Kentucky Wesleyan College’s FM radio station, WKWC 90.3, participated in the Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) “Festival of Media Arts” for the third consecutive year and received three awards.
BEA is the premier international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. BEA is concerned with electronic media programs, placing an emphasis on interactions among the purposes, developments and practices of the industry and imparting this information to future professionals.
Communication arts major and Rogers Fellow, Logan Reed ’24, received 3rd place in the Student On-Air Personality Competition. His entry was a five-minute reel-based submission and included talk sets and ramps into/out of songs and show segments. You can hear “DJ Reed’s Rewind” this semester on Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Exercise science major, Ricky Simpson ’23, received an Award of Excellence in the PSA, Promo or Commercial Category. This category featured original station, event or show promo spots, or commercials created for a product or service. His submission featured fully written and produced radio station imaging/promotion for “Footloose Friday,” an all-80’s feature heard during the summer months on WKWC.
“To be recognized by the BEA in any form is an amazing accomplishment for colleges and universities,” said Derik Hancock, KWC instructor of communications and WKWC manager. “The competition was fierce this year. There were over 1,650 faculty and student submissions! I am extremely proud of Logan and Ricky. I also want to mention how proud I am of all the entries Kentucky Wesleyan College submitted this year. We believe in our students and their hard work.”
Hancock received an Award of Excellence in the Long-Form Production in the faculty competition. WKWC and Theatre Workshop of Owensboro’s Trinity Radio Players partnered together in October to present the “CBS Radio Version of War of the Worlds.” The production was directed by Todd Reynolds and featured actors from around the Owensboro community. Voices heard in the radio drama were recorded by communications arts major, Mason Leech ’24. The submission was a showcase of Hancock’s production.
Leech also competed in the Comedy or Drama category with his production of “Superman and Batman, Part II.” Other submissions included students Riley Abla-Turner, David Ambs, Colton Day, Logan Reed, and Ricky Simpson in various other categories from news to podcasts.
“I am proud of the work our students are doing at WKWC,” said Dr. Andrew Bolin, division chair, fine arts & humanities, program coordinator and assistant professor of communications arts. “We are a training ground for students to get real-world experience in the world of digital media; it is exciting to showcase what our students (and faculty) are doing here in Owensboro on a national stage and be recognized for their efforts.”
Kentucky Wesleyan College first began competing in the Broadcast Education Association’s “Festival of Media Arts” in 2021 and has been recognized each year since. In 2021, communications arts major, Lain Taleno, won second place in the category for Best Comedy or Drama for his production of “Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Tolling Bell.” In 2022, criminal justice and criminology and history major, Veronica Kaemerer, received an Award of Excellence in the Student On-Air Personality Competition.
For more information about WKWC and to listen to the students’ shows, podcasts and more, visit WKWC.org.