of new initiatives, including “Live From Studio B,” a series of short in-studio musical performances modeled after National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk concerts. He also hosts a weekly radio show on WCCH (“The Power Hour with Professor Pat,” on Tuesdays from 1-2 p.m.), and is adviser to the HCC Radio Club and co-host of The Green Thread podcast, a new monthy series of HCC alumni interviews.
The Faculty Champions awarded this year represent 41 states and two Canadian provinces. They come from 15 community colleges, 41 minority-serving institutions, four historically Black Colleges and Universities, 30 Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and seven public media outlets. There are 35 private institutions represented and 113 public ones.
Each Faculty Champion receives a $1,000 stipend, peer support, and coaching throughout the year. As part of CCN’s expanded approach to the Champions program this year, participants will work in dedicated cohorts that are organized around beats, communities and geographic regions. The cohorts will be led by program alums with expertise in their focus area.
“At the core of all of these university-led student reporting programs are innovative and entrepreneurial faculty committed to student success,” said CCN Director Richard Watts. “These programs are a win-win for everyone: students receive high-impact experiences and communities benefit from more reliable news. This program is a chance to say thank you to the faculty who make it all possible.”
The Center for Community News at UVM is a nonpartisan nonprofit working to grow and strengthen university-led reporting programs around the country to create a more sustainable future for local news outlets and the communities they serve. It works with a network of more than 4,000 faculty and news leaders, and it’s the only organization dedicated to growing the field of student-powered community reporting.
