Rowan Radio documentaries win Communicator Awards
Student radio documentaries on the state of New Jersey farming and the effects of depression have earned Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM two awards at the 15th annual Communicator Awards competition.
In the student production category, WGLS-FM was awarded the Award of Excellence for “Fading Farms & Saving Grace: Preserving the Garden State,” a 30-minute documentary on the state of farming in New Jersey. The award is the 11th major honor for the documentary, making it the most decorated documentary ever produced by Rowan Radio. “Fading Farms & Saving Grace” received the first place award in the radio documentary category of the 2008 CBI National Student Production Awards.
“Fading Farms” was co-produced by former WGLS-FM Public Affairs director Julia Giacoboni of Cedarville, who graduated May 15 from Rowan with her Radio/Television/Film (RTF) degree, and Brian Kanady of Upper Pittsgrove, who earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2008.
WGLS-FM also won a Crystal Award of Distinction for “Depression: Sad But True,” a documentary that explores the signs, symptoms, causes and effects of depression. The documentary was co-produced by 2008 RTF graduates Ashley Smith of Pennsville and Jeff O’Connor of Green Brook.
“Depression: Sad But True” previously won third place in the 2008 Best Educational Program competition conducted by the Broadcast Education Association.
The Communicator Awards is a national organization founded by communications professionals to recognize individuals and companies in the communicationsfield whose talent and creativity achieves a high standard of excellence and
serves as a standard for the industry. This year’s competition featured a pool of over 7,000 entries. More information here.
WMUL’s Cavalier wins Nance Award for collegiate sportscasting
Adam Cavalier, a senior at Marshall University, has been awarded the inaugural Jim Nantz Award as the top collegiate sports broadcaster in the U.S. The award, sports broadcasting’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, is presented by Sportscasters Talent Agency of America. Cavalier work at WMUL was previously honored in CBI’s 2008 National Student Production Awards.
Other finalists for the Jim Nantz Award were sports broadcasters Adam Amin, Sr. Valparaiso, Siddique Farooqi, Sr. Hofstra, Joel Godett, Sr. Syracuse, Jim MacKay, Sr. University of Maine, and Justin Shackil, Sr. Fordham. Each of the finalists has been recognized as a 2009 Sports Broadcasting STAA All-American.
“An argument can be made for any of these sports broadcasters to have won the award,” says STAA CEO Jon Chelesnik. “What Adam does so well is to create great drama with his play-by-play. He isn’t just describing the action. His sportscasting is telling a story. His court description and verbiage are also excellent. He is ready to hit the sports broadcasting job market running.”
Read more here.
More than 80 college and high school radio stations from 29 states urge U.S. Congress to oppose record-label supported legislation
Co-signers cite “other serious threats” in proposed performance tax fee
Colleges and high schools from across the country joined together to oppose federal legislation that would impose a fee on radio stations that play music, including on tuition and fee-supported, student operated, noncommercial radio. In a letter to members of Congress delivered earlier today under the banner of the Free Radio Alliance and the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI), faculty, staff, and students from more than 80 stations including Duke University, Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, SUNY-Brockport, Rice University and Virginia Tech argued that “other serious threats” would result from the passage of the performance fee.
The letter states, “One oft-cited straw man argument made by recording industry lobbyists is that…educational institutions would fall within a special accommodation. Though, in the context of record industry profits, company executives might believe their proposal to be reasonably low, in the real world those proposed fees represent large portions of annual budgets for student-operated radio stations.”
The letter continues, “Particularly in the present economic times as students, their families, and educational institutions face sharply increasing fiscal pressures, now is not the time to impose new fees on our small stations principally to benefit foreign-owned recording labels. The record industry executives clearly do not understand student-operated radio, which is obvious in the proposed legislation.”
College Broadcasters Inc. President Warren Kozireski says that the performance tax legislation has hidden costs that would jeopardize many stations ability to continue to exist. “The record labels are completely out of touch as to how college radio stations operate. The extensive recordkeeping requirements that will be required by the Copyright Royalty Board alone will add hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to the true cost of a performance fee,” said Kozireski. “As families across the country continue to struggle to find ways to pay for school and as education budgets get tighter and tighter, the concept of a performance fee is outrageous – all to benefit foreign-owned record conglomerates at the expense of our students.”
A complete copy of the letter is available at here.
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