North Central College student broadcasters earn three first-place IBA awards

Student broadcasters representing WONC-FM 89.1, North Central College’s student-run radio station, earned six awards, including three first-place prizes, at the Illinois Broadcasters Association’s (IBA) 2012 student Silver Dome Awards on Sept. 21.

In this state contest, WONC first-place winners topped nominees from Eastern Illinois University, Loyola University, Illinois State University and the Illinois Center for Broadcasting.

One first-place award was for Best Radio Newscast. Titled “Headline News—May 9, 2012,” the winning broadcast was produced by a five-student team of broadcast communication majors Whitney Goodbred of Earlville, Noah Savage of Aurora, Dan Falconer of Glendale Heights, and Jamie Alt of Sun Prairie, Wis.; and English journalism major Jeremy Rushing of Moline.

The station also received first-place awards for Best Radio Spot for “Cartridge World” and for Best Use of Interactive Media for “WONC Social Media”; both were won by broadcast communication major Kevin Jackman of Glenview.

The College’s student broadcasters also earned three second-place awards. Broadcast communication major Julie Valdez of Naperville earned an award for Best Radio Longform Programming for “Youth Violence in Odgen, Utah,” and Jackman won a second place for Best Station or Program Website for “WONC Sports Webpage.” WONC earned another second-place award in Best Radio Newscast by Goodbred, Savage, Alt, Rushing and interactive media studies major Karl Jessen of Naperville.

In a national contest, nine WONC staffers earned nominations in three categories in the 11th annual National Student Production Awards presented by College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI). Competing against schools like the University of Wisconsin, University of North Carolina, University of Texas-Arlington and University of Idaho, winners will be announced at CBI’s national convention in Atlanta on Oct. 27.

Goodbred and Savage were nominated in the Best Radio News Reporting for “Harold Wilde Announces Retirement.” A five-student team of Goodbred, Savage, Rushing, Alt and Falconer were nominated in the Best Radio Newscast category for “Headline News—May 9, 2012.”

In addition, five student broadcast communication majors were nominated in the category Best Sports Play-by-Play for Radio for “North Central vs. Wittenberg—Sweet 16 Basketball.” They include Jackman for play-by-play, Rushing for color commentary, and Jared Shlensky of Palos Heights, Jonathan Kaufmann of Normal and Alex Palac of Homer Glen for studio analysts.

WONC is among the most honored collegiate radio stations in America and has won national and state awards in commercial and collegiate competitions. The station has won 20 Marconi College Radio Awards; no other college or university radio station in the country has won more. With a 30-mile listening radius and potential listening audience of four million people, WONC’s pure rock music format broadcasts a mix of news, sports, traffic, music and public affairs programming 24 hours a day, year-round. Listen live at wonc.org.