Katy Carolan wasn’t surprised when she found out the Michigan Association of Broadcasters named WDBM, 89 FM The Impact, College Station of the Year for the second year in a row.
“It wasn’t surprising because they are a really good station,” the MSU alumna said. “They definitely have good people working for them and it was fun to actually be part of it.”
Carolan graduated from MSU in December of 2000 and received first place for Best Announcement, along with journalism senior Larry Marasco on The Impact.
“I had a lot of fun putting the piece together,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win, but Larry was pretty confident because both of us did really well on it.”
Telecommunication senior Clay Addy received second place honors for Best Aircheck and was an honorable mention for Best Newscast.
“I was pretty upbeat when I found out, but the main thing is that we got station of the year again,” he said. “I was more excited for the whole station rather than just myself.”
Addy also works as the station’s training director, which is part of the 15-20 hours a week he commits to the radio.
“This is preparing me pretty well for working in that field, but at the same time I’m here to go to class,” he said. “At times it is a struggle (to balance work and school) but ultimately I want to do something in radio.”
Other radio award winners include public relations graduate student Russ White (First Place, Best Newscast), communication senior Valerie Krasny (second place, Best Newscast) and telecommunication graduate student David Rembiesa (honorable mention, Best Announcement).
In addition to The Impact, the university news program “The Focal Point,” which airs at 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on channel 29 (University Housing channel 12), also received some awards for their efforts.
Journalism senior Jeff Balagna received second place for Best Newscast, along with other producers, telecommunication senior Micah Clack and alumni Courtney Perna, who graduated in December of 2000.
“It’s a huge honor because we put in a lot of hard work to do a decent newscast,” Balagna said. “It’s hard getting one out having a busy class schedule and still have tapings. It was great to be honored for our hard work and effort.”
