CWU student radio station personnel named among nation’s best

Central Washington University’s student radio station, KCWU-FM, earned three national honors at the 77th Annual Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) International Conference, this past weekend in New York City. Founded in 1940, the non-profit IBS represents 90 percent of all educational radio stations in the United States.

“KCWU is another way that Central allows students to develop their skills, abilities, and work ethic, beyond the classroom,” CWU President James L. Gaudino said. “We set ourselves apart from our peer institutions by empowering students through these types of high-quality opportunities. It’s something these award-winning students will remember, as we honor their accomplishments.”

-- Tayler Shaindlin, a senior, from Vancouver, was honored for producing the Best Public Service announcement, for “Love Glove Club”;

-- Seniors Jeff Crumb, Port Angeles, Sophia Ferguson, University Place, and Jackson Sager, Woodland; along with Vann Berryman, junior, Gig Harbor; were commended for the Best Political Coverage for KCWU’s three-hour live Election Night Special; and,

-- Jeff MacMillan, a 2016 CWU communications graduate, Vancouver, and Gage McHenry, senior, Maple Valley, won the award for Best Sports Interview, for their “Sports Central” conversation with Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the National Football League, who spoke on the Ellensburg campus last June;

The three national awards are the most the student station has earned in a single year in the past three years, during which time 30 KCWU students have been candidates for national awards. This year’s award winners were among nine station nominees in eight individual-award IBS categories.

“The authentic student voice of the station, and the innovative way in which is being presented, is what led to these nominations and awards,” credited MacMillan, KCWU interim general manager, for the station’s remarkable achievements. “And their work led to ‘the ‘Burg’—again—being in the running for national Station of the Year.”

CWU, which was a finalist this year, earned top honors two-years ago as the country’s Best College Radio Station, among colleges and universities with 10,000 students or more.

Media contact: Robert Lowery, director of Radio Services and Integrated Communications, 509-963-1487, Robert.Lowery@cwu.edu

March 6, 2017